Name: Alexandra Ziamos s3720526
I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services
Making Media blog links
This report responds directly to the course prompt:
How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?
Title of report: Individualism on Instagram: Creators and influence
Word count: 1098
Introduction
With our media landscape becoming increasingly networked, Instagram as a platform has become a playground with a large amount of content and users, and its own cultural practices and community. Today it is becoming increasingly important to produce ‘original’ or individual content to stand out. And creators such as influencers, in particular, are pushing the boundaries of Instagram to create new kinds of content. In this report, I will draw upon texts and my own personal discoveries authoring, publishing and distributing content from weeks 9-12 on the platform to examine how the affordances of the Instagram app enable Influencers to find success with such a large audience, and affect the way users author, publish and distribute photos and videos in the network.
Background
In order to evaluate the affordances of Instagram, it is useful to first contextualise the terms within the prompt. In week 3, we examined affordances. According to Donald Norman, the term ‘affordance’ refers to “the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used’ (Norman, 1998, p.9), for example, within the context of Instagram, graphical feedback that is displayed onscreen. In addition, Instagram is a social networking platform that is designed for sharing photo and video content with a network of people and is reliant on the network in order to author, publish and distribute media. When referring to authoring on Instagram, it involves creating content (photos and videos) to be published on the platform. Publishing refers to transforming media into a form that is accessible to an audience; by posting the content in the app. Distributing refers to exposing photos and videos to audiences on one or more platform. The term ‘influencer’ within the context of Instagram is someone who has a large social following, and in turn, influences their audience.
Evidence/What?
In order to investigate the prompt, I documented my findings while authoring, publishing and distributing content from weeks 9-12 on the platform. I have categorised these into three main sections.
Flexible app interface
The app’s built-in camera and photo and video editing software afford experimentation with authoring within the app, and its sharing service affords the publishing and distributing processes to be done simultaneously in the act of posting. This establishes a low entry level for amateurs to make and share professional-looking content. In contrast, in the past content creation was a very involved and technical process.
However, Influencers and ‘professional’ Instagram often challenge the software’s design as an app produced to take photos on the go. Influencer Instagram has become increasingly competitive with more of a focus on technical production and standing out. While producing content of my own, I found that while having a multiple-use interface was valuable, I also felt it worked as a constraint, as it forced me to think through my entire production process just to publish a single post. By allowing users to upload media from the Camera Roll and the use of third-party apps, the app has diversified the production process on its platform while still employing constraints (often diminishing the upload quality of the content).
Aesthetics
The ability to apply filters and manipulate correction tool sliders within the editor (increasing brightness, contrast, or saturation for example) are perceived affordances that enable users to develop an individual aesthetic. Influencers will often employ a single visual style or “theme” for all photos in their gallery or a few styles reserved for particular subjects, and as stated by Lev Manovich, “the number of distinct styles that can be created is very large” (2016, p. 90). By posting sequentially into a grid format it is also possible to curate a personal feed or gallery of pictures and videos. Over time, seeing other influencers do this and become successful has impacted the way users produce content for the platform. Individual feeds have evolved through a community of practice. I had to think about this during the authoring and publishing processes of my own content, keeping in mind the symmetry in each row of doors, and the emphasis of certain colours.
Influence
The nature of Instagram as a social networking site is that each post is networked: the platform allows us to share photos and videos instantly into a larger network of information. The acts of liking, using hashtags and tagging are all perceived affordances that facilitate connection with other users and direct traffic to our accounts. As I explored early in the semester while browsing the platform, we recognise subconsciously that users with more followers and likes have a higher level of success. In turn, this drives the content that is produced- especially by influencers- in order to achieve uniqueness. My finding with the Instagram app was that even though I didn’t have a large social following I had the desire to connect with other accounts, and mimicked the distribution methods of popular accounts. I achieved this by including tags and sharing to other social platforms in order to direct my content to a larger audience.
Evaluation
“Cultural identity today is established via small variations and subtle differences.” (Manovich, L. 2016 p. 90)
On a networked platform like Instagram, building a following and a sense of individuality as an influencer in a sea of users is fairly difficult. It is even more difficult to produce photos and videos that are ‘original’ when so many already exist. However, the tools that the platform provides the user with allows them to refine their content through small variations and develop their own identity. The freedom to use the app as they see fit is one of its strengths and enables a culture of aesthetics and influence to exist on the platform. My learning over the semester in addition to my experience with the app and texts has informed these findings, which I hope to take on board in my future practice as a communicator and media maker.
Conclusion
I feel that this report is strong in that it summarises the affordances of the platform well, but is limited in its scope of discussion as it is quite short. There are some shortcomings in my research that I would like to improve upon as it relies heavily on my own personal practice and texts, which may serve as a weak point in my findings. If I were to approach this differently next time, I would closely examine the changing nature of Instagram itself and how this affects the practice of others in addition to the role of advertising on the platform, which is relevant to the subjects and aesthetics of networked images.
References
- Norman, D 1998, The Design Of Everday Things,Basic Book, New York, pp 1-13, viewed 19 May 2019
- Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image. University of San Diego, USA. ‘ Instagramism.’ Viewed 12 may 2019
- Norman, D 1999, ‘Affordance, conventions and design (Part 2)’, Nielsen Norman Group, viewed 25 March 2019, http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordance_conv.html