SEMIOTIC REPRESENTATION OF MEDIA NARRATORS ON INSTAGRAM

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the semiotic representation of media narrators on Instagram as a specific digital environment for multimodal narrative creation. It is argued that Instagram functions not only as a social network, but also as a full-fledged media platform capable of integrating verbal, visual, auditory, and interactive semiotic resources within a single communicative system. Such integration creates conditions for the formation of complex psychological media narratives focused on long-term interaction with the audience. The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines media linguistics, cognitive narratology, sociosemiotics, and identity theories. The focus is on analysing the online identity of media narrators, which is considered not as a simple projection of offline identity, but as a separate, contextually determined dimension of social subjectivity, realised through semiotic behaviour in digital space. The personal, social and semiotic components of identity are highlighted, with particular emphasis on the role of semiotic identity as a mechanism of self-presentation, legitimisation of expertise and influence on the recipient. The interface elements of Instagram profiles (account name, avatar, biographical description, visual style, colour scheme, genre organisation of content) are analysed as symbolic resources that shape the cognitive frames of perception and interpretative expectations of the audience. It is proven that the combination of these elements constructs a coherent media narrative, within which the author appears as a psychological mentor, expert, or therapeutic figure. It is concluded that Instagram is an effective tool for semiotic modeling of psychological media narratives, in which the combination of multimodal resources provides not only information but also emotional and cognitive influence aimed at supporting self-reflection and personal growth among the audience.