Orig. title: Análisis de sentimiento en Instagram: polaridad y subjetividad de cuentas infantiles
Engl. transl.: Sentimental analysis in Instagram: polarity and subjectivity of children´s accounts
Keywords
Instagram
analysis of sentiments
polarity
subjectivity
happiness
Publication details
| Year: | 2020 |
| DOI: | 10.1387/zer.21454 |
| Issued: | 2020 |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Volume: | 25 |
| Issue: | 48 |
| Start Page: | 213 |
| End Page: | 229 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Vizcaino-Verdu A.; Aguaded-Gómez I. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | ZER - Revista de Estudios de Comunicación |
| Publisher: | UPV/EHU Press |
| Topics: | Social mediation; Internet usage, practices and engagement; Content-related issues; Other; Online safety and policy regulation |
| Sample: | A sample of eight children's Instagram accounts (772 text posts) was selected (four in Spanish and four in English). These were delimited on the basis of the analytical platform H ypeAuditor, which extracts influencers from both YouTube and Instagram. The platform recommended eight children's Instagram accounts in Spanish and English that, regardless of their location, had an average engagement rate of 8.29%, with an age range of 1 to 7 years, adjusted to the early childhood stage (0 to 8 years) according to UNESCO (2020). The characteristics of the sample are as follows: 1) Input text in English or Spanish; 2) Children as the main visual source; 3) Children in the early childhood age range; 4) Account managed by one/both parents explicitly highlighted in the account profile (managed by, family IG, presentation of the account in plural with family involvement). Taking into account this criterion, the entries of these children's accounts refer to the activities of their protagonists in the third person (e.g.: I never imagined you would be like this... you are so special! We love you!). |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation; Parenting guidance / support ; Other |
| Other Parent Implication: | parental risk perception; parental risk awarness; parental media literacy trainings to guide their children´s Internet use responsibly; parental guidance focused on the respect to their children´s online privacy and identity |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Stepping up awareness and empowerment; Other |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | Improving parents digital skills; improving parental risk awareness focused on the respect to their children´s online privacy and identity |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Researchers |
Abstract
Instagram has become an integral part of the daily lives of children and young people, creating a kind of family album. In this context, we analyzed the polarity and subjectivity of 772 text posts in children’s accounts managed by parents on the platform through natural language processing with machine learning and content analysis. The results revealed a prominent positivity and subjectivity in the lexical field of four accounts in Spanish and four in English, with the repeated use of the adjectives happy, new, super, etc. In short, the children’s accounts express a tendency towards bucolic and festive upbringing.
Outcome
Results show that both the sentiment analysis and the exploration of adjectives in the textual entries of the children's Instagram accounts show a prominent degree of positivity (polarity) in a medium-subjective environment. In the correlation between polarity and subjectivity, the authors do not observe even levels indicating that a positive and/or negative response is pro-portionally linked to the way children's parents express themselves. Verdú-Vizcaino & Aguaded, 2020: 223 remark that "parents describe not only their children's emotions or feelings, but also their physical appearance and in the descriptions of the profiles, parents make explicit the management of the profiles, regardless of the preferences or the consequent self-concept that the child may develop over time". The authors make a call of attention over the insistence of paternal and maternal figures to express how funny, incredible and cool their routines are: "We are talking about instagramers who, in some cases, have more than a million followers and generate interactions like any other influencer" (Vicaíno-Verdú & Aguaded, 2020: 224). The authors advice researchers regarding the need to to verify the sincerity of the supposed happiness in these accounts from the multimodal conception, or if, on the contrary, they are a constructed and unreal reflection of everyday life with an advertising, self-promotional and/or lucrative nature. On the other hand, Vizcaíno-Verdú & Aguaded (2020: 224) suggest researchers to develop "a detailed study of the opinion of this children's and parents' community is required, which exposes and responds to the factors that make this online album a happy environment".
[Translated and adapted for the coder, based on the original text]