Motives and self-branding strategies of UPN Veteran Jawa Timur communication science students in building virality on TikTok

Rinda Dwi Pradina () and Tazkiyah Azizah ()
Additional contact information
Rinda Dwi Pradina: Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur
Tazkiyah Azizah: Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur

Priviet Social Sciences Journal, 2025, vol. 5, issue 11, 458-467

Abstract: The phenomenon of self-branding on social media represents a contemporary form of self-representation in which individuals construct and manage their personal identity according to the logic of algorithms and public attention. TikTok, as a participatory and highly visual platform, provides a communicative space for students to practice measurable strategies of digital communication and identity formation. This study aims to explore the motives and analyze the self-branding strategies of Communication Science students at UPN “Veteran” Jawa Timur in constructing viral content on TikTok. This research employed a qualitative descriptive approach within a constructivist paradigm, seeking to understand the subjective meaning of students’ digital communication behavior. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, virtual observations, and content analyses of five TikTok accounts owned by students actively engaged in personal branding. The data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s interactive model, which encompasses data reduction, presentation, and conclusion drawing. Theoretically, this research draws on Goffman’s (1959) self-presentation theory and self-branding frameworks (Peters & Khamis) as the primary analytical foundation, supplemented by the uses and gratifications theory to explain the motives behind the use of social media. The findings reveal that students’ motives for performing self-branding include digital self-existence, professional development in creative communication fields, and social validation through audience engagement. The strategies employed involve consistent digital persona creation, algorithmic trend-based content curation, personal storytelling and interactive audience collaboration. Virality is achieved not merely through superficial popularity but through authentic digital identity construction that aligns with the audience’s values and cultural contexts. The study concludes that TikTok serves as a performative arena for communication students to articulate self-competence, test personal narratives and build social capital in the digital sphere. These findings have theoretical implications for the study of digital communication, identity construction, and self-branding strategies in the algorithm-driven era of social media.

Keywords: motives; self-branding strategies; self-presentation theory; social media; virality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journal.privietlab.org/download.php?id=9752 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:prv:pssjpv:932

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://journal.priv ... SSJ/article/view/932

DOI: 10.55942/pssj.v5i11.932

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Priviet Social Sciences Journal from Privietlab Research Center
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mochammad Fahlevi ().