Constructing the Image of Expert Bloggers on Instagram*: Analyzing User Experience

Abstract

Various transformations of social networks, in particular Instagram, affect the emergence of a new type of celebrities — especially bloggers and lead to a new format of relationships with the audience due to the features of this social network. A personal brand or in other words an image of bloggers is formed. These constructed images are quite variable and can change depending on the interests of the blogger himself or the requests of the audience. A special category can be distinguished — bloggers-experts who position themselves as owners of special skills or knowledge. Such expert experience is monetized within the framework of various educational products. “Expertise” and the process of its deconstruction deserves special attention to explain the phenomenon of creation and sale of training courses by expert bloggers who are gaining great popularity lately. This article analyzes the audience's perception of the blogger's expertise: what goals they pursue on the Instagram platform, how they relate to bloggers-experts and their content, what motivates them to purchase courses based on interviews with Instagram users who took part in such training courses with expert bloggers. We confirmed that expertise occupies a special place among the components of a personal brand. It is the link that allows bloggers to monetize their accumulated capital in the format of training courses. * Суд признал «экстремистской» и запретил в России деятельность корпорации Мета,которой принадлежит платформа Instagram.