Iranian bloggers'''' narratives of representing citizenship power on Instagram (a qualitative study)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Social Communication Sciences, NT.C., Islamic Azad,, University Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Social Communication Sciences, ET.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran,Iran
10.22034/jcsc.2026.2086735.2921
Abstract
The present study seeks to conduct a qualitative study of the representation of citizen power on Instagram based on the narratives of Iranian bloggers. The research method was virtual ethnography and in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 bloggers using a judgmental sampling method. The results of the present study showed that citizen power on Instagram, based on the narratives of Iranian bloggers, is manifested in the form of 6 main themes as follows: 1. Victim citizen; The victim citizen''s experience includes a sense of humiliation, a sense of rejection, and a sense of inferiority. 2. Demanding citizen; which is expressed in the form of three themes of the right to speak, meaning freedom of expression, the right to demand, and the right to be seen. 3. Observing citizen; is based on three themes of social responsibility, the formation of civil society, and the existence of campaigns. 4. Critical citizen; The main components of the critical citizen are: criticism of existing policies in the country, criticism of various programs, and criticism of the methods of implementing policies and programs. 5. Resistant citizen (symbolic resistance); The basic themes that constitute the resistant citizen are: ignoring official policies, confronting the existing official order, and replacing them. 6. Network citizen; which is defined in the form of three themes: online storytelling, sharing ideas, and commenting. In general, the power of citizenship based on the narratives of Iranian bloggers is most evident on Instagram, and citizens have found the opportunity and position to represent power in this virtual space.
Keywords
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