Digital Identity Negotiation among Indian Youth: A Study of Instagram Self-Presentation

Author(s)	Dr. Amita, Ms. Ankita Yadav
Country	India
Abstract	In the contemporary digital media landscape, Social media has transformed the way youth perceiveand share their identities. This paper analyzes the negotiation processes and the digital identitiesthat are formed by the youth of India on the social media platform Instagram. The study focuseson fashion and lifestyle micro-creators. The research is qualitative in nature, a sample 10 micro-creators who have followers between 50K and 90K is choose, as theyrepresent a window into youth identity available and relatable enough to negotiate their online identity in a way that the followers can observe and attempt to follow. The data consisted of 2posts and 1 reel per creator, making 30 content items. Thematic analysis of the paper shows that the digital identity in Instagram is a practice of curation that is dynamic and performative and depends on the strategic curation of creators, and the capabilities of the platform.
Keywords	Digital Identity, Micro-Creators, Audience Engagement, Self-Presentation, Indian youth.
Field	Sociology > Journalism / Media
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-07-09
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i04.82944

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