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Professional identity: The identification and self-perceptions of organisational social media workers

Xu, Xinyuan LU (2024) SKOM12 20241
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract (Swedish)
Social media workers have become an important communication profession within the organisational context. However, workers behind organisational social media accounts remain understudied. This study problematises the limited emphasis of existing research on the self-perceptions of communication practitioners and introduces the perspective of social media workers. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand how social media workers perceive their professional identities by investigating their identification with, emotions towards, and understandings of the role of a social media worker. To achieve this, this study conducted 13 interviews with social media workers responsible for organisational social media accounts in the... (More)
Social media workers have become an important communication profession within the organisational context. However, workers behind organisational social media accounts remain understudied. This study problematises the limited emphasis of existing research on the self-perceptions of communication practitioners and introduces the perspective of social media workers. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand how social media workers perceive their professional identities by investigating their identification with, emotions towards, and understandings of the role of a social media worker. To achieve this, this study conducted 13 interviews with social media workers responsible for organisational social media accounts in the European film industry. The findings show that a professional group of social media workers barely exists due to weak identification. Furthermore, this study analyses the feelings that social media workers experience in their professional settings, presenting the affective aspect of their professional identities. The study also portrays the group prototype of social media workers by identifying two types of rhetoric in their professional identities: the culture communicator and the lonesome explorer. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Xu, Xinyuan LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
social media work, professional identity, self-categorisation theory, organisational social media, communication professions
language
English
id
9159250
date added to LUP
2024-06-14 16:06:07
date last changed
2024-06-14 16:06:07
@misc{9159250,
  abstract     = {{Social media workers have become an important communication profession within the organisational context. However, workers behind organisational social media accounts remain understudied. This study problematises the limited emphasis of existing research on the self-perceptions of communication practitioners and introduces the perspective of social media workers. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand how social media workers perceive their professional identities by investigating their identification with, emotions towards, and understandings of the role of a social media worker. To achieve this, this study conducted 13 interviews with social media workers responsible for organisational social media accounts in the European film industry. The findings show that a professional group of social media workers barely exists due to weak identification. Furthermore, this study analyses the feelings that social media workers experience in their professional settings, presenting the affective aspect of their professional identities. The study also portrays the group prototype of social media workers by identifying two types of rhetoric in their professional identities: the culture communicator and the lonesome explorer.}},
  author       = {{Xu, Xinyuan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Professional identity: The identification and self-perceptions of organisational social media workers}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}