Performing microcelebrity: Analyzing Papi Jiang's online persona through stance and style

ABSTRACT Contemporary digital media is characterized by a cultural logic of participation that encourages sharing, confession, phatic communication, and an emphasis on the visual. In this techno-cultural milieu, self-presentation has become a key mode of communication, and has enabled ordinary individuals to attain a measure of celebrity status. A key component of being a microcelebrity entails developing a consistent persona that is recognizable and unique. How such persona can be studied from the sociolinguistic perspective of stance and style is the focus of this article. We combined corpus linguistic and qualitative discourse analytic methods to examine a small corpus of videos produced by Chinese online celebrity, Papi Jiang. The article presents key lexico-grammatical, discourse-level, and non-linguistic resources that are analyzed as stance markers that together contribute to Papi's intense, critical-satirical performative style. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to performance, performativity, and critique in digital media. (Persona, microcelebrity, style, performance, stance)*

Mapping the messenger: Exploring the disinformation of QAnon

We analyzed message board content originating with the online persona “Q,” leader of the right-wing conspiracy community known as QAnon. We qualitatively placed all of Q’s messages into one of five qualitatively derived categories: allusion to hidden knowledge, undermining institutions and individuals, inspirational, administration and security, and call to action. Further analysis of how these categories are used by Q over time illustrates how the messaging evolved. Specifically, later Q messaging focused less on hidden knowledge and conspiratorial thinking and more on politics relative to earlier messaging. We also note what Q does not include in messages: very few direct calls to action are made to the QAnon community and no specific, direct calls for violent action. Implications and future directions of research are discussed.

Exploring the Etiological Pathways of Problematic Pornography Use in NoFap/PornFree Rebooting Communities: A Critical Narrative Analysis of Internet Forum Data

Problematic pornography use (PPU) has been extensively studied in terms of its negative implications for various life domains. The empirical literature reveals measured outcomes of interpersonal and intrapersonal dysfunction in participants’ everyday living, supporting its classification as a disorder. The increasing number of complaints around PPU opens the door to the creation of online self-help rebooting communities. This qualitative study aimed to provide a better understanding of this behavior by investigating potential etiological pathways contributing to the onset of PPU, as they were expressed by members of the online NoFap/PornFree self-help communities with self-perceived PPU. The critical narrative analysis reveals a complex web of mutually informing causal connections. The dialectical relationship between situational resources, material conditions, and an embodied spectator gives rise to an online persona with motivations of self-exploration, experimentation, and socializing. A sense of vulnerability rendered the use of pornography as a means of escape and validation. Furthermore, commitment to abstinence, framed by the notions of recovery and relapse, was found to be a major factor for maintaining distress. The study highlighted the need for a thorough understanding of the etiological pathways of PPU for a more effective and targeted intervention. Moving beyond biomedical conceptualizations suggests an intervention whereby PPU is placed in a context of a crisis of meaning.

Cultural Capital in the Digital Age. The YouTuber Online Persona

In this essay, we will examine if and how Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory can be applied to the YouTuber online persona and if any significant alterations could point towards the consideration of a new form of capital – digital capital. We will also be looking at how a YouTuber persona and its capital can be transferred and used in different environments and situations. We aim to examine how one’s online persona is becoming just as, if not more important than one’s real-life actions, managing to overcome punitive measures (inauthenticity aversion) usually applied to inauthentic forms of capital. We will take into account how the embodied, objectified, and institutionalized cultural capital can be found in YouTuber personas, but are being altered by the online environment, by exposure, by the algorithms used by the platform, by ‘internet history’. With the help of these alterations, the forms of capital associated with the online persona – in this case the YouTuber persona – have transcended the classic definitions of cultural capital. These developments can be analyzed and further explored in several fields, such as personal branding.

Dinamika Online Persona Akun Anonim Twitter Penggemar KPop

KPop adalah salah satu subkultur dalam ranah budaya populer sekaligus polemik yang sering menjadi bahasan oleh publik. Sebagai bagian dari minoritas, fans KPop mencari tempat yang dapat memberikan kebebasan untuk aktualisasi diri sebagai fans yang aktif dalam kegiatan fandom, salah satunya dengan penggunaan pseudonim melalui Twitter.Melalui survei yang dilakukan terhadap 400 responden yang menggunakan akun anonim KPop di Twitter, dapat dilihat bagaimana kecenderungan yang ada. Mencari privasi dan hiburan sebagai bentuk pemisahan dari lingkungan tatap muka menjadikan fans KPop lebih banyak berinteraksi melalui kehidupan pribadi maupun minat KPop-nya melalui lingkungan virtual, yaitu Twitter.Dalam berinteraksi secara anonim, ada kalanya fans KPop tidak hanya membicarakan mengenai minat KPop-nya dengan fans lain, tetapi juga memperlihatkan identitas dan kehidupan pribadinya sebagai bentuk interaksi dengan fans KPop lainnya. Hal ini kemudian menciptakan adanya peningkatan solidaritas yang terjadi dalam fandom KPop di Twitter, dan hal ini juga memberikan adanya rasa diterima dan merasa beruntung ketika fans KPop yang tadinya tidak bisa mempresentasikan dirinya di kehidupan nyata, kemudian menjadi lebih terbuka dan lebih bahagia ketika berada di lingkungan Twitter.

Shamelessly cute: Understanding gender ambiguous identity performances via “The Desi Bombshell” Snapchat video selfies

Indigenous Pakistani transgenders — khwaja sira — employ gender ambiguous identity performances as a resistance tactic against politics of shame. This article explores how a tactical performance of a gender ambiguous identity portrayed via Snapchat’s cute animal lenses can subvert the culture of gendered shaming. Drawing on two feminist resistance tactics: performative shamelessness and weaponized/agentic cuteness, I investigate how Snapchat’s animal lenses can be used to achieve a subversive effect as identified in the case of “The Desi Bombshell” — a fictive online persona. Through close reading and content analysis of “Desi Bombshell” video selfies, I propose the concept of shamelessly cute. I argue that a shamelessly cute, gender ambiguous performance is a novel resistance tactic on social media as it explicitly displays a clumsy, Snapchat enabled identity, while implicitly it challenges the Pakistani politics of shame from within its culture by reworking indigenous practices and gestures.

Aggression in the Digital Era: Assessing the Validity of the Cyber Motivations for Aggression and Deviance Scale

Empirical studies of adult cyber-aggression are sparse, partly due to a lack of validated assessments. We evaluated a new measure, the Cyber Motivations for Aggression and Deviance (Cyber-MAD) scale, designed to assess the motivations of adult cyber-aggression. Psychometric properties and factor structure were examined across three adult samples who regularly used the internet and reported a history of cyber-aggression. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the motivations for cyber-aggression indicated an eight-factor model best fit the data, with separable factors emerging for cyber-aggression motivated by a desire to affiliate with others ( Social Bonding), advance or defend political/social issues ( Social Activism), act on angry feelings ( Reactive Aggression), cope with relationship stress ( Interpersonal Distress), satisfy impulsive urges ( Impulsivity), adopt a new online persona ( Virtual Dissociation), experience excitement ( Thrill-Seeking), and seek revenge ( Vengeance). Overall, the Cyber-MAD scale showed good internal consistency, structural stability across samples, and construct validity, supporting its initial validation.

The Making of an Egyptian Social Media Influencer

This qualitative study, set against the backdrop of Egypt, examines how social media influencers construct their online identity and build their online persona. Social media, which have been primarily developed in the West, have infiltrated the Egyptian society; they have opened doors to different forms of personae and content such as social media influencers. In Egypt their numbers have increased, and they have become an important part of the social media scene. They aim to build their audiences and fan bases with the ultimate objective of monetising their presence. This study focuses on nine Egyptian social media influencers, through employing in-depth interviews, and seeks to explore how they construct their online identity and how they build their distinct personae. The analysis revealed that they build a distinct online person for themselves to impress their audiences and fans. Moreover, they perform authentically; they seek to be perceived as authentic and to display this authenticity they undertake a number of processes.

'DON'T CREATE AN ONLINE IMAGE THAT YOU CAN'T KEEP UP OUTSIDE': MEDIATING INVISIBLE COMMUNICATIVE DISABILITIES ON SOCIAL NETWORK SITES

The internet theoretically offers a socially inclusive space for disabled users and new forms of visibility vis-à-vis mediated communication. However, the prevalent perception of the internet as an idyllic space that liberates disabled people reflects an ableist mindset, as it views departure from the disabled body as the source of liberation. This paper challenges this perception by investigating how people with invisible disabilities that are clinically related to communication mediate their disabled life experience in Social Networking Sites (SNS). To this end, the study probed, through thematic analysis, 31 in-depth interviews with high-functioning autistics, stutterers and hard of hearing SNS users and 7 SNS documentation use diaries. The analysis identified a gamut of disability performances online, which varied based on one's perception of the disability and its visibility. For example, while some interviewees crafted a complex online persona that presented their disabilities through a nuanced perspective, others felt compelled to ‘pass’ as able-bodied. Many felt that their self-presentation was inhibited by a sense of social surveillance, imposed by the presence of friends from “the offline world”. The notion of “authenticity” posed another barrier for many interviewees: Sensing an expectation that their communicative style on SNS align with their physical communication led them to ironically adopt a less true-to-self persona by managing the visibility of their disability online to reflect their 'offline' constraints. Rather than providing an accessible and/or liberating sphere, this paper argues that social networking sites reproduce the ableist biases and power structures that underline the physical, “offline” sphere.

Piękne życzenia urodzinowe i piosenki i melodyjka. Szczerość i kicz w twórczości internetowej osób starszych w perspektywie koncepcji dystynkcji Pierre’a Bourdieu

Beautiful Birthday Wishes, and Song, and Melody. Sincerity and Kitsch in Creative Activity of the Elderly on the Internet in the Context of Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Distinction The subject of this article is the Internet activity and creativity of the elderly, understood as a form of radical sincerity. While the most popular take on the digital divide emphasizes lack of Internet access or technological competences, this paper focuses on the exclusion of the elderly users from the legitimate discourse of the Internet. The author uses Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of distinction to discuss the role of distance and irony in the establishment of legitimate taste and its similarity to the irony-laden meme culture. The online meme discourse is contrasted with a particular form of creativity of the elderly, who do not only refuse to create an online persona but whose art is the perfect exemplification of Bourdieuian “working-class aesthetics.” The images – considered tawdry by the gatekeepers of legitimate taste – are a result of emulation of analog artifacts (such as postcards and greeting cards) in the new media. Their popularity among the elderly Internet users is caused by a non-selective transposition of offline relationships onto one’s activity in the social media.