Proceedings of The 6th International Academic Conference on Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/6th.iacrss.2023.03.003
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The Influence of Gender on Cannabis Media in Instagram Social Communication
Hang Liu
ABSTRACT:
This project employed qualitative analysis to study the construction, dissemination, and influence of 10 male influencers and 10 female influencers’ social media content on Instagram from three aspects: design, delivery, and decoding according to the theoretical framework of the ‘circuit of culture‘ raised by Stuart Hall in 1973. Therefore, one goal of this research was to investigate the relationship between gender power and the content strategy of cannabis media by recording and summarizing information about the types of media content, elements, styles, and themes of digital creators of different genders. Findings reveal that the social media content of male cannabis influencers is more focused on cannabis and its derivatives compared with females. However, for female cannabis consumers, cannabis is an accessory for their ideal lifestyle and is one of the factors in constructing their data subjectivities. Overall, with cannabis legalization developing, the image of cannabis and cannabis community are gradually transforming in a positive way. Additionally, the evaluation of communicating effects brought by digital creators of different genders is framed by analyzing the feedback from media consumers. Findings indicate that female and male cannabis influencers play horizontal and vertical influencing roles respectively in spreading cannabis in the community. While female cannabis media easily reaches different groups of users, male cannabis media is more effective at promotion to cannabis communities. These findings have implications for allowing media professionals and platform regulators to build on their existing knowledge of the construction of cannabis media. Finally, this study provides some context for the connection among media content production, distribution, consumption, and how they can construct data subjectivity together.
keywords: Social Media, Gender, Cannabis, Instagram, Influencer