Posting to Engage: A Study of the Effects of Recovery-Oriented Rhetoric on Community Building for Individuals with Eating Disorders and Associated Symptoms on Instagram

Abstract

This project seeks to understand how Instagram account holders with large online followings use recovery-oriented rhetoric to create online communities in which individuals struggling with eating disorders can access social support outside of traditional eating disorder treatment settings. In doing so, it builds on existing work in the rhetoric of health and medicine and mental health rhetoric fields that aims to understand how individuals communicate with one another in online communities for people with mental and physical health disorders. Findings are based on rhetorical analyses of Rini Frey, Sarah Nicole Landry, Jayne Mattingly, Danae Mercer Ricci, and Lainey Molnar’s recovery-related Instagram content spanning an approximately one-year period, with an emphasis on their most recent content. Ultimately, these rhetorical analyses indicate the similar ways in which the women build community on their accounts through the use of recovery-oriented rhetoric that serves to engage followers, while simultaneously encouraging followers to adopt their pro-recovery ideologies. Chapters are organized according to the overarching rhetorical moves that the women utilize in their writing, which I identify as embracing multiple identities, writing reflective rhetorics of change, incorporating various genres and styles of writing, identifying with followers, and engaging with community members.