The Power of a Picture

Image: http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/exploring-the-visual-power-of-instagram/



The Power of a Picture


How is it that I know inside-out the life of an 18 year old girl 15 175 km’s away? Well, fellow bloggers, Instagram has the power to connect people all around the globe, just by tapping the follow button. The networking capacity of Instagram is exponential; just imagine the connections between users, and the clusters of users who share similar interests. In this sense, Instagram clearly satisfies the properties of Buchanan’s “small world” (2002, p. 19).

Social Media Handlers discuss the power to connect via the well-known hashtag (#). Such a simple concept has the ability to create world-wide trends and campaigns.

Instagram is based on users uploading pictures to a shared newsfeed. It exhibits ideas of power through the ability to ‘follow’ users and ‘like’ pictures. Users who have an enormous follow base clearly have more influential power. What I find interesting is that it is actually users themselves who have the power to empower; by liking these ‘Instagram stars’ they are emphasising societal values and creating cultural expectations of what is acceptable. In this sense, power doesn’t have to be considered negative.

According to Kuttainen (2015) “Power is a networked space of relations – and it can also be a necessary, productive and positive force in the networks of society.” ‘Instagram power’ can be viewed as positive as it is socially and culturally constructed by the variety of groups using the social network.

The idea of power can be extended through Foucalt’s idea of self-surveillance (Turkle, 1995, p. 247), which is embodied through the use of Instagram. Users portray a particular version of themselves through uploading specific photos; users have the ability to edit and manipulate photos.

So, next time you upload a #selfie, have a think about the implications of that picture. Who can see it? What societal norm am I submitting to? What image am I portraying to my viewers? The list is endless…

References:
Buchanan, M. (2002). Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks. New York: Nexus.

Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 2 notes [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Image Credits:
Exploring the Visual Power of Instagram [Image]. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/exploring-the-visual-power-of-instagram/