Who are the influential journalists on Instagram in Portugal? The representation of the identity of news media professionals on virtual social networks

This study explores the presence of 35 Portuguese journalists on Instagram, aiming to understand how news media professionals in Portugal are engaging with this platform in order to connect with their potential or existing audiences. To this end, a content analysis was conducted based on data extracted from each of the 35 selected journalists’ Instagram profiles, according to predefined criteria, and ten analytical metrics were developed over a period of one and a half years, from January 2020 to June 2021. The findings indicate a growing trend among most journalists to share personal life content on the platform, particularly associated with positive life events such as births and birthdays. There is an ongoing negotiation in the representation of journalistic identity between the personal and the professional. Moreover, there is a predominance of business accounts, enabling journalists to access demographic data about their followers on Instagram. These results point to a transformative process of individual self-promotion driven by Instagram’s platform culture. Such developments are linked to the current crisis in the news media sector, which has led to increasing precarity in the journalism profession, raising concerns that private media organizations – particularly in television – may be exerting pressure on journalists to add individual value to the market.