Instagram

       Visual Social Media Cultures

      TAMA LEAVER, TIM HIGHFIELD AND CRYSTAL ABIDIN

      polity

      Copyright © Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield and Crystal Abidin 2020

      The right of Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield and Crystal Abidin to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      First published in 2020 by Polity Press

      Polity Press

      65 Bridge Street

      Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

      Polity Press

      101 Station Landing

      Suite 300

      Medford, MA 02155, USA

      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3440-1

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Leaver, Tama, author. | Highfield, Tim, author. | Abidin, Crystal, author.

      Title: Instagram : visual social media cultures / Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield, Crystal Abidin.

      Description: Cambridge, UK; Medford, MA, USA : Polity, 2020. | Series: Digital media and society series | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “In the first book-length examination of Instagram, Leaver, Highfield and Abidin trace how this mobile photography app has developed as a platform and a culture. Rich with examples from across the world, from birth pictures to selfies at funerals, Instagram is essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019024094 (print) | LCCN 2019024095 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509534388 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509534395 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509534401 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: Instagram (Firm) | Online social networks. | Photography--Digital techniques--Social aspects. | Computer file sharing.

      Classification: LCC TR267.5.I57 L43 2020 (print) | LCC TR267.5.I57 (ebook) | DDC 771--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024094 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024095

      The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

      Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

      For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Dedication

      For Emily.

      For Kate.

      For Sherman.

      Our better halves.

Acknowledgements

      We are grateful to many people for supporting us in the writing of this book, from colleagues, to family, and beyond. We initially decided a book on Instagram seemed like a good idea, and we were a good team to write it, at the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) annual conference in Berlin in 2016. AoIR has been the intellectual home for all three of us, and there are so many friends and colleagues in that, and subsequent conferences and exchanges, who have helped shape our thinking about Instagram and visual social media cultures.

      Many of our scholarly friends and colleagues have contributed to our thinking about specific parts of this book, and supported us as we have written; we would like to thank in particular Greg Acciaioli, Kath Albury, Sophie Bishop, Jean Burgess, Paul Byron, Nicholas Carah, Christina Chau, Gemma Cobb, Alberto Cossu, Rob Cover, Sky Croeser, Amy Dobson, Brooke Erin Duffy, Stefanie Duguay, Sara Ekberg, Katie Ellis, Liz Ellison, Alex Gekker, Tarleton Gillespie, Ysabel Gerrard, John Hartley, Anne Helmond, Natalie Hendry, Jenny Kennedy, Mike Kent, Ben Light, Ariadna Matamoros Fernández, Anthony McCosker, Lee McGowan, Kate Miltner, Peta Mitchell, Sharif Mowlabocus, Sabine Niederer, Sarah Oates, Gwyneth Peaty, Thomas Poell, Jill Walker Rettberg, Bernhard Rieder, Brady Robards, Richard Rogers, Natalia Sánchez Querubín, Eleanor Sandry, Michael Stevenson, Katrin Tiidenberg, Emily van der Nagel, Fernando Van Der Vlist, Son Vivienne, Katie Warfield, Esther Weltevrede, and Patrik Wikström.

Tim would also like to acknowledge the support of the QUT Digital Media Research Centre, where aspects of this work were funded by his 2015–2018 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship, and to thank his University of Amsterdam MA students, who provided inspiration and raised additional points of interest through their own Instagram research: Renate Brulleman, Anya Doshi, Annika Heinemeyer Nora Lauff, Abby Listerman, Anna Vallianatou and Donna Wielinga.

      We would also like to thank all those who have offered feedback and suggestions at the numerous conferences, symposia, workshops, and other events at which elements of this book have been presented. In particular, Tama and Tim would like to acknowledge the participants of their Instagrammatics digital methods workshops, for their contributions and engagement and for bringing their own research interests to the questions and provocations we’ve asked, at: CCI Digital Methods Summer School (Melbourne, 2015; Brisbane, 2016); QUT Digital Media Research Centre digital methods series (Brisbane, 2015); Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) digital methods preconference (Phoenix, 2015; Montréal, 2018); and Digital Methods Initiative Summer School (Amsterdam, 2017; 2018).

      We would like to express our thanks to Mary Savigar and Ellen MacDonald-Kramer at Polity for their faith in this book, and their patience, professionalism and support in helping shape it into the best possible form it could be. We would also like to specially thank our sketch artist, mistercrow, for lending their artistic talents to this book, and acknowledge our appreciation to @boufesg, @collettemiles, and @ongxavier for allowing us to reproduce their Instagram images for our academic discussions.

Tama would specifically like to thank Emily for her patience, support and understanding while working on this book, and Henry, Tom, Rose and Lottie for reminding me that the very best of my life does not exist on social media. Emily’s dad, Geoff, and Tama’s parents, Margaret and Bob, have also been incredibly helpful and supportive during the time this was written. Tama would also like to thank Tim and Crystal: I wouldn’t want to write a book with anyone else!

      Tim would like to thank Kate, first and foremost. Writing has not been easy lately, and this one in particular was a struggle; it could not have happened without your irreplaceable generosity and advice, kindness, support and patience, in the face of