“Let's see how many of you mother fuckers unfollow me for this”: The pragmatic function of the hashtag #sorrynotsorry in non-apologetic Instagram posts

Social media play a key role in presentation of the self and management of social relationships. Although self-presentation online has been seen to exhibit a positivity bias, making positive forms of self-presentation more likely than negative ones, there is evidence that linguistic “behaviour” in digitally-mediated communication (DMC) often transgresses norms of appropriateness. This study adds to research on impoliteness in social media by examining the ways in which users of Instagram strategically employ hashtags and engage in face work with potentially inappropriate posts. It presents the results of a quantitative study (512 posts from a random sample) of the content of Instagram posts labelled #sorrynotsorry, as well as a qualitative analysis of politeness strategies accompanying images using the hashtag. It demonstrates how the hashtag is used as a non-apology marker in a balancing act of (im-)politeness and self-presentation strategies that allows for a level of sanctioned face attack. Overall, it suggests that posters on Instagram use #sorrynotsorry in a trans-ideological manner, allowing them to take both oppositional and complicitous stances on evolving norms of appropriateness online. The results add to an understanding of the pragmatics of hashtags in DMC and highlight the strategic nature of self-presentation on social networking sites.