The celebrification of journalists on Instagram

Abstract

Social media have allowed journalists to create identities independent of the media outlets they work for and cultivate followers to achieve status or influence (Page, 2012), akin to celebrities. This study explores what Instagram-specific logics journalists in Puerto Rico adopt to produce their content, what messages serve as a foundation for their self-representation, and how the use of vernacular strategies and content production connect with celebrity practices. Through content analysis and based on sampling of a composite week, this research explores the messages on the public Instagram accounts of 97 journalists with 1,000 or more followers who work for national media outlets. The study found that journalists' self-representation was defined by the platform's logics, grounded in celebrity practices. They relied primarily on stories to represent themselves. The messages predominantly provided access to behind-the-scenes, particularly during leisure time, followed by journalistic and advertising content. Journalists adopted vernacular strategies to promote interaction with users. They also tended to self-represent themselves in photos, where a casual aesthetic predominated. While men adopted a photographic aesthetic to represent themselves professionally, women adopted a casual aesthetic to show themselves alone. Journalists embraced the celebrity discourse on Instagram to make identity claims —intimate, journalistic, and advertising— a practice that points to a blurring of the boundaries of the profession.