Siegel, Lauren ORCID: 0000-0003-2117-8492 , Tussyadiah, Iis ORCID: 0000-0003-0729-1712 and Scarles, Caroline ORCID: 0000-0001-8279-3689 (2022) Cyber-physical traveler performances and Instagram travel photography as ideal impression management. Current Issues in Tourism, 26 (14). pp. 2332-2356. ISSN 1368-3500 (Print), 1747-7603 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2022.2086451)

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Abstract

While there is significant existing research linking travel photography to self-presentation, it is the effects of ‘Instagrammability’ that mobilize significant shifts in the motivations and behaviours of tourists. This paper applies Goffman’s (1956) notion of impression management unfolding as a performance, with both front- and backstage characteristics. This research finds that the frontstage in this context is identified as the cyber behaviour, while the backstage encapsulates the physical manifestations that occur ‘behind the scenes’ to ‘get the shot’. By employing both content analysis and ethnography, new social norms of using travel images for impression management were identified in which there is a clear motive to match the ‘Instagram aesthetic’. A refreshed code of choreographed movements as photographic practices has emerged that did not exist before the popularization of Instagram. Less than 2% of photos analyzed solely feature the landscape, reinforcing the shift to self-presentation strategies as the foremost importance.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cyber-physical; travel photography; Instagram; social networking; traveller performance; self-presentation
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business Faculty of Business > Department of Marketing, Events & Tourism Faculty of Business > Tourism Research Centre
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2023 15:37
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/36718

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