Rock Pools and Visual Content
I am definitely not the most avid social media poster, while I do use social media regularly I am not one to post weekly or even monthly. However, when I do choose to post a photo on Instagram I definitely analyse the image and its relevance.
My most recent post is a photo of me in a rock pool in New South Wales. Now that I think about it, an extensive amount of consideration went into choosing to upload this photo in particular. For example, I wanted to show the people that follow me that I am back in Australia as I have just been travelling overseas for six months. I want the photo to appear natural, not posed. The location was also a consideration as I wanted it to go with my other Instagram photos so that my feed was more cohesive.
The effort that goes into a social media post is typically about reach and relevance. An aspect of the class discussion on Monday was considering the impact of a particular post on social media. One can publish anything they like on social media, however, that does not necessarily mean that people will be receptive to it. The networked aspect of social media can allow for greater reach through relevance. For example, if I wanted my rock pool photo to gain further reach I could have used a variety of hashtags in order to group it within specific categories of photos. Moreover, this would allow to reach specific audiences within the network. I could also share the same post on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr to generate further reach.
In his article ‘Networked Images’ (2018) Niederer asserts that we need to consider images as ‘networked content’ through tagging, sharing, liking or commenting. As such Niederer (2018) urges one to treat images not as a ‘solitary object, but rather as a part of a network of other images, users and platforms’. The internet has created a landscape where media artefacts exist within a network. Particularly in the context of Instagram, this kind of thinking becomes relevant as each image that is chosen to be uploaded exists within an individual and broader network both within and beyond the specific social media platform.
The above images are an example of how users can take advantage of the networked nature of Instagram. The account @minimalistbaker, networked her post across platforms as well as utilising hashtags to network her photo with other photos. This example displays how images can rest within network of other images tagged with #plantbased.
Niederer (2018) also suggests that visual content is ‘much more likely to be engaged with in social media today’ and that users are increasingly sharing and engaging with visual content as platforms facilitate it. Personally, I find Instagram, which is a predominantly image driven platform, to be more popular within my demographic than any other social media platform. Moreover, I definitely put a significant amount more effort into an Instagram post than I would for any other platform.
Image sources:
https://www.instagram.com/tarasrego/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/MinimalistBaker/
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/plantbased/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/minimalistbaker/?hl=en
References:
Niederer, S 2018, ‘Networked Images: Visual methodologies for the digital age’, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Eburon Academic Publishers, Delft