“I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of
self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle
influencers

C 2022

“I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers

KOVÁČOVÁ, Dominika

Basic information

Original name

“I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers

Authors

KOVÁČOVÁ, Dominika (703 Slovakia, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Cham, Self-Praise Across Cultures and Contexts, p. 61-84, 24 pp. Advances in (Im)politeness Studies, 2022

Publisher

Springer

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Kapitola resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Field of Study

60203 Linguistics

Country of publisher

Switzerland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Publication form

printed version "print"

References:

URL

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/22:00124857

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

ISBN

978-3-030-99216-3

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0_4

Keywords in English

self-praise; Instagram; influencers; positive politeness; mitigation strategies; self-presentation; microblogging; multimodality

Abstract

V originále

Recent studies of self-praise in CMC (Dayter, 2016; Matley, 2018; Dayter, 2019) indicate that, in contrast to conversational norms of face-to-face interaction, self-praise is a frequent and well-rooted practice online. The present study aims to contribute to this burgeoning field of research by examining the (im)politeness of self-praise in Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers. Since their popularity is contingent on being liked by others, influencers are highly cautious of their positive face (Brown & Levinson, 1987), and their self-presentation thus represents a potentially rich source of data. 1,000 posts shared by five British influencers were coded for the presence of self-praise, positive politeness and mitigation strategies. The analysis showed that influencers recognize the face-threatening nature of self-praise – as such behaviour could drive less devoted followers away – and employ a variety of strategies oriented toward saving their own and their followers’ positive face. Influencers convey self-praise primarily indirectly or with modification, obstructing the image of a narcissist and ego-centric user which the accompanying photo might paint. The analysis also identified cases of self-praise bald on record which, however, functions as an attention-getter transforming the illocutionary force of the utterance, e.g. ‘I’m bloody amazing and so are you’ being used to raise the awareness of the lack of access to sanitary products for women around the world.

Links

MUNI/A/1204/2019, interní kód MU

Name: Researching Communication in English: Paradigms, Strategies, Developments - II (Acronym: ReComE 2020)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

Citovat

KOVÁČOVÁ, Dominika. “I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers. In Xie, Chaoqun; Tong, Ying. Self-Praise Across Cultures and Contexts. Cham: Springer, 2022, p. 61-84. Advances in (Im)politeness Studies. ISBN 978-3-030-99216-3. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0_4.

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   author = {Kováčová, Dominika},
   address = {Cham},
   booktitle = {Self-Praise Across Cultures and Contexts},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0_4},
   editor = {Xie, Chaoqun; Tong, Ying},
   keywords = {self-praise; Instagram; influencers; positive politeness; mitigation strategies; self-presentation; microblogging; multimodality},
   howpublished = {tištěná verze "print"},
   language = {eng},
   location = {Cham},
   isbn = {978-3-030-99216-3},
   pages = {61-84},
   publisher = {Springer},
   title = {“I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers},
   url = {https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0},
   year = {2022}
}

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VL  - Advances in (Im)politeness Studies
PB  - Springer
CY  - Cham
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KW  - self-praise
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KW  - influencers
KW  - positive politeness
KW  - mitigation strategies
KW  - self-presentation
KW  - microblogging
KW  - multimodality
UR  - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0
N2  - Recent studies of self-praise in CMC (Dayter, 2016; Matley, 2018; Dayter, 2019) indicate that, in contrast to conversational norms of face-to-face interaction, self-praise is a frequent and well-rooted practice online. The present study aims to contribute to this burgeoning field of research by examining the (im)politeness of self-praise in Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers. Since their popularity is contingent on being liked by others, influencers are highly cautious of their positive face (Brown & Levinson, 1987), and their self-presentation thus represents a potentially rich source of data. 1,000 posts shared by five British influencers were coded for the presence of self-praise, positive politeness and mitigation strategies. The analysis showed that influencers recognize the face-threatening nature of self-praise – as such behaviour could drive less devoted followers away – and employ a variety of strategies oriented toward saving their own and their followers’ positive face. Influencers convey self-praise primarily indirectly or with modification, obstructing the image of a narcissist and ego-centric user which the accompanying photo might paint. The analysis also identified cases of self-praise bald on record which, however, functions as an attention-getter transforming the illocutionary force of the utterance, e.g. ‘I’m bloody amazing and so are you’ being used to raise the awareness of the lack of access to sanitary products for women around the world.
ER  -

KOVÁČOVÁ, Dominika. “I am bloody amazing and so are you!” : The (im)politeness of self-praise in the Instagram posts of fashion and lifestyle influencers. In Xie, Chaoqun; Tong, Ying. \textit{Self-Praise Across Cultures and Contexts}. Cham: Springer, 2022, p.~61-84. Advances in (Im)politeness Studies. ISBN~978-3-030-99216-3. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99217-0\_{}4.

Detailed Information on Publication Record