Title
Hacking the mundane? a pride-turned-protest on Instagram
Document Type
Presentation
Source Publication
2016 International Conference on Social Media & Society
Publication Date
7-12-2016
Publisher
International Conference on Social Media & Society
Abstract
While a growing body of work theorizes the role of Twitter and Facebook in social change (Gerbaudo 2012; Leavitt 2009; Poell et al. 2015; Procter et. al 2013), little has been done to explore how Instagram is used during political events such as demonstrations. This paper engages the question of whether Instagram’s affordances designate it to be a medium archiving and structuring the mundane exclusively or a tool for political mediations. We explore how users conceptualize the affordances of the platform and the agency they have in using it for their own motives. At stake is the question of whether users of this image-driven medium--who are at least to some degree invested in the politics of visibility that underlies the Pride Parade--are able to forge a disruption of, or intervention into, the mundane as it is cultivated on social media. In Turkey, this might not only mean subverting the forms of control that the platform exercises over the streams of everyday communication but also challenging censorship and mood manipulation by pro-government forces.
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2016 International Conference on Social Media & Society.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Furman, I., Hoyng, R. & Alimardani, M. (2016, July). Hacking the mundane? A pride-turned-protest on Instagram. Paper presented at the 2016 International Conference on Social Media & Society, London.
