Self-branding and representation in Arab influencers’ bios on Instagram: a corpus linguistic study

This study examines how Arab influencers on Instagram self-identify and self-brand. The study adopted corpus linguistic tools to analyse frequencies and patterns, as well as conducting a thematic analysis. The data for this study were drawn from a corpus of 410 bios of Arab influencers on Instagram. The study shows that there are common patterns in word frequencies. In addition, the thematic analysis reveals seven themes in the collected bios: nationality, roles, location, interconnectivity, business, religion, profession and category/affordances. These themes show that bios are used to reflect local cultural and global identities in a complex manner for influencers to self-brand and connect with their audience. The study has theoretical contributions relevant to Goffman’s impression management theory (1959). In addition, the study has practical contributions relevant to affordances and identities utilized in self-branding and self-presentation on social media in general and in the Arab world in particular.