Self-branding on social media: A comparative analysis of social media influencers between China and the West

社交媒体的普及催生了社交媒体影响者(SMI)的形象。中小企业有能力影响社会、经济和文化(Abiden，2018)。大多数关于中小企业的研究集中在西方(如Page，2012；Khamis，Ang，&Well，2016)，但影响力依赖于并反映了社会价值观。中国及其社交媒体在全球变得越来越重要，了解中国是如何影响自己的品牌，以及与西方相比如何是至关重要的。这项研究填补了这一空白，利用自我品牌、真实性和后女权主义的概念来理解时尚和生活方式SMI是如何在不同的社会文化背景下运作的，他们的在线品牌活动反映了“后女权主义自我品牌”(Barnet-Weiser，2012)。我将对他们在两大可视化社交媒体平台上的帖子进行分析和比较：1)西方影响力人士广泛使用的Instagram；2)小红书，类似于中国的社交媒体平台。采用内容分析、平台分析和访谈相结合的新方法，研究时尚和生活方式SMI的自有品牌实践，并调查数字媒体与日常生活之间的关系。

The popularisation of social media has given rise to thefigure of the social media influencer (SMI). SMIs have thepower to influence societies, economies, and cultures(Abiden, 2018). Most research on SMIs focuses on the West(e.g. Page, 2012; Khamis, Ang, & Welling, 2016), yetinfluence relies on and reflects social values. China and itssocial media are increasingly important globally, sounderstanding how influencers self-brand in China and howthis compares with the West is essential. This study fillsthis gap, utilising the concepts of self-branding,authenticity and postfeminism to understand how fashionand lifestyle SMIs whose online branding activities reflect"the post-feminist self-brand" (Barnet-Weiser, 2012) workacross different socio-cultural contexts. I will analyse andcompare their posts on two major visual social mediaplatforms: 1) Instagram which is widely used by Westerninfluencers; 2) Xiaohongshu, a comparable social mediaplatform in China. A novel mixed methodology includingcontent analysis, platform analysis, together withinterviews will be used to study fashion and lifestyle SMIs'self-branding practice and investigate the relationshipbetween digital media and everyday life.