Power, persuasion, self-exhibition: analysing messages from "influencers" on the social media platform Instagram

The social media platform Instagram appears, currently, as a privileged communication space, where users can easily share and publish their photos and videos. We are therefore witnessing the emergence of female influencers, women who gain visibility through publications on this social network and who promote brands through images and comments on the products they advertise. Given Instagram's highly competitive market, this study analyses posts on a Portuguese influencer's page in order to reconsider, on one hand, the linguistic-discursive strategies of comments that convey the ethos of character and credibility and, on the other hand, the strategies at the service of the construction of power and persuasion. The analysis shows that the technique of glamourisation is used to create an excessive effect regarding what is being advertised in order to exert power.