Should we ghost Goffman? Self-presentation on Instagram among high school and university students

In this paper, we will explore the possibilities of analyzing visual content on social media. Specifically, we are interested in whether Goffman's theory can be applied to the analysis of Instagram. The intention is to investigate how and in what ways the key concepts of Goffman's theory can be "translated" in order to gain new insights. Concepts such as region, team, and role distance. Such an attempt opens up new possibilities in the analysis of social media, but at the same time presents new challenges. The main challenge lies in the way and possibilities of articulating Goffman's dramaturgical model outside the context of face-to-face interaction. The act of comparison requires finding new ways to utilize the theoretical "tools" that Goffman has left us as a legacy. On the one hand, there is the danger of oversimplifying his theory, reducing it to mere analogies without any "added value." On the other hand, there is the risk of denying the significance of the new and different context of its application. Our reconsideration of the possible applications of Goffman's theory has been encouraged by a specific research task, namely the project 'Youth Identity Development Through the Use of Digital Media', supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia. The project is led by the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation. Part of the project is the content analysis of Instagram profiles of high school and university students. The project also includes other research methods: a survey (with the largest number of participants) and a focus group interview. However, these parts (of the research) will not be the focus of this paper. The aim of this paper is to outline the theoretical foundations for the potential analysis of empirical material collected for the purpose of content analysis.