Roles and digital identities on Twitter and Instagram: An ethnographic study of Chilean journalists
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.jul.14Keywords:
Twitter, Instagram, Social media, Social networks, Journalism, Journalists, Journalistic roles, Digital identity, Journalistic identity, Promoter, CelebrityAbstract
On the basis of a digital ethnography and in-depth interviews with Chilean journalists, this study analyzes how news professionals reinterpret and redefine their professional roles on Twitter and Instagram through their practices and discourse, building different digital identities. The results of our analyses show that Twitter and Instagram strengthen and render a more complex construction of journalists´ digital selves, allowing them to build a multi-dimensional identity that goes beyond the framework defined by the media in which they work through the performance of emerging and more traditional roles: (1) the service role becomes a resource for creating community-oriented identities and for helping to resolve individuals´ everyday challenges; (2) the celebrity role supports the construction of an identity that plays with distances and social status, distinguishing and differentiating the journalist from others; (3) the promoter role allows them to promote their work and that of their media outlets as well as products and services, which generates a material benefit and gives the practices an instrumental meaning; and (4) the joker role allows them to entertain the audience and engage in a playful and critical way of observing the world through humor, irony, and sarcasm. Journalists make these roles compatible and decide which they want to use depending on their target audience and the specific platform used, validating certain practices and media strategies. In the case of Twitter, we observe a reinterpretation of traditional practices, and on Instagram we found a clearer redefinition of journalistic roles.
Downloads
References
Airoldi, Massimo (2018). "Ethnography and the digital fields of social media". International journal of social research methodology, v. 21, n. 6, pp. 661-673. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2018.1465622
Bossio, Diana (2021). "Journalists on Instagram: presenting professional identity and role on image-focused social media". Journalism practice, first online. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.2001359
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Harvard University Press. ISBN: 0674212770
Brems, Cara; Temmerman, Martina; Graham, Todd; Broersma, Marcel (2017). "Personal branding on Twitter. How employed and freelance journalists stage themselves on social media". Digital journalism, v. 5, n. 4, pp. 443-459. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1176534
Brewer, Marilynn B. (2001). "The many faces of social identity: implications for political psychology". Political psychology, v. 22, n. 1, pp. 115-125. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00229
Broersma, Marcel; Graham, Todd (2013). "Twitter as a news source: How Dutch and British newspapers used tweets in their news coverage, 2007-2011". Journalism practice, v. 7, n. 4, pp. 446-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2013.802481
Canter, Lily (2014). "Personalised tweeting: The emerging practices of journalists on Twitter". Digital journalism, v. 3, n. 6, pp. 888-907. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.973148
Canter, Lily; Brookes, Daniel (2016). "Twitter as a flexible tool. How the job role of the journalist influences tweeting habits". Digital journalism, v. 4, n. 7, pp. 875-885. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1168707
Carlson, Matt; Lewis, Seth C. (2015). Boundaries of journalism: Professionalism, practices and participation. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978 1 138020672
Casero-Ripollés, Andreu; Feenstra, Ramón A.; Tormey, Simón (2016). "Old and new media logics in an electoral campaign the case of Podemos and the two-way street mediatization of politics". The international journal of press/politics, v. 21, n. 3, pp. 378-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161216645340
Castañeda, Linda; Camacho, Mar (2012). "Desvelando nuestra identidad digital". El profesional de la información, v. 21, n. 4, pp. 354-360. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2012.jul.04
Davis, Aeron (2009). "Journalist-source relations, mediated reflexivity and the politics of politics". Journalism studies, v. 10, n. 2, pp. 204-219. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700802580540
Deuze, Mark (2007). Media work. Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN: 978 0 745639253
Deuze, Mark; Witschge, Tamara (2020). Beyond journalism. Cambridge: Polity. ISBN: 0745643426
Donsbach, Wolfgang (1995). "Lapdogs, watchdogs and junkyard dogs". Media studies journal, v. 9, n. 4, pp. 17-30.
Donsbach, Wolfgang; Patterson, Thomas E. (2004). "Political news journalists: partisanship, professionalism and political roles in five countries". In: Esser, Frank; Pfetsch, Barbara (eds.). Comparing political communication: theories, cases and challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 251-270. ISBN: 978 0 521535403 https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606991.012
Duffy, Andrew; Knight, Megan (2019). "Don´t be stupid: The role of social media policies in journalistic boundary setting". Journalism practice, v. 13, n. 8, pp. 961-965. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1647113
Eide, Martin; Knight, Graham (1999). "Public-private service: Service journalism and the problems of everyday life". European journal of communication, v. 14, n. 4, pp. 525-547. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323199014004004
Ferrucci, Patrick; Vos, Tim (2017). "Who´s in, who´s out?: Constructing the identity of digital journalists". Digital journalism, v. 5, n. 7, pp. 868-883. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1208054
Filimonov, Kirill; Russmann, Uta; Svensson, Jakob (2016). "Picturing the party: Instagram and party campaigning in the 2014 Swedish elections". Social media + society, v. 2, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116662179
Giddens, Anthony (1998). Modernidad e identidad del yo: el yo y la sociedad en la época contemporánea. Madrid: Península. ISBN: 84 8307 037 5 https://sociologiaycultura.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/giddens-anthony-modernidad-e-identidad-del-yo.pdf
Gil de Zúñiga, Homero; Diehl, Trevor; Ardèvol-Abreu, Alberto (2016). "When citizens and journalists interact on Twitter. Expectations of journalists´ performance on social media and perceptions of media bias". Journalism studies, v. 19, n. 2, pp. 227-246. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1178593
Goffman, Erving (1981). La presentación de la persona en la vida cotidiana. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. ISBN: 978 950 5182008
Hallin, Daniel C.; Mellado, Claudia (2018). "Serving consumers, citizens, or elites: Democratic roles of journalism in Chilean newspapers and television news". The international journal of press/politics, v. 2, n. 1, pp. 24-43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161217736888
Hayes, Rebecca; Carr, Caleb; Wohn, Donghee (2016). "One click, many meanings: interpreting paralinguistic digital affordances in social media". Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, v. 60, n. 1, pp. 171-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2015.1127248
Hedman, Ulrika (2016). "When journalists tweet: disclosure, participatory, and personal transparency". Social media + society, v. 2, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115624528
Hedman, Ulrika; Djerf-Pierre, Monika (2013). "The social journalist: embracing the social media life or creating a new digital divide?". Digital journalism, v. 1, n. 3, pp. 368-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2013.776804
Hermida, Alfred (2010). "Twittering the news: the emergence of ambient journalism". Journalism practice, v. 4, n. 3, pp. 297-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512781003640703
Hermida, Alfred (2013). "#Journalism: reconfiguring journalism research about Twitter, one tweet at a time". Digital journalism, v. 1, n. 3, pp. 295-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2013.808456
Hermida, Alfred; Lewis, Seth C.; Zamith, Rodrigo (2014). "Sourcing the Arab spring: a case study of Andy Carvin´s sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions". Journal of computer"mediated communication, v. 19, n. 3, pp. 479-499. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12074
Hermida, Alfred; Mellado, Claudia (2020). "Dimensions of social media logics: mapping forms of journalistic norms and practices on Twitter and Instagram". Digital journalism, v. 8, n. 7, pp. 864-884. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1805779
Hine, Christine (2000). Virtual ethnography. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020277
Holton, Avery E.; Lewis, Seth C. (2011). "Journalists, social media, and the use of humor on Twitter". Electronic journal of communication, v. 21, n. 1/2. http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/021/1/021121.html
Holton, Avery E.; Molyneux, Logan (2017). "Identity lost? The personal impact of brand journalism". Journalism, v. 18, n. 2, pp. 195-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884915608816
Howard, Judith A. (2000). "Social psychology of identities". Annual review of sociology, v. 26, pp. 367-393. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.367
Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. ISBN: 0 8147 4281 5
Khamis, Susie; Ang, Lawrence; Welling, Raymond (2016). "Self- branding, "˜micro-celebrity´ and the rise of social media influencers". Celebrity studies, v. 8, n. 2, pp. 191-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292
Klab, Nina; Wellbrock, Christian-Mathias (2019). "When journalists become stars: drivers of human brand images and their influence on consumer intentions". Journal of media economics, v. 32, n. 1-2, pp. 35-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/08997764.2021.1889814
Lasorsa, Dominic L.; Lewis, Seth C.; Holton, Avery E. (2012). "Normalizing Twitter: Journalism practice in an emerging communication space". Journalism studies, v. 13, n. 1, pp. 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2011.571825
Lego-Muñoz, Caroline; Towner, Terry L. (2017). "The image is the message: Instagram marketing and the 2016 presidential primary season". Journal of political marketing, v. 16, n. 3-4, pp. 290-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2017.1334254
Lomborg, Stine (2013). Social media, social genres: Making sense of the ordinary. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978 0 367867232
López-Rabadán, Pablo; Mellado, Claudia (2019). "Twitter as a space for interaction in political journalism. Dynamics, consequences and proposal of interactivity scale for social media". Communication & society, v. 32, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.32.1.1-18
López-Rocha, Sandra (2010). "Nethnography in context: Methodological and practical implications of virtual ethnography". The international journal of interdisciplinary social sciences, v. 5, n. 4, pp. 291-301. https://doi.org/10.18848/1833-1882/CGP/v05i04/51693
Lynch, Karen-Dana (2007). "Modeling role enactment: Linking role theory and social cognition". Journal for the theory of social behaviour, v. 37, n. 4, pp. 379-399. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.2007.00349.x
Maares, Phoebe; Hanusch, Folker (2020). "Exploring the boundaries of journalism: Instagram micro-bloggers in the twilight zone of lifestyle journalism". Journalism, v. 21, n. 2, pp. 262-278. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918801400
Márquez-Ramírez, Mireya; Mellado, Claudia; Humanes, María-Luisa; Amado, Adriana; Beck, Daniel; Davydov, Sergey; Mick, Jacques; Mothes, Cornelia; Olivera, Dasniel; Panagiotu, Nikos; Roses, Sergio; Silke, Henry; Sparks, Colin; StÄ™piÅ„ska, Agnieszka; Szabó, Gabriella; Tandoc, Jr., Edson; Wang, Haiyan (2020). "Detached or interventionist? Comparing the performance of watchdog journalism in transitional, advanced and non-democratic countries". International journal of press politics, v. 25, n. 1, pp. 53-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161219872155
Marshall, P. David (2010). "The promotion and presentation of the self: celebrity as marker of presentational media". Celebrity studies, v. 1, n. 1, pp. 35-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392390903519057
Mellado, Claudia (2015). "Professional roles in news content. Six dimensions of journalistic role performance". Journalism studies, v. 16, n. 4, pp. 596-614. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.922276
Mellado, Claudia (ed.) (2021). Beyond journalistic norms: Role performance and news in comparative perspective. London: Routledge. ISBN: 978 0 367561291
Mellado, Claudia (2022). "Digital journalistic cultures on social media". In: Allan, Stuart (ed.). The Routledge companion to news and journalism (2nd edition) (in press).
Mellado, Claudia; Hermida, Alfred (2021). "The promoter, celebrity, and joker roles in journalists´ social media performance". Social media + society, v. 7, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121990643
Mellado, Claudia; Hermida, Alfred (2022a). "A conceptual framework for journalistic identity on social media: How the personal and professional contribute to power and profit". Digital journalism, v. 10, n. 2, pp. 284-299. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1907203
Mellado, Claudia; Hermida, Alfred (2022b). "Performing the self on social media: mapping emerging journalistic roles on Twitter and Instagram". In: ICA Annual conference, Paris, May.
Mellado, Claudia; Ovando, Auska (2021). "Periodistas y redes sociales en Chile: transformación digital y nuevas formas de visibilidad y creación de identidad". Palabra clave, v. 24, n. 2, e2422. https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2021.24.2.2
Molyneux, Logan (2015). "What journalists retweet: Opinion, humor and branding on Twitter". Journalism, v. 16, n. 7, pp. 920-935. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884914550135
Molyneux, Logan; Holton, Avery (2015). "Branding (health) journalism". Digital journalism, v. 3, n. 2, pp. 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.906927
Molyneux, Logan; Holton, Avery; Lewis, Seth C. (2018). "How journalists engage in branding on Twitter: Individual, organizational, and institutional levels". Information, communication and society, v. 21, n. 10, pp. 1386-1401.
Molyneux, Logan; McGregor, Shannon C. (2021). "Legitimating a platform: evidence of journalists´ role in transferring authority to Twitter". Information, communication & society, first online. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1874037
Negreira-Rey, María-Cruz; Vázquez-Herrero, Jorge; López-García, Xosé (2022). "Blurring boundaries between journalists and tiktokers: journalistic role performance on TikTok". Media and communication, v. 10, n. 1, pp. 146-156. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4699
Newman, Nic; Dutton, William H.; Blank, Grant (2012). "Social media in the changing ecology of news: The fourth and fifth estates in Britain". International journal of internet science, v. 7, n. 1, pp. 6-22. https://www.ijis.net/ijis7_1/ijis7_1_newman_et_al.pdf
Nielsen, Rasmus-Kleis; Ganter, Sarah-Anne (2018). "Dealing with digital intermediaries: A case study of the relations between publishers and platforms". New media & society, v. 20, n. 4, pp. 1600-1617. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817701318
Noguera-Vivo, José-Manuel (2013). "How open are journalists on Twitter? Trends towards the end-user journalism". Comunicación y sociedad, v. 26, n. 1, pp. 93-114. https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/36156
Olausson, Ulrika (2018). "The celebrified journalist: Journalistic self-promotion and branding in celebrity constructions on Twitter". Journalism studies, v. 19, n. 16, pp. 2379-2399. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1349548
Pasti, Svetlana (2005). "Two generations of contemporary Russian journalists". European journal of communication, v. 20, n. 1, pp. 89-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323105049634
Pérez-Díaz, Pedro-Luis; Planes-Pedreño, José-Antonio (2021). "La (re) presentación del periodista en Twitter: claves para la construcción de la identidad digital profesional". Estudios sobre el mensaje periodistico, v. 27, n. 4, 1175. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.71007
Rosen, Jay (1996). Getting the connections right. Public journalism and the troubles in the press. New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press. ISBN: 0870783858
Sacco, Vittoria; Bossio, Diana (2017). "Don´t tweet this! How journalists and media organizations negotiate tensions emerging from the implementation of social media policy in newsrooms". Digital journalism, v. 5, n. 2, pp. 177-193. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1155967
Smith, Lauren-Reichart; Sanderson, Jimmy (2015). "I´m going to Instagram it! An analysis of athlete self-presentation on Instagram". Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, v. 59, n. 2, pp. 342-358. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2015.1029125
Steensen, Steen (2011). "Online journalism and the promises of new technology: A critical review and look ahead". Journalism studies, v. 12, n. 3, pp. 311-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2010.501151
Stępińska, Agnieszka; Jurga-Wosik, Ewa; Adamczewska, Kinga; Selcer, Bartłomiej; Narożna, Dominika (2016). "Journalistic role performance in Poland". Central European political studies, v. 2, pp. 37-52. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssp.2016.2.3
Tandoc Jr., Edson C.; Cabañes, Jason-Vincent A.; Cayabyab, Ysa M. (2019). "Bridging the gap. Journalists role orientation and role performance on Twitter". Journalism studies, v. 20, n. 6, pp. 857-871. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1463168
Tandoc Jr., Edson C.; Vos, Tim P. (2016). "The journalist is marketing the news". Journalism practice, v. 10, n. 8, pp. 950-966. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2015.1087811
Van-Dijck, José; Poell, Thomas (2013). "Understanding social media logic". Media and communication, v. 1, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v1i1.70
Westerman, David; Spence, Patric R.; Van-Der-Heide, Brandon (2014). "Social media as information source: Recency of updates and credibility of information". Journal of computer"mediated communication, v. 19, n. 2, pp. 171-183. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12041
Westlund, Oscar; Ekstrí¶m, Mats (2018). "News and participation through and beyond proprietary platforms in an age of social media". Media and communication, v. 6, n. 4. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v6i4.1775
Willnat, Lars; Weaver, David H. (2018). "Social media and US journalists: Uses and perceived effects on perceived norms and values". Digital journalism, v. 6, n. 7, pp. 889-909. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1495570
Xia, Yiping; Robinson, Sue; Zahay, Megan; Freelon, Deen (2020). "The evolving journalistic roles on social media: Exploring "˜engagement´ as relationship"building between journalists and citizens". Journalism practice, v. 14, n. 5, pp. 556-573. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1722729
Zelizer, Barbie (1993). "Journalists as interpretive communities". Critical studies in mass communication, v. 10, n. 3, pp. 219-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295039309366865
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Profesional de la información
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Dissemination conditions of the articles once they are published
Authors can freely disseminate their articles on websites, social networks and repositories
However, the following conditions must be respected:
- Only the editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with this copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com
- Only the final editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with that copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com
Profesional de la información journal offers the articles in open access with a Creative Commons BY license.
