Visual images in the world today have acquired a special significance in the process of social experience translation. The most popular visual network Instagram has already become not just a medium, ...but a sociocultural phenomenon. Cultural Analytics refers to the use of mathematical, computational, data visualization methods for the study of contemporary culture. Most of the digital platforms provides metadata using the API (application programming interfaces, application development). However, the use of metadata may violate the privacy of users and conflict with personal data protection laws. But research in the field of cultural analytics is not limited to computer analysis, but is based on paradigms and theories developed over the past two centuries. The modern interpretation of the image of Hercules is presented on the material of the Andalusian network segment. For centuries, the image of Hercules was present in a series of symbols of Andalusia: having gone from the patron saint of Phoenician Ghadir to the symbol of Andalusian identity. A century ago, the flag and coat of arms of Andalusia, proposed by Andalusian nationalism ideologist BlaceInfante, became official symbols of the autonomous community from December 30, 1981, at the Assembly Hall in Ronda. The image of Hercules as a symbol of Andalusia has practically gone to the region of historical memory, now cultural institutions are turning to it, but "simple" Instagram users associate Hercules with canonical feats and cartoon.
Influencer marketing has emerged as an effective approach for brands to connect with customers through social media influencers. Although influencer marketing has attracted increased interest from ...marketing researchers in recent years, relatively little is known about influencers' content and engagement strategy and its links to followers' engagement behavior. The present study addresses this gap by examining how measures of influencers' content and engagement strategy (i.e., follower count, followee count, content volume, and domains of interest) are associated with followers' engagement behavior on Instagram both independently and interactively. The study leverages a unique dataset of Instagram influencers compiled by scraping an online influencer database to test its hypotheses. The findings indicate that follower count and content volume are negatively associated with follower engagement, while followee count is positively associated with follower engagement. However, these main effects are modified by influencers' domains of interest. The findings contribute to the literature by illuminating how elements of influencers' content and engagement strategy contribute to followers’ engagement behavior on Instagram.
LOL cats. Grumpy Cat. Dog-rating Twitter. Pet Instagram accounts. It’s generally understood the internet is for pictures of cute cats (and dogs, and otters, and pandas). But what motivates people to ...make and share these images, and how do they relate to other online social practices?
The Internet is for Cats examines how animal images are employed to create a lighter, more playful mood, uniting users within online spaces that can otherwise easily become fractious and toxic. Placing today’s pet videos, photos, and memes within a longer history of mediated animal images, communication scholar Jessica Maddox also considers the factors that make them unique. She explores the roles that animals play within online economies of cuteness and attention, as well as the ways that animal memes and videos respond to common experiences of life under neoliberalism.
Conducting a rich digital ethnography, Maddox combines observations and textual analysis with extensive interviews of the people who create, post and share animal media, including TikTok influencers seeking to make their pets famous, activists tweeting about wildlife conservation, and Redditors upvoting every cute cat photo. The Internet is for Cats will leave you with a new appreciation for the human social practices behind the animal images you encounter online.
Influencer commerce has experienced an exponential growth, resulting in new forms of digital practices among young women. Influencers are one form of microcelebrity who accumulate a following on ...blogs and social media through textual and visual narrations of their personal, everyday lives, upon which advertorials for products and services are premised. In Singapore, Influencers are predominantly young women whose commercial practices are most noted on Instagram. In response, everyday users are beginning to model after Influencers through tags, reposts and #OOTDs (Outfit Of The Day), unwittingly producing volumes of advertising content that is not only encouraged by Influencers and brands but also publicly utilised with little compensation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among Instagram Influencers and followers in Singapore, this article investigates the visibility labour in which followers engage on follower-anchored Instagram advertorials, in an attention economy that has swiftly profited off work that is quietly creative but insidiously exploitative.
Opinion leaders are important sources of advice for other consumers. Instagram is the most used platform by opinion leaders in the fashion industry, and this trend is expected to continue in the near ...future. This study aims to identify some key antecedents and consequences of opinion leadership in this context. Our results, based on data collected from 808 followers of a fashion focused Instagram account, suggest that originality and uniqueness are crucial factors if a user is to be perceived as an opinion leader on Instagram. In addition, opinion leadership influences consumer behavioral intentions toward both the influencer (intention to interact in the account and recommend it) and the fashion industry (intention to follow fashion advice posted). Finally, the perceived fit of the account with the consumer's personality strengthens the influence of opinion leadership on the intention to follow published advice. These results have interesting implications for the fashion industry.
•Data from 808 followers of an Instagram account focused on fashion is analyzed.•Originality and uniqueness positively influence opinion leadership on Instagram.•Opinion leadership affects consumers' intention to follow the influencer's advice.•Opinion leadership affects behavioral intentions related to the influencer.•Perceived fit and online interaction propensity act as moderators.
Algorithms are said to affect social realities, often in unseen ways. This article explores conscious, instrumental interactions with algorithms, as a window into the complexities and extent of ...algorithmic power. Through a thematic analysis of online discussions among Instagram influencers, I observed that influencers’ pursuit of influence resembles a game constructed around “rules” encoded in algorithms. Within the “visibility game,” influencers’ interpretations of Instagram’s algorithmic architecture—and the “game” more broadly—act as a lens through which to view and mechanize the rules of the game. Illustrating this point, this article describes two prominent interpretations, which combine information influencers glean about Instagram’s algorithms with preexisting discourses within influencer communities on authenticity and entrepreneurship. This article shows how directing inquiries toward the visibility game makes present the interdependency between users, algorithms, and platform owners and demonstrates how algorithms structure, but do not unilaterally determine user behavior.
While Instagram influencers may have started out as ordinary people documenting their everyday life through a stream of photographs, they are increasingly emerging as an intermediary between ...advertisers and consumers. This study examines the professionalization of Instagram influencers, combining data from 11 interviews with travel influencers with a visual and textual content analysis of their 12 most recent Instagram posts (N = 132). We show how the increasing professionalization of the influencer steers their relationship with their audience, the advertisers they work with, and the platform Instagram. We argue that, for the Instagram influencer to be perceived as successful, they need to negotiate a tension: they need to appear authentic, yet also approach their followers in a strategic way to remain appealing to advertisers. Although Instagram influencers are seen as more trustworthy than traditional forms of advertising, this tension ultimately leads to a standardization of the content shared by influencers.
This paper investigates what types of Instagram marketing tools are the most effective in relation to Generation Z's impulse purchasing behaviour within fashion industry in the context of the United ...Kingdom. The research applies Stimulus-Organism-Response model to the context of Instagram. The findings of this qualitative study based on eight extensive focus groups conclude that there are significant gender differences in relation to impulse purchasing behaviour on Instagram. Instagram is vastly influential in encouraging impulse purchases amongst females, however, this was not the case for male participants. A revised Stimulus-Organism-Response model is proposed to Instagram, concluding that advertisements, opinion leaders and user-generated content act as stimuli (S) in evoking positive emotions (O), which subsequently trigger impulse purchases (R) in Generation Z females.
This study's primary goal is to ascertain how students at UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau's Department of English Language Education feel about using Instagram to help them learn vocabulary. This study ...uses a descriptive design and a qualitative methodology. The study involved 20 informants who were selected through purposive sampling, all of whom were first-semester students at the English Education Department of UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau. Interviews were used by the researcher to gather data. Several benefits and drawbacks that students saw with Instagram use. In general, all students believe that Instagram accounts dedicated to learning English can aid and encourage their vocabulary acquisition. The explanation of the accounts was simple to understand, and students can learn whenever and wherever they choose because it is backed by engaging content. The flexibility of learning appeals to the students. As English majors, it can be extremely beneficial to them and help with their studies.
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