Social media trespassing : The analysis of news articles reporting on the 2017's most liked Instagram post
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | It seems difficult if not impossible to dispute the fact that social media have revolutionized the way we communicate and share news with each other. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram are exploited by celebrities and other influential people to announce various (often life-changing) news, e.g. pregnancy, career break, health issues, to their fans and the public. In addition to their entertainment value, social media have thus become the source of ‘infotainment’ which, compared to other media outlets, brings in several significant advantages: 1. targeting news at an audience who have expressed an active interest in hearing it by following one’s profile; 2. direct contact with one’s followers via commenting and/or liking; 3. fast distribution of news with no financial cost. This paper presents a case study of the 2017’s most liked Instagram post, in which Beyoncé Knowles-Carter officially announced her second pregnancy, and several news articles which report on the announcement. Firstly, the attention is paid to the post itself and the relationship between the picture and the caption. The role of this particular pregnancy photo among others published by Beyoncé is also examined. Secondly, a number of news articles reporting on the Instagram post have been collected and analyzed from the point of view of intertextuality and multimodality. Furthermore, the newsworthiness of the topic and the way it is established through language and image are discussed. It is expected that the analysis will reveal some differences as regards evaluative language used in the articles of broadsheet sites and those of tabloids. Such strong interest of other types of media (print, broadcast, new media) in reporting on this particular post has intensified its circulation and contributed to it becoming the most liked Instagram post of 2017. |
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