Hyperpersonal Communication on Instagram: A Netnographic Study of Digital Identity Construction Among Female Students at the University of Darussalam Gontor

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-622-2_8How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Hyperpersonal Model; Digital Identity; Selective Self-Presentation; Instagram; Religious Identity

Abstract

Joseph Walther’s Hyperpersonal Model, employed in this study, examines the complex mechanisms underlying the construction of digital identity amongst female communication students at Darussalam Gontor University. In contemporary digital culture, social media platforms have evolved and transformed by showcasing their users’ public identities. This study employs a qualitative descriptive research design within a netnographic framework; it empirically examines how institutional values are represented in digital spaces using the four core dimensions of hyperpersonal communication: Selective Self-Presentation, Overattribution, Asynchronous Channel, and Feedback Loop. Data analysis was conducted through digital observation of participants’ Instagram feeds, visual content archives, and stories, which were then triangulated with semi-structured in-depth interviews. Empirical findings indicate that participants strategically utilise Instagram’s asynchronous features to craft highly curated and idealised visual and textual narratives. This idealised projection deliberately distances their online representations from the structural realities of their physical campus environment, which is rooted in a pesantren/Islamic context. This deliberate self-presentation triggers cognitive overattribution amongst followers, who internalise this stylised digital performance as absolute reality. This perceptual bias generates a powerful feedback loop; digital validation within the accepted social sphere manifested through ‘likes’, comments and follower metrics acts as an intensifying mechanism that compels the female students to continuously display and maintain their hyperpersonal identities. This study contributes to the advancement of the literature on digitally mediated communication by offering critical insights into how traditional religious boundaries are renegotiated within modern virtual ecosystems.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Diah Rukmini
AU  - Fathimah Septiani Nakhodka
AU  - Quinta Az-Zahra A
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
TI  - Hyperpersonal Communication on Instagram: A Netnographic Study of Digital Identity Construction Among Female Students at the University of Darussalam Gontor
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication, Digital Ecosystem, and Society (ICODES 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 103
EP  - 120
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-622-2_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-622-2_8
ID  - Rukmini2026
ER  -