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363189

A Virtual Character, a Robot, or a Human Being? A Study of the (Self-) Representations of Lil Miquela

Article

Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Abstract

The rise of virtual influencers (VIs) in recent years has engendered a great deal of interest in the phenomenon. The question of identity in particular is central to this new category of social media influencers. This paper examined the construction of the identity of Lil Miquela, one of the most popular virtual influencers taking over Instagram. Drawing on Bucholtz and Hall's (2004, 2005, 2010) framework for the study of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, a sample of posts and user comments from Miquela's account was analyzed with a view to understanding how Miquela presents herself to the online audiences and how these audiences engage with and make sense of her identity against the backdrop of the newly emerging virtual influencer culture. The results showed that Miquela's self-presentation appears to be carefully curated to keep the public interest in her character heightened. On their part, Instagram users variously represent Miquela as a virtual character, a robot, or even as a human being masquerading as a digital character, among other categorizations. The analysis also revealed that a number of linguistic resources and identity relations were drawn upon to enact the various conceptualizations of Miquela's identity that emerge from the data.

DOI

10.21608/cse.2024.286506.1161

Keywords

Lil Miquela, virtual influencers (VIs), Social media influencers, Identity, computer-generated image (CGI), social media, Instagram

Authors

First Name

Amira

Last Name

Ekara

MiddleName

Nasr

Affiliation

English Department, Faculty of Arts, Damanhour University

Email

amira_ekara@hotmail.com

City

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Orcid

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Volume

2024

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

47584

Issue Date

2024-07-01

Receive Date

2024-05-01

Publish Date

2024-07-01

Page Start

130

Page End

149

Print ISSN

0575-1624

Online ISSN

2682-2504

Link

https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/article_363189.html

Detail API

https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=363189

Order

10

Type

Original Article

Type Code

738

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Cairo Studies in English

Publication Link

https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

A Virtual Character, a Robot, or a Human Being? A Study of the (Self-) Representations of Lil Miquela

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024