PENGALAMAN PERSONAL BRANDING MAHASISWA DI MEDIA SOSIAL INSTAGRAM DI TENGAH FENOMENA SOCIAL COMPARISON (Studi Fenomenologi pada Mahasiswa Ilmu Komunikasi Fakultas Ilmu Sosial Dan Ilmu Politik angkatan 2022 Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang)

Mochammad Alif Fadhilla, 202210040311270, Personal Branding on Instagram Amid the Phenomenon of Social Comparison Among University Students (A Study of 2022 Communication Science Students at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Muhammadiyah Malang). Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, 2026.

The development of social media, particularly Instagram, has transformed the way individuals construct and present their identities in the digital sphere. University students, as part of the digital generation, actively utilize Instagram not only for recreational purposes but also as a strategic platform for building personal branding. However, this practice cannot be separated from the phenomenon of social comparison that accompanies it.

This study aims to identify and analyze how Communication Science students of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, class of 2022, construct their personal branding on Instagram amid the phenomenon of social comparison. This research employs a qualitative approach with Interpretative Phenomenology, involving six research participants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and documentation of Instagram accounts and analyzed using Husserl’s phenomenological analysis model. The theoretical foundations of this study are Self-Presentation Theory (Goffman, 1959) and Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954).

The findings reveal that all participants experienced a transformation in their use of Instagram from a consumptive-recreational platform to a strategic-performative one. The personal branding process was carried out through strict content curation, layered impression management, differentiated utilization of Instagram features, and dual-account strategies for audience segmentation. Academic knowledge in Communication Science functions as a psychological buffer against the negative impacts of social comparison, as participants’ awareness that Instagram content is a curated social construction enables them to be more critical and resilient toward the internalization of artificial standards. Overall, the personal branding process occurs dynamically and dialectically across three simultaneous layers: digital identity construction, social comparison, and meaning negotiation based on communication literacy.