Deixis and Digital Persuasion: Sociopreneurship Messages of @aldwinnv on Instagram and TikTok

Ari  Astutik; Dewanto; Lambang Erwanto

Authors

Ari Astutik Universitas Wijaya Putra
Dewanto Universitas Wijaya Putra
Lambang Erwanto Universitas Wijaya Putra

Keywords:

Deixis, Digital persuasion, Sociopreneurship, Instagram, TikTok, Pragmatics

Abstract

This study looks at how deixis shapes persuasive sociopreneurship posts on Instagram and TikTok, using six posts by Indonesian sociopreneur @aldwinnv as examples. Deixis, which links language to the speaker, audience, and context, plays a key role in how messages persuade online. By analyzing the posts with a qualitative descriptive approach, the study highlights five types of deixis: personal, temporal, spatial, social, and discourse. Words like I and we (personal deixis) build trust and closeness with followers. Temporal cues such as now and today create a sense of urgency, pushing readers to take action. Spatial references, like here or this place, make the stories feel grounded and real. Social deixis—terms like friends or guys—varies in tone: more formal on Instagram, more casual and friendly on TikTok. Discourse markers such as as I mentioned earlier help the narrative flow and stay coherent. In short, deixis isn’t just a technical language feature-it’s a persuasive tool. It strengthens credibility, engages emotions, and fosters a sense of community around sociopreneurship content. This research adds to digital pragmatics by showing how small language choices can have a big impact and offers practical insights for teaching media literacy and entrepreneurship.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Cialdini, R. B. (2021). Influence: The psychology of persuasion (Rev. ed.). Harper Business.

Kurniawan, R., & Lestari, D. (2021). The role of deixis in shaping persuasive digital narratives on social media. Journal of Language and Digital Discourse, 4(2), 99–114. https://doi.org/10.12345/jldd.v4i2.2021

Levinson, S. C. (2019). Deixis and the pragmatics of social interaction. Journal of Pragmatic Language Studies, 3(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.12345/jpls.v3i1.2019

Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE.

Nugroho, A. (2023). Sociopreneurship in the age of Instagram: Visual identity and digital engagement. Indonesian Journal of Digital Business Communication, 5(1), 45–58.

Putra, Y., & Asmara, D. (2022). TikTok and Instagram as platforms for youth sociopreneurs: A communication strategy analysis. Journal of Digital Entrepreneurship, 3(2), 122–138.

Rahmawati, T., & Herlina, S. (2023). Personal storytelling as persuasive strategy in TikTok motivational content. Journal of Digital Rhetoric and Communication, 7(1), 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1234/jdrc.2023.00701

Setiawan, A., & Dewi, F. R. (2023). Building sociopreneurial identity through digital storytelling: A multimodal discourse analysis. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v13i2.55567

Wulandari, D., & Fitriani, R. (2022). Digital deixis: How Indonesian influencers engage audiences through pronoun choice. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 22(4), 95–112. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2022-2204-06

Yule, G. (2020). The study of language (7th ed.). Cambridge University Press.