Toni Eagar

Classifying the narrated #selfie: genre typing human-branding activity

Purpose This paper explores the purposive use of the selfie in the construction of personal narratives that develop and support an individual’s human brand. Selfies were divided into archetypical clusters of “genres” that reflected the combined story told through Instagram image and accompanying text captions. Design/methodology/approach The analysis drew a randomized sample of 1,000 images with accompanying text from a large capture of 3,300 English language captioned selfies. Coding for semantic and semiotic data used a three-wave technique to overcome interpretive limitations. Findings Based on their structural characteristics, seven genre types emerged from the coded sample set. These primary genres of selfie meta-narratives are autobiography, parody, propaganda, romance, self-help, travel diary and coffee-table book. Research limitations/implications The research is limited in generalization to the Instagram photo-sharing app platform by design. Samples were taken from the app due both to its popularity and its capacity to annotate images. Selfies conducted in non-public, non-annotation-based apps may produce alternative genres and classifications. Practical implications The paper presents a genre classification to examine how selfies are used to “show, not tell” a portion of the consumer’s life story. Brands, firms and marketers can apply genres to examine the selfie types that best connect with the identity of their brands and consumers, based on how their consumers communicate within the Instagram network. Social implications Selfies are an oft pathologized and moralized aspect of consumer conduct. We present a view of the selfie as a deliberate, consciously considered communication approach to maintaining social bonds between friends, family and wider audience. Selfies are presented as a combined effect of consumption of a social media service (Instagram) and the co-production of valued content (the selfie) that recognizes the individual as an active constructor of their digital self. Originality/value The paper outlines a novel framework of selfie genres to classify the deliberate human-brand narratives expressed in selfies. By taking a narrative perspective to the Instagram selfie practice, the genre type captures the combined effect of the mimesis and diegesis, where the mimesis showing of self is contextualized with the diegesis of the provided captions to capture an intentional storytelling act of image and text.

‘And Ziggy played guitar’: Bowie, the market, and the emancipation and resurrection of Ziggy Stardust

Abstract Using David Bowie as a human brand and his various characters, particularly Ziggy Stardust, we address two research themes: who constructs celebrity – the individual or the market, and to what extent can a celebrity emancipate their human brand from the characters they portray? Market-generated materials covering Bowie’s fifty year career were analysed using structuration theory. Our findings indicate that Bowie’s control of his human brand was increasingly determined by differing agents within the market. We conclude that a celebrity’s human brand is as much a creation of the market, as it is the celebrity’s. Yet unlike the celebrity, their character’s ongoing popularity reflects not only a moment in time but also an ability to adapt to differing times.

Resolving Contradictions in Human Brand Celebrity and Iconicity

Abstract Purpose The academic discourse around celebrity and iconicity has resulted in the same human brand as labeled as an inauthentic and illegitimate celebrity and as a culturally important symbol of legitimate achievement. We address the research question of how are contradictions between celebrity and iconicity resolved in creating and managing a human brand. Methodology/approach Using structuration theory, we analyzed David Bowie’s 50 year career, from 1964 to 2013, totaling 562 documents. Applying Langley’s (1999) stages of data collection of grounding, organizing, and replicating, we develop a process of model of celebrity and iconicity. Findings We identify three stages of human brand symbolic associations: forming, fixing, and transitioning associations. These represent alternate trajectories that Bowie and Ziggy Stardust followed to become icons. In resolving his trajectories across these stages, Bowie adapts and adopts commercial materials, business practices, and new technologies to converge his symbolic associations into a coherent iconic human brand. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this paper lie in focusing on one human brand in a particular industry. Future research is suggested in three areas: (1) the relationship between the proposed model and other human brand activities; (2) to explore how the process is manipulated by other market agents; and (3) whether a human brand’s association shifts can precede culture. Originality/value This perspective challenges existing conceptualizations of celebrity and iconicity by framing them as inter-related processes, where celebrity associations are fixed in time, while iconic associations transition across time periods to reflect changing cultural values and concerns.

Thin-slicing Tremé as a subjective sashay: heretical pilgrimages to St. Augustine Catholic Church

ABSTRACT Five heretical field researchers celebrate human subjectivity in a fractured journey toward St. Augustine Catholic Church in the heart of Tremé in September 2015. They populate their diverse pentagonal thoughts with Mary Douglas’ negotiated concepts of purity and pollution, rituals and symbols as a counterweight in their backpacks. Some are inspired by the theatrical mythologies of the guides who take them there, others are stopped in their track by the residual devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Some stop to wonder at Nicolas Cage’s future resting place, others line up at food-trucks to add smells and taste to Tremé’s mediated precreation. Some frame it as a battle ground of past and present injustice, others acknowledge the strife inside the dirty tourist. The thin-sliced meanings acquired on the boulevards to St. Augustine Catholic Church provide a touch of truthfulness, in the idiosyncratic segments, and the spirited spaces in between.

Capturing and Analyzing Social Media Composite Content: The Instagram Selfie

Abstract Purpose This research was conducted to outline the capturing and analysis of composite texts. We contextualize this using selfies as image and textual data sourced from Instagram and analyzed using a three stage analysis approach from a genre perspective. Methodology/approach The capturing of composite texts is outlined for numerous services available to researchers to study social media contexts. The analysis applies a three-stage technique of (1) what is shown, (2) what is said, and (3) what is the central narrative to overcome interpretive limitations of privileging text over image or vice versa. Findings Based on their structural characteristics, seven genre types emerged from the coded sample set. Research limitations/implications Issues arise in capturing this data as social media platforms change their access and usage policies and as capturing services alter their capabilities. Originality/value The paper outlines a novel approach to capturing and understanding the mimesis and diegesis of selfies as composite texts.