Multimodal Self-Expression and Conversation: A Linguistic Analysis of Facebook Posts

The birth of this multimillion-dollar social media industry has infiltrated every aspect of life and altered how we view the world. Facebook has now changed the landscape of media, business, and even the academic world. In this study, three Facebook features used by the respondents as different modes for self-expression and conversation were examined. Profiling of 30 respondents was done. Identity analysis was used to examine the respondents’ status updates, conversation analysis for their comments and semiotic analysis for their uploaded photos. These analyses are used to reveal how users utilize the studied Facebook features to show their identities, connect with friends and express themselves, thus, giving a piecemeal of the happenings in their lives.