Social Justice Activism on Instagram by Ana Ortega, Neha Lund, and Nora Pearce

We will be investigating the history of instagram. What is Instagram's financial history? What is the public's perception of Instagram? Is Instagram's user base diverse? How has Instagram been used as a platform by social justice movements and activists? What movements have used Instagram as a platform? How has Instagram impacted the reach that social justice movements have? What are its strenghts and what are its limitations? What makes Instagram different from other platforms? What are Instagram's censoring policies and how does this affect activism? Click here to see our project milestones!

Academic Articles

  1. Instagram Use and Self-Objectification: The Roles of Internalization, Comparison, Appearance,Commentary,and Feminism. Research Article in Sex Roles journal, 2018. Link to article. Keywords: Body Image, Internalization, Objectification,Female Users
  2. Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter. Research Article in Social Media + Society, 2018. Link to article. Keywords: BlackLivesMatter, Scaling Up, Networks, Coalitions
  3. Social Media Participation in an Activist Movement for Racial Equality. Presentation from International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Social Justice, #BlackLivesMatter, Twitter.
  4. Social Media Fact Sheet. Article in PEW Research Center, 2019. Link to article. Keywords: Social Media Users, Age, Gender.
  5. Educators and Their #Community: Finding Solidarity on Social Media. Article in Teaching Tolerance, 2019. Link to article. Keywords: Education Social Justice Movements, Networks, Education
  6. All Lives Matter, but so Does Race: Black Lives Matter and the Evolving Role of Social Media. Article in Sage Humanity & Society Journal, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Black Lives Matter, Twitter, Hashtags.
  7. Fuck Your Body Image: Teen Girls Twitter and Instagram Feminism in and Around School. Article in Springer, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Social Media, Feminism, Case Study
  8. #MeToo and the Promise and Pitfalls of Challenging Rape Culture through Digital Feminist Activism. Article in Sage European Journal of Women's Studies, 2018. Link to article. Keywords: #MeToo, Twitter, Hashtags, Labor.
  9. Activism in the Social Media Age. Research Article from Pew Research Center, 2018. Link to Article. Link to article. Keywords: BlackLivesMatter, Twitter, Activism, Hashtags, Trending

Technological and Finance News

  1. Instagram: A Brief History, Article in TNW, 2013. Link to article. Keywords: Instagram history, Kevin Systrom, Mike Kreiger.
  2. How Instagram's First Investor Steve Anderson Struck Gold As A One-Man Deal Machine, Article in Forbes Magazine, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Instagram history, Kevin Systrom, Mike Kreiger, Investment
  3. Study Says Instagram Is Ranked The Worst Social App For Causing Young People To Feel Depressed, Article in Forbes Magazine, 2017. Link to article. Keywords: Mental Health, Study of Adolescents, Snapchat, FOMO
  4. Instagram Business: Marketing. Page in Instagram, 2020. Link to article. Keywords: Userbase, Business Model, Statistics.
  5. How Instagram's Algorithms Work. Article in Tech Crunch, 2018. Link to article. Keywords: Pre-2016 vs. Post-2016, Competition, Reach, Algorithm, Reverse Chronological Feed.
  6. Instagram's Growth is Amazing, But Here’s How it Makes Money. Article in Business Insider, 2011. Link to article. Keywords: 2011, Old Revenue Model, No Profit
  7. How Instagram Makes Money. Article in Investopedia, 2019. Link to article. Keywords: Stock, CEO, Facebook, Growth
  8. How to Make Money on Instagram. Article in Huffington Post, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Influencers, Sponsorships, Ads.

General News

  1. Why do we Like Posting on Instagram? It Makes us Feel Famous, Op-ed article in Grazia, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Being Seen, Instant Gratification/Reactions, Fame, Purpose
  2. Trendy Social Activists Prove Instagram is a Platform for More Than Selfies. Article in Vice, 2017. Link to article. Keywords: Social Activism, Instagram, Trends.
  3. Instagram is Supposed to be Friendly. So why is it Making People so Miserable? Article in The Guardian, 2018. Link to article. Keywords: Mental Health, Trolling, Harmful, Positivity
  4. Two Men Kiss, an Act of Love and Activism. Article in New York Times, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Defiance, Instagram, Orlando Shootings
  5. Instagram's Murky 'Shadow Bans' Just Serve to Censor Marginalised Communities. Article in The Guardian, 2019. Link to article. Keywords: Censor, Marginalised Communities, Shadow Ban, Exclusion
  6. Four Ways Social Media is Redefining Activism. Article in Psychology Today, 2010. Link to article. Keywords: Passion, Free Circulation, Urgency, Personal Connection.
  7. The Case for Social Media and Hashtag Activism. Article from Huffpost,2015. Link to article. keywords: Initiating, Amplifying, Twitter, Facebook, Global, Hashtags, Accessibility, Censored Social Media, Misinformation, Action, Social Media Enthusiasts vs. Social Media Activists.
  8. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer Visibility Through Selfies: Comparing Platform Mediators Across Ruby Rose’s Instagram and Vine Presence article in Social Media + Society Journal, 2016. Link to article. Keywords: Selfies, Visibility, LGBTQI+, Beauty, Mainstream Discourse
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