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探討台灣網紅母親在Instagram上的自我呈現 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治⼤學國際傳播英語碩⼠學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩⼠論⽂ Master’s Thesis. 立. 政 治 大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. 探討台灣網紅母親在 Instagram 上的自我呈現 Are We Perfect Mothers Yet? Exploring Taiwanese Mother Influencers’ Selfpresentation on Instagram. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Student:Sally Hsi-Yu Wang 王希予 Advisor:Sumei Wang, Ph.D. 王淑美. 中 華 民 國 ⼀ ⼀ ○ 年 ㄧ 月 January 2021. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(2) 探討台灣網紅母親在 Instagram 上的自我呈現 Are We Perfect Mothers Yet? Exploring Taiwanese Mother Influencers’ Selfpresentation on Instagram 研究生:王希予 Student: Sally Hsi-Yu Wang 指導教授:王淑美. 立. Advisor: Sumei Wang, Ph.D.. 政 治 大. 國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 碩士論文. er. io. sit. y. ‧. Nat. A Thesis. n. a lInternational Master’s Program Submitted to in iv n U e n g c h i Studies International Communication. Ch. National Chengchi University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the degree of Master of Arts. 中華民國一 一 ○年 ㄧ 月 January 2021. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(3) Acknowledgement My sincerest gratitude will be to my advisor, Dr. Sumei Wang, who incessantly provided me with profound knowledge and professional assistance throughout my thesis. I much appreciated her dedication and time of always helping me. She has been the best source of inspiration and has guided me to the right track of soliciting the answers to my questions. I would also like to thank the committees for this thesis. Dr. Szu-Ping Lin and Dr. Ting-Yu Kang. They have aided me with inspiring and constructive suggestions and have taken time to attend my thesis defenses.. 政 治 大. I must show my appreciation to the mother influencers who participated in this. 立. research. I could not fulfill my research without them. I would also thank my friends. ‧ 國. 學. for being my mental supports and encouraging me during the thesis process. Finally, I. ‧. would thank my parent for supporting me in pursuing my academic achievement.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. i DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(4) Abstract Taiwan has become a country with high mobile usages on Instagram. The increasing population engaging in the social media platform has led to the proliferation of influencers. The user-generated content and its image-based environment allow individuals to present themselves. The reflective features of exploring self-presentation targeted this research towards exploring the social-cultural meanings behind the visual pictures on Instagram profiles. Moreover, social media has transformed into a platform where parents could seek parenting information. In this research, mothers were the primary target group since their comparatively-high engagements among parents on social media.. 立. 政 治 大. Overarching self-presentation in this research, the analysis was based on decoding. ‧ 國. 學. the mothers’ manifestations on Instagram and unveiling the motivations of manifesting. ‧. themselves from their narratives. In this qualitative research, online observation and indepth interviews on seven Taiwanese mother influencers on Instagram. Findings of the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. two-staged investigations explained the mother influencers’ phenomenon of constructing ideal self-presentation on Instagram. Results revealed that Taiwanese. al. n. iv n C mothers on Instagram were unawarehof they were under e n g c h i U the tremendous influencer of patriarchal beliefs and thus commodified themselves as the products of patriarchy.. Keywords: Patriarchy, motherhood, maternal identity, influencers, Instagram, Taiwanese, self-presentation, social media, East Asia. ii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(5) 摘要 Instagram 在台灣已有⾼度使用率,⽽使用社群媒體的⼈數更是逐年攀升, 其中 Instagram 以影像為主的環境和使用者原創的特性與網紅的產⽣息息相 關,因此,Instagram 網紅值得更深⼊地探究。使用社群媒體的族群在現今也不 僅限於青少年。相較於⽗親,母親傾向使用社群平台汲取養育資訊,也成為此 項研究著重的對象。尤其在台灣社會以及⽂化影響之下,母親呈現自⼰的⽅式 與圖像也會有所不同。研究中以線上觀察以及深度訪談作為研究⽅法揭開網紅. 政 治 大 母親自我呈現。此項研究揭露⽗權體制下的母親如何呈現自我並商品化本身成 立 ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 為⽗權的產物。. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 關鍵字: 母職、⽗權、網紅、社群媒體、東亞、自我呈現. iii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(6) Table of Contents Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................i Abstract …………………...........................................................................................ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................iv List of Figures and Tables...........................................................................................vii 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 1.1 Research Background ....................................................................................1 1.2 Motivations ....................................................................................................6 2.3 Scope and Objectives ......................................................................................7. 2. 政 治 大 Literature Review ..................................................................................................8 立. ‧ 國. 學. 2.1 Influencers’ Self-presentation on Visual-based Instagram …........................8 2.1.1 Self-presentation in an online environment ….......................................9. ‧. 2.2 Uncovering the Good Mother Ideologies .....................................................11. sit. y. Nat. 2.2.1 The common theme .............................................................................11. n. al. er. io. 2.3 Being Mothers in East Asia ..........................................................................13. v. 2.3.1 Modern women in patriarchal systems.................................................14. Ch. engchi. i Un. 2.4 Taiwanese Mothers in the Modern Era .........................................................16 2.4.1 Working mothers and the existing ideologies…..................................17 2.5 Summary ......................................................................................................20 3. Research Questions and Methods ........................................................................22 3.1 Research Questions ......................................................................................22 3.2 Research Design ..........................................................................................23 3.2.1 Online observation ..............................................................................23 3.2.2 In-depth interviews .............................................................................24 3.3 Participant Sample .......................................................................................26 iv DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(7) 3.4 Procedure .....................................................................................................29 3.5 Data Collection ............................................................................................31 3.5.1 Online observation ..............................................................................31 3.5.2 In-depth interviews .............................................................................39 3.6 Data Analysis ...............................................................................................40 3.6.1 Ethical considerations .........................................................................41 3.6.2 Reflexivity...........................................................................................42 4. Interviewees and Their Instagram Profiles............................................................43 4.1 Rose..............................................................................................................44. 政 治 大. 4.2 Emma...........................................................................................................47. 立. 4.3 Annie............................................................................................................50. ‧ 國. 學. 4.4 Cathy............................................................................................................52. ‧. 4.5 Katie.............................................................................................................55. sit. y. Nat. 4.6 Anna.............................................................................................................59. io. er. 4.7 Cara..............................................................................................................61. al. 4.8 Summary: The Commonalities and Discrepancies……………..................63. n. iv n C 4.8.1 The participants...................................................................................63 hengchi U 4.8.2 The revealing of children.....................................................................64 4.8.3 The settings of the pictures...................................................................65. 5. The Mothers’ Perspectives and Motivations.........................................................66 5.1 Benefits and Rewards ..................................................................................67 5.1.1 Overcoming the mother isolation with social support.........................67 5.1.2 Benefiting economically even in different financial echelons.............71 5.1.3 Transforming the traditional mother beliefs.........................................74 5.2 Summary ......................................................................................................78 v DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(8) 6. Do New Images Mean New Mothers? .................................................................79 6.1 The Maternal Identity Construction..............................................................79 6.2 The Mother-blaming Culture........................................................................84 6.3 Commodification of the New Maternal Images............................................89 6.4 Summary......................................................................................................92. 7. Conclusion............................................................................................................93 7.1 The Consequences and Implications of the Phenomenon of Instagram Mother Influencers............................................................................................................96 7.1.1 Creating a spontaneous mother fantasy................................................97. 政 治 大 7.1.3 Circulating pressure.............................................................................99 立 7.1.2 Othering the mothers who have failed to meet social expectations…...97. ‧ 國. 學. 7.1.4 Double-binding the mothers..............................................................100 7.2 Contribution..................................................................................................101. ‧. 7.3 Suggestions for Future Research...................................................................102. Nat. sit. y. 7.4 Limitation.....................................................................................................102. n. al. er. io. References ...............................................................................................................104. i Un. v. Appendix..................................................................................................................120. Ch. engchi. vi DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(9) List of Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1. Encoding and Decoding of Broadcast Structures………………........……...20 Figure 2. The Instagram Categories of Mother Influencers Recommended by Its Algorithm……………………………………………………………….....28 Figure 3. The process of sorting out the information.....................................................41 Figure 4. The Content of Rose’s Dressing Style............................................................45 Figure 5. Rose’s Sponsored Contents...........................................................................46. 政 治 大. Figure 6. Emma’s Sponsored Contents.........................................................................48. 立. Figure 7. Emma’s Main Theme ....................................................................................48. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 8. Emma’s Working Scenario............................................................................49. ‧. Figure 9. Emma’s Content of Sharing Her Kids...........................................................50. sit. y. Nat. Figure 10. The Content of Annie Sharing Her Outfits with Her Baby.........................51. n. al. er. io. Figure 11. Annie’s Content of Her Jewelry Brand........................................................52. i Un. v. Figure 12. Cathy’s Lifestyle Photography....................................................................53. Ch. engchi. Figure 13. Cathy’s Content of How to Make the Infant Meals......................................54 Figure 14. Katie’s Fashion Outfits................................................................................56 Figure 15. Katie’s Participation in the Fashion Events.................................................57 Figure 16. Katie shared her nurturing tips.....................................................................58 Figure 17. Anna’s Lengthy Captions............................................................................59 Figure 18. The Content of Anna’s Daughter.................................................................60 Figure 19. Cara’s Selfies and Portrait Photos................................................................62 Figure 20. Cathy’s Sponsored Content of a Baby Safety Seat.......................................71 vii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(10) Figure 21. Annie’s Story...............................................................................................83 Figure 22. The Circulating pressure on the mothers in Taiwan.....................................99. Tables Table 1. The Interviewees’ Description………………………..……….……..……...30 Table 2. A Summary of the Researched Interviewees’ Instagram Profiles…………....31. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. viii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(11) Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Background International Telecommunication Union (ITU, 2018) estimated that by the end of 2018, 51.2% of the global population would be using the Internet, or roughly 3.8 billion people, making this a significant achievement. The Internet has brought about the prevalence of many types of mobile devices. ITU (2018) further pointed out that. 政 治 大 Simply put, on average individuals 立 possess more than one mobile device.. mobile-cellular subscriptions surpassed 100% of the global population worldwide.. ‧ 國. 學. With the ubiquitous Internet and the proliferation of mobile devices, the population of using social media has been continuously increasing year by year.. ‧. Scholars reported that there were 3.03 billion active social media users among the total. Nat. sit. y. population in November 2018 (Szymkowiak & Garczarek-Bak, 2019). Taiwan itself. n. al. er. io. can be described as a country with exceedingly high mobile usage on social media. i Un. v. (Huang & Su, 2018). In fact, 76% of the country’s Internet users use social media. Ch. engchi. (Taiwan Network Information Center, 2018).. Social media in the past few years have changed human communication behaviors tremendously. Researchers from disparate spheres have investigated social media, such as operations, practices, meanings, culture, and the usages of the platforms. In other words, social media admittedly cover a topic worth much more discussion. Social media are described as a phenomenon (Safko, 2010; Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy & Silvestre, 2011), with their origin traced back 20 years ago (Kaplan & Haelein, 2010). Diverse social networking platforms have emerged due to the. 1 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(12) development of ubiquitous Internet access (Kaplan & Haelein, 2010). Online diaries and blogs were established early in the epoch of social media (Kaplan & Haelein, 2010). Scholars have suggested social media are forms of communication channels (Grabowicz, Ramasco, Moro, Pujol & Eguiluz, 2012) and “communication websites” (Kapoor, Tamilmani, Rana, Patil, Dwivedi & Nerur, 2018, p.531). Apart from entertainment, people can easily access social media for daily updates and news or even for bonds among family and friends (Kapoor et al., 2018). Social media indeed have facilitated social connections between varied milieu (Boyd & Ellison, 2007; Kapoor et al., 2018), whereas a firm social structure could also be facilitated (Kapoor et al., 2018).. 政 治 大. Boyd and Ellison (2007, p.211) defined social media as “web-based services”,. 立. while Kaplan and Haelein (2010, p.60) referred to social media as “Internet-based. ‧ 國. 學. applications” that are ideologically and technically involved with “Web 2.0”. Obar and. ‧. Wildman (2015) suggested that Web 2.0 is the lubrication of ideology and usergenerated content. Scholars have considered user-generated content as an indispensable. y. Nat. er. io. sit. factor leading to the rise of social media platforms (Daugherty, Eastin & Bright, 2008; Christodoulides, 2009; Smith, Fischer & Yongjian, 2012; Whiting & Williams, 2013;. al. n. iv n C Greenwood & Gopal, 2015; Fatantih& Suyandnya, 2015). e n g c h i U Through the exchange of user-generated content, people are allowed to express and communicate quite freely.. Fatanti and Suyadnya (2015) stated that user-generated content has contributed to the emergence of social media platforms such as Instagram. Instagram stands out around the globe, being the most popular among social media (Huang & Su, 2018). McNely (2012) stated that Instagram is the fastest-growing company among the increasing growth of social media sites. Named after the words “instant” and “telegram” (Huang & Su, 2018), Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in. 2 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(13) October 2010 (Rebelo, 2017). It is a social media application in which users can share their photos and videos instantly with built-in filters either publicly or privately. Social media have brought about social influences through interactive platforms with possibilities of creating and sharing (Fang, Sang, Xu & Rui, 2014). Instagram is a platform where people can share their daily lives and experiences through pictures and videos. From posting to commenting, Instagram has transformed the way people communicate. When taken as the source of information, so-called “influencers” have become one major element of social media. With people’s increasing need for gathering information. 政 治 大. from social media, trusted opinion leaders like influencers (Gretzel, 2017) have sprung. 立. up online as a source of advice (Casaló, Cisneros, Flavián & Guinalíu, 2009; Thakur,. ‧ 國. 學. Angriawan & Summey, 2016; Casaló, Flavián & Ibáñez-Sánchez, 2018). What has. ‧. made social media crucial for the rise of influencers is the element of user-generated content (Daugherty et al., 2008; Christodoulides, 2009; Smith et al., 2012; Greenwood. y. Nat. er. io. sit. & Gopal, 2015). The exchange of user-generated content allows people to express and communicate through social media (Whiting & Williams, 2013), and thus influencers. al. n. iv n C can leverage their influence online (Audrezet, Kerviler & Moulard, 2018). Namely, h e n g De chi U. influencers exert their impact on the Internet by videos, blogs, and social networking sites (Senft, 2008, p.25). Marwick (2013) noted that social media grant everyone the possibility of becoming a famous icon through the Internet and denoted as a niche group. Researchers have presented different labels upon influencers (Freberg, Gramham McGaughey & Freberg, 2011; Lahuerta-Otero & Cordero-Gutiérrez, 2016; Li, 2018). Influencers are known as “microcelebrities” (Rebelo, 2017, p.23) or “opinion leaders” (Song, Cho & Kim, 2017). Overall, it is crucial to probe into the aspect of influencers when social media usages are so ubiquitous.. 3 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(14) Scholars have undoubtedly poured great research effort into the sphere of social media usages among influencers and investigated the topic extensively in this digital era. In a study by Rebelo (2017), the evolution of social media is said to contribute to the proliferation of influencers, such as Instagrammers, and the term “Instafame” (Erz, Marder & Osadchaya, 2018, p.9). With the instancy of communication, Instagram possesses the benefit of visual information (Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2017). Since Instagram is an image-based application and is the most reflective for exploring the self-presentation of social media users (Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2017). Herring and Kapidzic (2015) also emphasized. 政 治 大. earlier that social media profiles allow self-presentation to take place .. 立. “Self-presentation is ubiquitous in social life” (Ward, 2016, p.84). On Instagram. ‧ 國. 學. profiles, substantial studies have investigated different users such as athletes (Smith &. ‧. Sanderson, 2015; Geurin-Eagleman & Burch, 2016; Gainor, 2017), teenagers or adolescents (Chua & Chang, 2016; Sarita & Suleeman, 2017; Kleemans, Daalmans,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Carbaat & Anschütz, 2018; Yau & Reich, 2019), and influencers (Abidin, 2016; Tyer, 2016; De Veirman, Cauberghe, & Hudders, 2017; Audrezet et al., 2018; Erz et al., 2018;. al. n. iv n C Cano, 2019; Hurley, 2019). Despitehsuch prominent research, the current study looks engchi U to fill the gap in this literature from a different angle. It aims to investigate mother influencers rather than just influencers.. Mothers sometimes are the most active demographic group in social media (EMarketer, 2015). In a social media report from Pew Research Center that surveyed American parents, mothers are considered to be heavily engaged on social media versus fathers (Duggan, Lenhart, Lampe, & Ellison, 2015). They use social media as a parenting tool when they seek answers to parenting questions (Duggan et al., 2015; Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2017). Moreover, women favor seeking support by. 4 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(15) developing friendships with other new mothers when they transit into becoming mothers (Brunton, Wiggins & Oakley, 2011). They are likely to give and receive support through social networks (Duggan et al., 2015). Nowadays, social media are more than a tool for parenting or seeking support. More and more young mothers engage in social media for blogging and social networking reasons (McDaniel, Coyne & Holmes, 2012). Regarding mothers’ social media usages, it is inevitable to discuss their presentation online. Mothers often display themselves in unreal situations compared to reality (Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2017). Djafarova and Trofimenko (2017) found that. 政 治 大. mother influencers with more followers tend to show unrealistic yet ideal images of. 立. themselves (Djafarova & Trofimenko, 2017). Concerning unrealistic images, Antonis. ‧ 國. 學. (1981) identified that the idealized manifestation of motherhood in the media to society. ‧. is often at odds to reality (Liamputtong, 2006). Smythe (2006) depicted mothers as having roles of just changing diapers, washing the dishes in the sink, cooking dinner,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. and doing laundry. In contrast to mothers in real life, our research observes that mothers on Instagram typically present their lives with a contrasting exposition, such as. al. n. iv n C enjoying afternoon tea, h and dressing fancily. e n g c h i U This distinct phenomenon. shopping,. intrigued our curiosity, and thus I want to focus on motherly impressions in society.. According to Liamputtong (2006, p.28), the performance of motherhood is culturally involved, which prompts this current study to probe the topic that is specific to Taiwan. Johansson (2001) mentioned the different depictions of East Asian women compared to Western women. The former are “reserved and shy” without flaunting their intelligence and good-looking (Munshi, 2013, p.108). Aside from revealing their cleverness and appearance, East Asian women seem to be more aware of serving their husbands and children (Johansson, 2001; Munshi, 2013). Therefore, this study targets. 5 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(16) to take a further look into how these stereotypes affect Taiwanese mothers in selfpresentation on social media. I take an important step to explore mothers from a cultural aspect to grasp a better understanding of both Taiwanese mothers and society. Few studies have focused on the influence leveraged by society when it comes to self-presentation on social media, as well as probing into a more profound aspect of the perspectives of mothers.. 1.2 Motivations This research looks to uncover the current situation of mothers in Taiwanese. 政 治 大. society and discuss the ideologies constructed vis-à-vis Instagram influencers.. 立. My father works as a teacher at a university, while my mother quit her job a long. ‧ 國. 學. time ago to take care of us. Since my father supplies financial support in the family, she. ‧. feels obligated to manage everything apart from making money. Also, I’m perplexed about why a mother is responsible for the chores while a father works outside, existing. er. io. sit. y. Nat. as the phenomenon that prevailed in the patriarchal systems.. It is intriguing to me that the mothers I’ve followed for years manifested. al. n. iv n C themselves mostly in a positive way h on Instagram. Compared e n g c h i U to my mother’s whinings. about her living as being a homemaker, the mother influencers shared their lives with happy expressions and even fancy pieces of jewelry. Instagram mother influencers give rise to the following questions: Are they influenced by good mother ideologies that have long existed in the patriarchal system? Is it a kind of self-empowerment when mothers manifest themselves positively to the public? Are mothers satisfying themselves through the reproduction of a good mother impression?. 6 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(17) 1.3 Scope and Objectives This study probes into mother influencers’ self-presentation on social media, especially based on their background and motivation. Prominent researchers from related fields have presented diverse insights into social networking sites. However, the current research approaches the domain from a different angle by focusing on mother influencers. First, rather than solely identifying the patterns of mother influencers’ presentation on Instagram, this study shall discuss the viewpoints from the mother influencers. Second, this study provides a more profound understanding of mothers’ tactics and. 政 治 大. perceptions on self-presentation in an online environment via in-depth interviews.. 立. Third, this study unveils the contextual meanings of such self-presentation so as to. ‧ 國. 學. understand mothers’ construction of self when presenting themselves publicly.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 7 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(18) Chapter 2 Literature Review This chapter first discusses the origin of self-presentation. Second, it illustrates the theory in an online environment due to the proliferation of the Internet and mobile technologies. Third, I review the prominent literature that talk about mother ideologies existing in patriarchal systems. Fourth, I discuss the current situation of mothers in Taiwan. Lastly, a summary appears at the end of this chapter.. 政 治 大. 2.1 Influencers’ Self-presentation on Visual-based Instagram. 立. Erving Goffman (1059) initially brought up the concept of self-presentation in. ‧ 國. 學. 1959, but only focused on face-to-face communication (Ward, 2016). The theorization. ‧. of self-presentation originated from Goffman’s study, “The Presentation of Self in. y. Nat. Everyday Life,” elaborated through a dramaturgic approach (Goffman, 1978). It. er. io. sit. depicted the management of self-presentation as a performance on stage (Goffman, 1978), focusing on the “role” people solely play (Leary & Kowalski, 1990, p.35). In. al. n. iv n C other words, impression management place in the presence of strategies and h etakes ngchi U. tactics of presenting oneself toward a different audience or depending on different occasions. With the strategies and tactics of self-presentation, Goffman stated the purpose of disclosing or concealing information to portray oneself strategically and desirably is linked to pleasing the audience (Baumeister & Hutton,1987). Aside from pleasing the audience, people can also present themselves by matching their ideal selves through self-construction (Baumeister & Hutton, 1987). Leary and Kowalski (1990) referred to self-presentation as a process of individuals’ attempt to control the impression forms of themselves. These scholars specified. 8 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(19) impression management as the process of impression motivation and impression formation, which include the degree of motivation over which people control their images as perceived by others, as well as the process of creating their impression upon others (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). They further noted that the influence of both the mental and external parts of individuals should be taken into account (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). Such a statement amplifies the importance of studying selfpresentation from the mental and external aspects, which prominent researchers have done extensively in recent years. 2.1.1 Self-presentation in an online environment. 政 治 大. With the significance of the theory and the popularity of digital interactions,. 立. scholars have considered that self-presentation does not just exist in a face-to-face. ‧ 國. 學. environment. They continually have adapted Goffman’s ideas to electronic. ‧. environments and discussed related effects and behaviors involved in the presentations of people’s selves (Ward, 2016). Such studies in the literature grant us a more multi-. y. Nat. er. io. sit. faceted knowledge of self-presentation.. Bozeman and Kacmar (1997) found that individuals tend to have a specific goal. al. n. iv n C accordingly their self-presentation. h ebyn regulating gchi U. and present their selves. People. regulate their self-presentation very well when they consider self-regulation as being vital in the process (Vohs, Baumeister, & Ciarocco, 2005). On the other hand, some theorists claimed that individuals could be selective when presenting themselves online. Profiles selected for self-presentation in a computer-mediated environment (Hancock & Toma, 2009) are a carefully-controlled type of selectivity of self-presentation (Walther, 2007). People also select photographs in a computer-mediated environment for selfpresentation (Hancock & Toma, 2009; Tyer, 2016). They select their photos. 9 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(20) strategically to make their profiles more accurate or to possibly match their own expectations of themselves. Especially in a social media context, people will construct “treasured aspects of themselves” digitally (Toma, 2013, p. 201). White (2016) also stated that social networking services have a way of making self-presentation rather distinct. Applying selectivity of self-presentation to Instagram’s profiles, scholars found that Instagram users are more aware of selecting images to foster their “selfconcept” than in making connections with others (Jackson & Luchner, 2018, p.2). In a sense, people might purposely select pictures of themselves on Instagram, which Chae (2017) considered to be the process of editing.. 政 治 大. Several studies on Instagram present different roles and characters’ self-. 立. presentation. Smith and Sanderson (2015) examined athletes’ self-presentation by. ‧ 國. 學. analyzing the contents of Instagram feeds. Geurin-Eagleman and Burch (2016). ‧. examined Olympic athletes’ self-presentation to get a further understanding of their behavior and intention toward self-presentation. Related to gender expectations, Gainor. er. io. sit. y. Nat. (2017) also dug into the field of athletes’ self-presentation.. Sarita and Suleeman (2017) measured the correlation between the need for. al. n. iv n C belonging and self-presentation on Instagram U to Belong Scale. Scholars h e n g cviahthei Need have also investigated adolescent girls concerning the manipulation of Instagram photos (Kleemans et al., 2016). Hurley (2019) emphasized Instagram as being a helpful resource for exploring presentations of identity (Hurley, 2019). The current study thus hopes to shed light on influencers’ presentations on Instagram from a more explorative way in order to grasp a better sense of participants’ viewpoints. Social media have made people become more capable at multi-media presentations and changed celebrity cultures through influencers (Li, 2018). People who are not recognizable enough in the real world could be famous as an influencer. 10 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(21) through the Internet (Li, 2018). The proliferation of influencers has contributed to the practices of self-presentation on social media. By utilizing strategic tactics of selfpresentation (Senft, 2013), influencers attract followers online (Marwick, 2015; Khamis, Ang & Welling, 2017). Instagram grants influencers an opportunity for modifying their self-presentations into idealized ones that they could not achieve in an offline world (Hurley, 2019). Our study investigates Instagram influencers from a different angle and towards a specific aim - Taiwanese mothers. For mother influencers, if they tangle themselves up with any socio-cultural factor when presenting themselves publicly, then their behavior and perspectives towards. 政 治 大. managing their presentations are more distinct compared to other roles. This is an. 立. intriguing topic to probe into and thus allows this research to present its cultural. ‧ 國. 學. perception in terms of Taiwan. The next section discusses mothers and their relation to. ‧. East Asian society.. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 2.2 Uncovering the Good Mother Ideologies. Celebrated mothers on Instagram mainly share their inspirational pictures, styles,. al. n. iv n C and care-free lives (Djafarova & Trofimenko, instead of the harsh hours spent h e n g c2017), hi U. at nurturing kids and doing chores. Djafarova and Trofimenko (2017) noted that the followers of the celebrated mothers are obliged to keep positive online images to match the “perfect mother” theme on their social media profiles (p.25). Hence, this research is curious about the fact that mothers only reveal positive images to the public and ponders over whether there are good mother ideologies to follow. 2.2.1 The common theme A “common culture of motherhood” has been derived in the literature, although mothering is quite individual and subjective (Thomson, Kehily, Hadfield & Sharpe,. 11 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(22) 2008). Speaking of commonness, the discourse of motherhood is often presented in terms of “good mother” (Liamputton, p.26). The ideology of “good mother” is pervasive among different cultures and has emerged with a “consistent theme”, such as mother’s devotion (Herr, 2016, p.47). The construction of the ‘ideal mother’ ideology has considerable influence on mothers’ identities and viewpoints. The period in life when women transit into mothers is often perceived as a harsh time and can lead them to question about whether they are “good mothers” (Brunton et al., 2011). A “good mother” is a woman who grants the priority job as nurturing her kids, as portrayed in diverse materials (Chodorow, 1978). Mothers even cover the. 政 治 大. expense of mothering on their own, while fathers are sometimes free from the job of. 立. child-nurturing (Hertz, 2017). As cited in Kim and Okazaki’s study (2017), Hays (1996). ‧ 國. 學. referred to motherhood as the paradigm of a good mother, in which “intensive. intensive, and financially expensive” (p.8).. Nat. y. ‧. mothering” can be “child-centered, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labor-. er. io. sit. Mothers feel obligated to follow mothering ideologies in patriarchal societies in order to prevent themselves from any accusation of being bad mothers (Holmes, 2006).. al. n. iv n C A patriarchal system has men focus h on work, while women e n g c h i U internalize the motherhood myths and the necessity of being mothers in their minds (Holmes, 2006). Patriarchy. unavoidably defines motherhood as being the only function of women (Holmes, 2006). Thus, the construction of patriarchy is undeniably a means to revisit good mother myths. The definition of a good mother has subordinated women in both traditional and patriarchal-dominated meanings through social construction (Holmes, 2006). Society regards motherhood as necessary for defining gender, which is a topic that feminists have debated over for many years (Holmes, 2006). Finlayson (2016) identified patriarchy as a crucial element in feminism, in which feminism is depicted as something. 12 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(23) people have fought for, but which the status quo has bound them (Finlayson, 2016). In a sense, the patriarchal system, which feminism opposes, provides a context for women to thrive for their emancipation and improvement in their lives (Finlayson, 2016).. 2.3 Being Mothers in East Asia Liamputtong (2006) stated motherhood is a culturally-derived performance of mothering. In a relevant East Asian circumstance, the ideology of good mothers represents the traditional role for females (Zuo & Bian, 2001). Given the appropriate context of this research, I aim to traverse the discourse of mothers culturally and. 政 治 大. geographically as it relates to Taiwan.. 立. Studies have shown that mothers in the East Asian context reflect an intensive. ‧ 國. 學. mothering ideology (Kim & Okazaki, 2017). The ideology exerts its significance in the. ‧. discourse of East Asian mothers. Stivens (1998) depicted mothers as “indulgent, loving, and nurturant” (p.327). A wide array of examples are given in East Asian contexts, such. y. Nat. er. io. sit. as mothers should pay more attention to what is beneficial for their kids instead of what could relax themselves (Imamura, 1996), and mothers should be well-prepared for their. al. n. iv n C children’s school life before it has started 1996). The ideology has affected h e n(Imamura, gchi U. women in Japanese society and disciplined them with “full, busy, active” mother ideologies, thus failing to give them their free time (Imamura, 1996, p,147). Particularly in Asian cultures, the discourse of portraying mothers can be traced back to history and religion. To be more specific, intellectuals have dissembled Asian culture as “Chinese, Confucian, East-Asian, and Oriental culture” (Johansson, 2001, p.94). Confucianism has leveraged a grand influence on women in East Asian countries (Lim & Skinner, 2012). Lim and Skinner (2012) stated that East Asian women are affected by Confucian patriarchal beliefs to some extent. Confucianism accounts for. 13 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(24) the ideology of mothers, in which patriarchy-oriented societies emphasize the importance of family and obedience to husband and son (Herr, 2016). Confucian mothering speaks of the virtue centering around a mother’s devotions and sacrifices to the family through cultivating a child’s intelligence and morals (Herr, 2016). As for the religious cause, motherhood in Asia is associated with Buddha’s ideal relationship between a mother and her child(ren) (Bartholomeusz, 1999). Buddha and mothers share the feature of “loving purely (Bartholomeusz, 1999, p. 89). 2.3.1 Modern women in patriarchal systems Referring to the status of mothers, I first take a look at modernism’s impact on. 政 治 大. East women in the past decade and how it collides with mother ideology in patriarchal. 立. systems. Feminists have asserted that modernity and modern motherhood carry the. ‧ 國. 學. consequence of earlier female power or autonomy loss, which can erode women’s. ‧. situations by the increasing level of “modernity and commoditization” (Stivens, 1998, p.328). Chaplin (2001) talked about the debate in a specific East Asian society.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Japanese women are in an inferior status compared to men, in which emancipation is solely on women’s appearance at that time (Chapin, 2001). In another East Asian. al. n. iv n C context, modernism in a culture occurs an investment (Johansson, 2001, p.95). h elike ngchi U. Apart from the modernism of appearance, modern women are depicted as failing. to preserve several characteristics, such as “female characteristics” and “proper charm” when they transit from traditional women into modern women (Johansson, 2001, p.107). In a sense, modern women need to maintain their femaleness as the essence of beauty. Put briefly, women do not obtain real freedom in life, although they can dress up more freely. Instead of external beauty, women desire to have freedom inside their souls and through their identities.. 14 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(25) Chinese society has also stressed modern women to mind their obligation at being a wife and a mother (Johansson, 2001). A similar idea has influenced mothers in Malaysian society as well (Stivens, 1998). Malay mothers are told to mind their “duties” of being mothers and maintain their looks decently, as promoted through local magazines and government campaigns (Stivens, 1998). The concept of a modern woman leads to condemnation and results in the collapse of family values (Stivens, 1998). In the early 1980s, women in specific East Asian societies were not encouraged to compete with men (Honig & Hershatter, 1988). The burden of “love, marriage and. 政 治 大. childbearing” became something they need to take good care of instead of having a. 立. career (Honig & Hershatter, 1988, p.17). Women should center on their primary job of. ‧ 國. 學. serving husbands and children, instead of boasting about their attractiveness and. ‧. intelligence (Johansson, 2001). Influenced by the “happy family” concept, women’s roles of being wives and mothers are mostly strengthened throughout history and. y. Nat. er. io. sit. glorified in the East Asian context (Stivens, 1998, p.319). Mothers also grant themselves with symbolic value on being housewives in East Asian societies (Lee,. n. al. Tufiş & Alwin, 2010).. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Yang (2017) mentioned that women are treated unequally under at-home scenarios in an East Asian society. Studies have investigated the aspect of housework division to gain a better understanding of inequality among East Asian women in families. Most East Asian wives do more jobs at home compared to their husbands (Qian & Sayer, 2016). In urban China, highly-achieved wives still do most of the housework (Zuo & Bian, 2001). In Japan, the pervasive cultural belief obliges women to bear housework duties via marriage and family roles (Qian & Sayer, 2017). Husbands are providers in families, so wives are inclined to do more chores than husbands (Zuo & Bian, 2001).. 15 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(26) The social construction primarily focuses on a mother’s devotion to family and neglects her achievements, because the patriarchal system keeps operating under a particular ideology of family roles. Certain ideologies not only influence East Asian mothers historically, but also influence women in recent times to some degree.. 2.4 Taiwanese Mothers in the Modern Era Topics concerning mothers in Taiwan are quite diverse. Regarding Taiwanese mothers, Lee (2007) elaborated on the discourse of ideal mothers as it is constructed in Taiwan. Motherhood is an idea that has long been constructed in a patriarchy system. 政 治 大. (Lee, 2007). The ideology rationalizes the concept that women in Taiwan are born to. 立. be mothers (Lee, 2007).. ‧ 國. 學. The ideal roles of the family portray married women’s responsibility as domestic. ‧. workers, while men work outside the home (Pan, 2005). This depiction was prevalent for most modern women even after the 1960s (Pan, 2005). According to Pan (2005),. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Taiwanese mothers with different backgrounds and jobs share a common belief that they are required to do more housework than men in a family. Consequently, patriarchal. al. n. iv n C ideology operates as a tradition for most women to follow (Pan, 2005). h e Taiwanese ngchi U. Taiwanese women are said to face a dilemma between career and family after. marriage (Qian & Sayer, 2016). Most Taiwanese women bear the ideology of being good mothers, sacrificing themselves for marriage and family (Yi & Chien, 2001; Hsu & Chiou, 2015). Married women make their decisions on whether to still work after marriage or pregnancy, which not only involve their attitude towards the issue, but mostly concern mother ideology framed as a traditional family responsibility (Yi & Chien, 2001). Taiwanese women have to make compromises between family and individuals and take devotion toward their family and nurturing kids as their priorities. 16 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(27) (Yi & Chien, 2001; Lee, 2007; Hsu & Chiou, 2015). As Pan (2005) concluded, being mothers means sacrificing themselves. Taiwanese mothers do not dwell much thought on their own sake, but mostly about their husbands and kids. Mothers are prone to be the ones who quit their jobs for marriage or kids (Yi & Chien, 2001; Hsu & Chiou, 2015). 2.4.1 Working mothers and the existing ideologies As I have so far discussed mothers’ sacrifice for the sake of family, it unquestionably prompts us to look into the aspect of the employment rate among Taiwanese women since they have faced pressure to quit their jobs in the past. However,. 政 治 大. the employment rate of Taiwanese women has increased from 45.64% to 50.92% over. 立. the past 20 years. Apart from higher educational levels and increasing job opportunities,. ‧ 國. 學. legislation has spared mothers from choosing between a career and a family.. ‧. The policy of maternal leave and childcare leave without pay was established in Taiwan to relieve women from the pressure of nurturing children and to help them. y. Nat. er. io. sit. return to the workplace with ease (Ministry of Labor, 2017). With the help of regulations, the employment rate of women of childbearing age in Taiwan has been. al. n. iv n C growing over the past 20 years (Ministry of Labor, 2017). Specifically, among married hen gchi U women aged from 15 to 64, the employment rate was 64.5% in 2017 (Ministry of. Labor, 2017). The increasing employment rate of Taiwanese women reveals the fact that the ideology of fathers as providers in a family has gradually changed (Hung, 2015). The responsibility of providing financial support no longer just belongs to fathers, but to mothers as well. Mothers’ role has transformed into more than just caregivers according to the current society, meaning that they are both mothers and workers at the same time (Hung, 2015). Nevertheless, the gradually shifting role of mothers has not had a tremendous impact on the division of domestic works.. 17 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(28) Laws and policies in recent years have given mothers more equal environments. Mothers are still facing an unbalanced situation since the regulations do not have an immense impact on the at-home scenario. As a study revealed, mothers still share a higher portion of housework in a Taiwanese family (Pan, 2005; Hung, 2015). Though mothers have increasingly become working mothers, they are still required to share more housework and be the caregivers in families, because this is rooted in social expectations (Hung, 2015). Apart from inequality at home, working mothers confront other pressures in this patriarchal system. Keyser-Verreault (2018) explicitly addressed the beauty norms and. 政 治 大. mother ideologies that are somewhat intertwined together in our society. Keyser-. 立. Verreault (2018) also brought up the rarity of related research around such topics, which. ‧ 國. 學. reaffirm this research study’s goal to investigate Taiwanese mothers regarding their. ‧. self-presentation. According to that study, the beauty norms have influenced modern Taiwanese women’s appearances and behaviors. Several participants confessed that the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. social ideologies of beauty demand Taiwanese women be submissive, soft, and tender (Keyser-Verreault, 2018). Keyser-Verreault (2018) further evaluated how motherhood. al. n. iv n C and ideal beauty tangled throughouththe lives of highly-achieved mothers in Taiwan. engchi U. That study found that Taiwanese women face a dilemma when they feel obligated to bear children and stay beautiful at the same time. To be more specific, they feel stressed and are concerned about themselves frequently since they are expected to be skinny, young, and beautiful (Keyser-Verreault, 2018). They suffer from criticism of their failure at maintaining their beauty (Keyser-Verreault, 2018). Moreover, the ideologies persuade highly-achieved mothers to act “normal” or be “successful” in Taiwan by pursuing beauty.. 18 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(29) The ideologies overall transform into the criteria forcing mothers to match the representation of ideal mothers and to comply with mainstream beauty. Throughout the discussion above, a significant issue comes out in the literature. This issue concerns how the ideologies imposed on mothers affect themselves, which is worthy of more investigation.. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 19 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(30) 2.5 Summary Mother influencers are now rising at a different side online compared to mothers in the past. They share their daily lives on social media via their efforts at managing their self-presentation. It is not a one-way activity when users engage in social media and produce contents there. In other words, their preference for posting can also be molded at the same time. The best illustration of such a case is the encoding and decoding model of communication by Stuart Hall. Hall (2001) explained how specific meanings and values are produced, disseminated, and interpreted. According to Hall (2001), the audience. 政 治 大. decodes particular messages when they actively immerse themselves in social contexts. 立. and manufactured information through collective action (see Figure 1).. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Figure 1. Encoding and decoding of broadcast structures (Hall, 2001, p.165). Motherhood is very dynamic. It grants various meanings not just in different cultures, but also through the travel of time. Lee (2007) stated that the different images of mothers constructed in every specific period in Taiwan are not just discourses in the. 20 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(31) culture of the masses. They are phenomena happening around them at the same time (Lee, 2007). Mother influencers unquestionably deserve further exploration in contemporary society. According to the index produced by the Executive Yuan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics about gender equality in Taiwan, Taiwan is at the highest level among all Asian countries (Drillsma, 2019). However, does this mean the mothers in Taiwan have thrown off the ideologies of being good mothers? Do mothers no longer bear the burden that patriarchal societies have bestowed upon them? Are the mother myths still influencing them without any awareness either fully or partially?. 政 治 大. This study takes a look at the manifestations of mothers and further examines. 立. easily-accessed social media platforms to search for the meanings and values in modern. ‧ 國. 學. society. To date, the intent of exploring mother influencers’ self-presentation in Taiwan. ‧. is still insufficiently explored, and no studies have empirically addressed the topic from a socio-cultural angle. Therefore, I investigate this crucial issue to understand how. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. presentation online.. sit. mother influencers present themselves publicly and offer social ideologies through their. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 21 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(32) Chapter 3 Research Questions and Methods This chapter discusses the process of how this investigation aims to be conducted. The current research shall explore how the reproduction of a good mother in Taiwanese society influences mothers in the modern era. By looking into mothers’ profiles, I want to seek significance in how they portray themselves on social media, especially the image-based platform of Instagram. To uncover how socio-cultural norms are embedded in their minds, this study’s primary focus is mothers’ perspectives on their. 政 治 大 The research plan is to conduct online observations and in-depth interviews with 立. presentation of selves as well as their Instagram accounts.. ‧ 國. 學. mother influencers. Social media empower users to manage their presentations and to make an unknown person famous rather quickly. Additionally, different from users. ‧. with private accounts, influencers operate public accounts and have numerous. Nat. sit. y. followers. Their points of view are more noteworthy and valuable than just mother users. n. al. er. io. in general on social media.. 3.1 Research questions. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. To obtain answers to this topic, more precise information is required to be found through relevant questions. I seek to answer the following questions. 1. What spurs mother influencers to present themselves on Instagram? 2. How do mother influencers recreate their mother impressions through selfpresentation on Instagram?. 22 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(33) 3.2 Research design Based on the purpose of this research, the examinations will adopt a qualitative approach. I utilize a two-stage investigation, including online observations and narrative inquiries to answer the research questions. The qualitative approach provides ‘strong validity’ in investigations, in which data are obtained from narratives and everyday stories (Gray, 2003, p. 71). In other words, while a quantitative investigation provides preliminary results of the overall population, qualitative analysis fills the gap in failing to realize further implications of the participants’ knowledge. As Creswell (2014) explicated in the book, the qualitative. 政 治 大. approach can explore and understand “the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a. 立. social or human problem” (p.4).. ‧ 國. 學. Data collected from the qualitative approach is said to provide a more detailed. ‧. description for explaining why culture is a specific way (Constable, Cowell, Crawford, Golden, Hartvigsen, Morgan & Turner, 2005). Gray (2003) suggested that a qualitative. y. Nat. er. io. sit. approach to cultural studies can dissect humans’ meanings in everyday life and how they relate to their identities or even social relations. The flexibility that qualitative. al. n. iv n C methods have is suitable for the “dynamic and cultural process” (Gray, 2003, p. h e nnatural gchi U 18).. 3.2.1 Online observation An observation can get a better picture of the participants. Researchers are able to utilize the materials gathered from observations to complement their study (Gray, 2003). By observing Instagram profiles, I are able to log essential information, including their photos and dialogues in the observation stage, so that I can get acquainted with the participants’ backgrounds and be familiar with their social media usages in advance.. 23 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(34) During the investigation online, I will observe the participants regarding their Instagram profiles. An observer means that the process will be running without any interaction with the participants. In other words, this type of observation intends to eliminate the existence of the researcher in the process (Owen, 2014). Therefore, the researcher will not affect the dynamics of the observing situation (Owen, 2014). In the modified categories developed by Dewalt and Dewalt (2002), they precisely defined the observation type this research shall use toward Instagram as passive participation (Owen, 2014). Passive participation takes place when the researcher does not have any interaction with participants and acts like a complete observer (Owen,. 政 治 大. 2014, p.3). To be more specific, the researcher is on-site and is able to choose whether. 立. to interact with participants when embarking on passive observation (Owen, 2014).. ‧ 國. 學. However, the level of passive involvement can be elevated since the researcher could. ‧. choose whether or not to interact (Owen, 2014). Passive participation undoubtedly inherits the benefit of pure observations and explains the situation that a researcher. er. io. al. iv n C I will adopt interviews. h e nin-depth gchi U. n. 3.2.2 In-depth interviews In the second stage,. sit. y. Nat. can’t be fully excluded in the environment being observed.. More specifically, the. narrative inquiry method takes place in this investigation since it is appropriate to the fields of social science (Constable et al., 2005). Interviews allow one to delve into a more profound aspect rather than just the surface when looking to explore “attitudes, opinions, and behaviors” through participants’ responses (Gray, 2003, p.94). The indepth interviews with the participants follow the semi-structured paradigm in this research. Semi-structured interviews perhaps exist as the most widespread type in human and social science (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018). They enable researchers to adapt interview inquiries and to come up with relevant questions based on participants’. 24 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(35) responses. On the other hand, in-depth interviews make questions more answerable by extracting participants’ responses in a more profound sense (Gray, 2003). Researchers could derive meanings from the participants’ “attitudes, behaviors, and experiences” through in-depth interviews (Nolan, Hendricks, Williamson & Ferguson, 2018, p.746). As Bryman (2015) noted, in-depth interviews avail researchers with viewpoints to optimize the theory. Riessman (2008) believed that narrative interviewing could form a more detailed analysis instead of merely brief answers or general points. Compared to a quantitative approach, interviews exhibit the rareness and preciousness of information from the. 政 治 大. participants. The rareness and preciousness factors strengthen the profoundness of the. 立. research, which thus enables the researcher to take a closer look at the meanings that. ‧ 國. 學. are created through their stories. Narrative inquiry also allows researchers to investigate. ‧. in an interpretive way (Nolan et al., 2018), as it elicits and analyzes the narratives from participants (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach & Zilber, 1998). A narrative investigation is the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. design of inquiry from individual life stories (Creswell, 2014). Stories are exhibited as part of “flux and flow of identity” (Gray, 2003, p. 109) and represent individuals’ daily. n. al. C het al., 2005). U n i life (Lieblich et al., 1998; Constable engchi. v. Interview participants can integrate their views of lives during the process of. narrating events or when responding to questions (Creswell, 2014). Namely, when participants account for their life stories, they adopt their identity in society and social groups and change their center and lifestyle choices (Nolan et al., 2018, p.747). Consequently, narratives grant meanings through their interpretation in a particular time frame and are confined within a specific culture when participants share their incidents and experiences in life (Riessman, 2008).. 25 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(36) To sum up the benefits of the narrative methodological framework, it inherits detailed and thorough information for the researcher to explore, while granting the researcher with fluidity and reflexivity during the research (Nolan et al., 2018). Thus, the researcher will be able to find out the socially-constructed knowledge (Nolan et al., 2018) or shared characteristics, processes, and facts (Campbell & Hart, 2019, p.1683) that are revealed among participants’ narratives.. 3.3 Participant sample To meet the goal of this research, I employed purposeful sampling. As scholars. 政 治 大. have stated, purposeful sampling is a widely-used strategy among qualitative research. 立. (Palinkas, Horwitz, Green, Wisdom, Duan & Hoagwood, 2015). Specified in. ‧ 國. 學. purposeful samplings, I strategically selected intensity sampling to fit the purpose of. ‧. exploring different types of mother influencers according to the established categories on Instagram. The purposeful sampling strategies modified by Suri (2011) indicate that. y. Nat. er. io. sit. intensity sampling aims at developing understandings of the phenomena studied (Benoot, Hannes & Bilsen, 2016). Scholars have adopted this kind of sampling to. al. n. iv n C identify important participants or participants many stories (Draucker, Martsolf, h e n g cwith hi U Ross & Rusk, 2007). Hence, via intensity sampling, this current research selected. participants who can best uncover the particular phenomenon of culture that this research aims to explore. Benoot, Hannes, and Bilsen (2016) believed it is crucial to choose intensity sampling as a strategy, because it affects further analysis. Scholars have correspondingly regarded intensity sampling as a rich source of interest (Suri, 2011; Benoot et al., 2016). As Teddlie and Yu (2007) noted, intensity sampling is a means for either seeking representative or comparability.. 26 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(37) Through intensity sampling, this research invited Taiwanese women with kids, who are deemed to be Instagram influencers, to participate in the study, because they may be under more pressure when exposing themselves online compared to unknown mother users on Instagram. Participants were eligible for the investigation if they met the following criterion: Taiwanese mother users with over 1000 followers. Li (2018) stated that influencers with 1000 to 100,000 followers are in the “up-and-coming” category, influencers with over 100,000 followers are in the “popular” category, and influencers with over 1 million followers exert the “highest online influence” (p.535). Also, the children of the interviewee are all aged under 12 since Child Welfare. 政 治 大. Act of our country explicitly defined “children” as the individuals aged under 12. 立. (Executive Yuan, n.d.). The age frame includes the children aged from 0 to 6 who are. ‧ 國. 學. considered as the groups that needs special care, namely can’t be left alone or be taken. ‧. care by inappropriate caregivers (Executive Yuan, n.d.).. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 27 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(38) As the beginning step of the first-stage investigation, this research surveyed Instagram for one week to see what mother influencers Instagram recommended from its algorithm. Within the 7 days of survey period, the Instagram accounts recommended by its algorithm and met the criteria of this research were classified as Figure 2. The accounts own by mother influencers with children aged over 12 were excluded. And, the accounts own by father or both of the mother and father were excluded. The accounts of influencers who are not mothers were excluded as well.. 立. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. i Un. v. Figure 2. The Instagram categories of mother influencers recommended. Ch. engchi. by its algorithm. The purpose of surveying the popular recommendations of mother influencers by Instagram was to ensure the proper gathering of information among different types, which helped me find distinct answers among different categories of mother influencers. I aimed to recruit at least three different types of mother influencers among the recommendations by Instagram. I would look into the aspect of whether different types of mother influencers have different usages of social media. However, only 7 of them replied and accepted to participant in this research. To be more specific, 7 participants 28 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(39) from Blogger, Personal Blog, and Video Creator categories joined the research. The above three categories were defined as the professional accounts on Instagram. On Instagram, individuals would proceed to choose their accounts whether they were creators or businesses. The above process was to determine the profiles in similar professional accounts for the Instagram algorithm. On Instagram, the Creator type was best for public figures, content producers, artists and influencers, and the Business type were best for retailers, local business, brands, organizations, and service providers. According to my experience, individuals are allowed to choose their preferred categories and freely define themselves as creators or businesses.. 政 治 大. In a nutshell, the 7 participants in this research chose and displayed their categories. 立. on profiles according to their wills. As I have observed, the “blogger” and “personal. ‧ 國. 學. blog” mother influencers did not exhibit much difference. The consistent contents of. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 3.4 Procedure. ‧. these two types of mother influencers would be later discussing in chapter 4 (p.43).. In this research, I conducted two-staged investigation with online observations and. al. n. iv n C in-depth interviews with each participant for this qualitative approach. The h e individually ngchi U first stage was to obtain the fundamental information from the participants. The second stage were in-depth interviews following a semi-structured paradigm. The essential data source was derived from both of the observations and the interviews with the mother influencers individually. The seven participants invited to join the current research were consented before the interviews started. The mother influencers from 3 different categories invited by Instagram direct message and accepted to join this research. I had observed their Instagram profiles to gather fundamental information from March 27th to April 25th .. 29 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(40) The Interviewee’s children are all aged under 12, and they have over 1000 followers. Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, all the in-depth interviews were conducted online via Skype or LINE as the mother influencers requested. By conducting the in-depth interviews in Mandarin, the interviewees were able to share more viewpoints and elaborate their perspectives without language barrier. The basic information of the interviewees shows as Table 1 (p.30).. Table 1 The interviewees’ description Age. 立 status. Emma. Creator. #3. Blogger. 35. 4Y. married. 3. 8Y / 8Y /. Married. 1. 10M. Personal. Cathy. Blog. #5. Blogger. 29/4/2020. Youtuber. 28/4/2020 30/4/2020. CEO of a jewelry. al. n. #4. interviews. Clerk in a. 4Y. 26. io. Annie. 1. in-depth. ‧. Video. Divorced. occupation. tea shop. Nat. #2. 29. age. Date of. y. Blogger. children. Current. 學. Rose. ‧ 國. category #1. 政 # of治 Children’s 大. Marital. sit. Instagram. er. Interviewee. 30 38. Ch. n U engchi. Married Married. 1 2. 7M. iv. 2Y/ 5M. Katie. brand Former. 18/5/2020. Nurse Former. 22/5/2020. fashion buyer. #6. Personal. Anna. Blog. #7. Personal. Cara. Blog. 33. Married. 1. 3Y. Flight. 27/5/2020. attendant 40. Married. 2. 10Y/ 8Y. Former. 4/6/2020. PR consultant. 30 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(41) 3.5 Data collection As mentioned above, the investigation involves two stages of data collection. 3.5.1 Online Observation In this stage, I obtained the fundamental knowledge from the mother influencers’ profiles. Information revolved around the following question: What are the mother influencers presenting on their profiles? The primary data collected from the mother influencers’ profiles were mainly about the contents they have posted on Instagram. In a sense, the observation took place on Instagram. The data source was from the profiles of the influencers who had agreed to participate in the study.. 立. 政 治 大. To understand the participants and briefly study their social media usages in. ‧ 國. 學. advance, the observation period of the chosen profiles was 30 days. I logged the data. ‧. as a summary of their profiles in the observation period for grasping a better understanding of the participants (see Table 2, p.31).. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 2. al. Interviewee. n. iv n C A summary of the researched interviewees’ Instagram U profiles heng chi The information. # of. # of. The purpose of the. The visual tactics. shown on Instagram. followers. feeds. pictures & items in. used. biography Rose. -. (Blogger) -. A KOL, Mother,. the pictures 20K. 6259. Sponsoring. Model. products &. Sharing Makeup,. campaigns:. outfit, travel, and. -. -. 1.. -. Coherent color palettes. -. Optimized. Beauty. appearance. baby. products &. (smoothing. Linking LINE. cosmetics. skins). stickers of her. (Facial masks,. daughter. essence, lotion, nail polish,. 31 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(42) lipsticks, foundation, heating hairbrush, brow powder) 2.. Infant & children products (clothes, parent-child outfits, cereals, mouthwash, toilet wipes). 政 治 大 3.. 立. Food (cookies, fried chicken, instant. ‧ 國. 4.. 學. noodles, chips, Daily. necessities. ‧. (body wash,. y. Nat. sunscreen,. toothpaste,. n. al. er. io. papers,. sit. shampoo, toilet. Ch. engchi 5.. i Un. v. underwear, pads). Home appliance (iron,. 6.. Stores & restaurants (dental clinic, aesthetic medicine, appliances). 7.. Services (food delivery app). 8.. Exhibitions &. 32 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(43) movie 9.. Accessories (contact lens, watch, phone case, water bottle, earrings, backpack, shoulder bag). -. Sharing:. 1.. Daily life (makeups, outfits, travels,. 政 治 大. life stories,. 立. emotions). 2.. ‧ 國. 學. being a mother (interactions with her. Modeling &. y. Nat. 3.. ‧. daughter). 11.8K. (Video. -. A mother of 3. Creator). sons. n. al. fond of white. 1278. -. Sharing:. 1.. Daily life. er. Virgo. io. -. sit. photography. Emma. -. Experiences of. iv (camping n Ch e n g c h i Uexperiences,. color-themed life. outfits,. -. makeups,. Part-time working. mother. travels,. -. emotions,. Sharing family. lives, cooking, baby,. errands,. baking, MUJI, mom’s. working. daily, and nail art. situations,. -. daily. Linking own. YouTube channel. -. Coherent color palettes. necessities, luxuries) 2.. Experiences of being a mother. 33 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(44) (her sons, outfits of her twin boys, things she bought, household facilities, cooking) - Promoting new videos on YouTube - Sponsoring: household. 政 治 大. facilities. -. An entrepreneur. (Blogger). -. A Stylish blogger. -. Sharing travel,. 1436. -. Sponsoring. -. products:. ‧ 國. 1.. Filters applied. Beauty. -. Optimized. lifestyle, and. products &. appearance. design. cosmetics (lip. (smoothing. A brand founder /. balm,. blogger in Taiwan. cosmetics,. & Hong Kong. essence) 2.. al. y. skin, slimming body parts). Fashion. er. io. Linking own. sit. Nat. -. 46.4K. ‧. -. 立. 學. Annie. (clothing. n. YouTube channel. Ch. e n g c h i3.. i Un. v. brands, shoes) Infant & children products (parent-child outfits, book, home appliances, wedding ring, baby blanket, child safety seat, diaper, charity). 4.. Accessories. 34 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(45) (suitcase) 5.. Daily necessities (toothbrush, healthy supplements). -. Promoting own products. -. Sharing:. 1.. Experiences of being a mother (nursing experiences,. 政 治 大. breast-feeding. 立. photo, her baby,. ‧ 國. 學. maternity. photography, 100-day. ‧. 2.. Daily life (outfits,. makeups,. n. al. er. io. sit. Nat. baby). y. celebration of. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. travels,. emotions, working situations, daily necessities, long-distanced relationship with her husband, her stories when she’s young, wedding, luxuries). 35 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(46) Cathy. -. Mommy Nurse. (Personal. -. Owns a fan page. Blog). -. Linking own. 6997. 617. -. Sponsoring products:. 1.. blogsite. -. Coherent color-palettes. Infant & children products (baby bottle, hand sanitizer, baby blanket, pacifying toy for infants, baby full month cake, nursing top). 政 治 大 2.. 立. Daily necessities (healthy. ‧ 國. 學. supplements, shampoo). Food (bride. Sharing:. 1.. Daily life. (travels, daily. necessities, her. n. al. er. io. sit. Nat. -. ‧. cookies). y. 3.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. wedding, food, outfits, nail art, emotions). 2.. Experience of being a mother (her baby, stories about pregnancy, maternity photography). -. Promoting new blogpost. 36 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

(47) Katie. -. (Blogger). Former fashion. 102K. 10.3K. -. Sharing:. 1.. Daily life. tone of. Fashion and. (travels, daily. photography. lifestyle. necessities, her. influencer based. wedding, food,. in Taiwan. outfits,. Linking own. emotions,. blogsite. luxuries). buyer -. -. 2.. -. Brighter. Experience of being a mother (her baby, stories about pregnancy,. 政 治 大. maternity. 立. photography). -. Sponsoring. ‧ 國. 6.. 學. products: Beauty. products &. ‧. cosmetics. y. Nat. (luxurious. essence) 7.. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. cosmetics,. Fashion. i Un. v. (clothing brand, luxuries). 3.. Infant & children products. Anna. -. (Personal Blog). A flight attendant. 6128. 993. -. mommy -. -. Sponsoring. -. products:. Presenting. 1.. Infant &. Lengthy captions. -. Advocating. Instagram profile. children. self-love. as a book and. products (Body. and self-. writes stories for. wash, toys,. care. readers. tableware,. A busy working. 2.. Technological. 37 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202100128.

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