This study explores the functions and effects of virtual communities on Instagram and YouTube and discusses the communication process between Swedish female social media influencers and their followers. With a qualitative research design, where I analysed both the textual and visual posts on Instagram and YouTube, I found that the virtual communities can function as a place where people find like-minded people and where they can affirm their own self imagine and experiences, specifically in relation to questions regarding LGBTQIA+ and body positivity. The study operationalises Horton and Wohl’s (1956) concept of Parasocial Relationships which describes the phenomena where people form intimate and close relationships with media people they watch on television. By analysing my material through theoretical frameworks from Goffman (2020; 1979), West and Zimmerman (1987) and Deutsch (2007), I also found that Instagram and YouTube functions as places where norms of femininity and love are constructed, deconstructed, and reproduced. The study concludes that social media (platforms), specifically the virtual communities established and maintained by (social media) influencers, play a vital role in how users understand themselves and other people. Social media can in such a way operate as an institution that helps to both deconstruct and reproduce normative ideals about femininity and sexuality depending on how influencers do gender and portray themselves on their social media profiles.

Denna uppsats syftar till att utforska den emotionella dimensionen av att resa genom fyra kvinnors ögon över hela världen under mitten av 1800-talet. De utvalda svenska kvinnorna var från medel- och överklassen. De frågor som ställdes var följande: Vilken känslomässig laddning har reseberättelserna om platser / kultur / människor? Med användning av William Reddy's Emotive och Barbra Rosenweins Emotional communities som en teoretisk ramverk visade resultaten att platser relaterade till naturen var extremt positiva. Stadsort var däremot inte lika positivt skildrade i Europa. Detta relaterade till den pågående industrialiseringen i Europa, vilket skapade tätbefolkade och orena miljöer som sågs med starkt missnöje och laddade med negativa känslor. Kultur var en kategori av emotionell konflikt för alla fyra resenärer. Det visade att den svenska och protestantiska bakgrunden var stark när det gällede värden och normer för dessa kvinnor och gjorde det möjligt för starka, negativa känslomässiga upplevelser av kultur. Kombinerat fanns en pågående utveckling av tankar med nationalistiska och eurocentriska element. Människor fick positiva attribut och känslor kopplade till dem på individuell basis och separerades från sin kultur i de fallen. Istället kopplades negativa känslor till grupper av människor som stred mot dessa kvinnors bakgrund och intressen. Sammantaget var den emotionella dimensionen en blandning av starka positiva och några starka negativa upplevelser. En avgörande faktor var bakgrunden och en övergripande komplexitet i den emotionella dimensionen var avgörande. / This essay aims to explore the emotional dimension of travelling through the eyes of four women across the world during the middle of the 1800s. The chosen Swedish women were collectively of middle- and upper-class status. The questions asked were the following: What emotional charge do the travelogues have regarding locations/culture/people? With the use of William Reddy’s Emotive and Barbra Rosenwein’s Emotional communities as a theoretical framework, the results showed that locations related to nature were extremely positive. Urban locations, on the other hand, were not as positive to see in Europe. This related to the ongoing industrialization of Europe, creating densely populated and unclean environments that became was seen with strong displeasure and charged with negative emotions. Culture was a category of emotional conflict for all four travellers. It showed that the Swedish and protestant background was strong in determining values and norms for these women and made it possible for strong, negative emotional experiences. Combined there was an ongoing evolution of thoughts with nationalistic and Eurocentric elements. People had positive attributes and emotions connected to them on an individual basis and were separated from their culture. Instead, negative emotions were connected to groups of people that conflicted with these women’s ideas and interests. Overall, the emotional dimension was a mix of strong positives and some strong negatives. A determining factor was the background, and an overall complexity to the emotional dimension was conclusive.