Analisis Hubungan Mahasiswa Perguruan Tinggi melalui Interaksi Sosial Online di Media Sosial Instagram

Abstract. The rapid development of social media has brought about significant changes in how individuals interact and communicate. Face-to-face interactions have increasingly shifted toward digital platforms, where engagement is often mediated through symbols, text, and images accompanied by audio. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method with three research subjects. Data collection was conducted through in-depth online interviews, while data analysis followed the Miles and Huberman framework. The findings indicate that students perceive Instagram as a positive interaction space for maintaining friendships, establishing new connections, sharing daily activities, and supporting productive personal endeavors. Online interactions occur through features such as likes, comments, direct messages, stories, and mentions, which play a vital role in building social-emotional closeness. These findings demonstrate that students' online interactions on Instagram can be understood through the three premises of Herbert Blumer’s theory. Abstrak. Perkembangan media sosial yang muncul membawa perubahan individu dalam berinteraksi dan berkomunikasi. Interaksi bertatap muka kini sering beralih serba digital dan interaksi terjadi hanya sebatas melalui simbol, text, gambar disetai suara. Penelitian menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif dan subjek penelitian berjumlah tiga orang. Teknik pengumpulan data melalui wawancara mendalam melalui daring. Analisis data mengacu pada Miles dan Huberman. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa mahasiswa memaknai Instagram sebagai ruang interaksi positif untuk menjaga hubungan pertemanan, membuka relasi baru, berbagi aktivitas keseharian, serta mendukung aktivitas personal prosuktif. Interaksi online berlangsung melalui simbol like, comment, direct message, story dan mention yang berperan membangun kedekatan sosial emosional. Temuan ini menunjukan bahwa interaksi online mahasiswa di Instagram dapat dipahami melalui tiga premis teori Herbert Blumer.