Julia Zhu
Julia Zhu is a fourth-year Sociology student.
She is currently writing her thesis, which explores how individuals use Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ feature to negotiate intimacy, identity, and social boundaries in digital spaces. She is also a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Sociology.
When she’s not thinking, talking, or writing about her research, she enjoys spending time with her roommates, playing pickleball, running, and practicing analogue photography. She also loves studying at cafés and can often be found at the nearest beach, catching the sunset.
My Friends, My Audience: The Construction of Intimacy and Social Identity on Instagram's 'Close Friends' Stories
My research examines how everyday Instagram users employ the 'Close Friends' feature to negotiate intimacy through selective self-disclosure, audience segmentation, and sustained interaction. While Instagram simulates face-to-face sociality, users’ engagement with its affordances is neither neutral nor uniform.
Existing research has paid limited attention to how social media features shape intimacy maintenance and identity construction. Focusing on 'Close Friends', this study investigates how individuals adapt and reconfigure their social worlds in digital environments. It explores subjective experiences of intimacy as constructed and mediated through posting and viewing 'Close Friends' Stories, as well as the interplay between online and offline behaviors, particularly social reciprocity and audience engagement.
Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 18 to 30-year-olds in Vancouver and Toronto, preliminary findings highlight themes related to online identity in relationship formation and differing interpretations of acceptance, reciprocity, and self-presentation. Overall, the study contributes to broader discussions of digital sociality and curated intimacy in contemporary communication.
How did you become interested in this topic? Why did you choose it for your thesis?
The idea for my topic began from thinking about how I keep in touch with my friends back home in Ontario after four years at UBC. I realized that much of what we knew about each other’s daily lives came from what we saw on our Instagram stories. From there, I noticed how much we rely on the ongoing maintenance of our digital social selves to sustain our friendships, even with friends that we know very well, and see fairly often. After discussing this idea with Dr. Kerry Greer, who later became my Honours advisor, I became interested in exploring how curated online spaces such as ‘Close Friends’ offer a seemingly “intimate” environment for self-expression and interaction. I was particularly drawn towards the tension between performance and authenticity within spaces that are designed to feel private, while operating on a public-facing platform.
Can you summarize your project and its main findings for us?
My thesis explores how individuals use Instagram ‘Close Friends’ stories to maintain, or even generate feelings of intimacy in their friendships. Drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews with 21 participants, I analyze how reciprocity, audience perception, temporality, and authenticity shape experiences with the ‘Close Friends’ feature and influence relationships.
As the project develops, I find my focus expanding beyond social relationships, and to broader questions of identity: How do we come to understand ourselves, and what tools do we use in that process?
Although I am still finalizing my analysis, preliminary findings suggest that participants often use ‘Close Friends’ in a corrective way. Many described the posting to Instagram as requiring excessive effort and curation. In response, they turn to ‘Close Friends’ to create a sense of safety, and “correct” Instagram back to its original purpose: to share personal moments with friends without the fear of judgement. Another emerging theme is how curating one’s ‘Close Friends’ list can formalize friendship hierarchies. Because inclusion is selective and intentional, the feature becomes a subtle tool for signaling closeness, actively restructuring rather than merely reflecting social relationships.
What was your favourite part of doing research?
I really enjoyed conducting the interviews. It was fascinating to hear participants articulate the often-unspoken reasoning behind their posting habits and interpretations of everyday interactions, such as the meaning of a story “like.” These conversations revealed how much thought and emotional investment can exist within seemingly mundane exchanges. I have also deeply appreciated our weekly Honours seminars with Dr. Oral Robinson and the rest of the cohort. Those meetings created a supportive space to share progress, troubleshoot challenges, and refine our ideas, while also learning practical research skills.
What have you learned during your research that has surprised you the most?
What has surprised me most is not a particular finding, but the level of support I have received. Students, alumni, and faculty members have shown so much genuine enthusiasm for my work, shifting my understanding of academia as not solely about individual achievement, but about what those achievements contribute to a broader community. Although I am personally driven by my interest in the topic, the passion that others have shown reminds me that no one progresses in a vacuum. Every step I’ve taken in this thesis, and throughout my undergraduate degree, has been made possible by the support of those around me.
Has this experience influenced what you want to do after you complete your degree and how?
Definitely! I’ve never experienced academic research in this way before. Choosing my own topic and methodology, and conducting the data collection and analysis independently, has given me a newfound sense of ownership and agency over my work. I have also learned more about how research operates within the university, and how approachable faculty members actually are. Frankly, before starting this thesis, I knew that I eventually wanted to pursue graduate studies, but felt intimidated by the prospect. This experience has given me a clearer sense of what graduate school might look like and has made continuing in academia more realistic and exciting!
