Power of Instagram

Orwell’s (2008) classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four portrays that Big Brother is everywhere. 

In comparison, Allen (2003) states that such power can be portrayed to make you feel that your every movement is under observation, yet are quite unable to say whether this is actually happening or that anyone is really directing things. In today’s world, our Big Brother is the surveillance cameras placed in shopping centers, roads, transportation vehicles, etc, but because technology is vastly evolving, the internet is depicted as Big Brother in the social networks that you encounter day to day. Kuttainen, 2017. 

Would you prefer to upload photos and or videos, as opposed to writing a lengthy paragraph? Rather typing your response back to a simple question such as “what are you doing?”, why not upload a picture of what you’re exactly doing? Wouldn’t that be much more simple and informative? If so, then Instagram is the social network calling your name. Instagram is a digital media platform that allows you to upload images or videos in the form of blogging. This website stands out as it offers a diverse range of features. For example, Instagram provides you with the options of either commenting on another person image or video, whether that person is a direct Instagram friend/follower or a person from another part of the world. Not only can you comment, but you can also love other images or videos and you can hash tag names, places or foods, and that could even connect you to other people who may share those interests. Instagram also allows you to check out what people around the world have uploaded by providing you with a ‘public’ tab. In relation to power, Instagram will share the most popular images and videos more frequently than those that are not as popular.  

Image 1: Barrett (2012). 

Instagram can have a positive and or negative effect on the individual. However, it is up to the individual on how they want to interpret the image or video. This tends to stem from posts where users have communicated differently in terms of expressing themselves, although there is the handful that can communicate on the same wave length, some of their followers may connect to the image or video in a different way, whether the uploaded item was directly aimed at the follower or not. Hence the reality, emotion, and ideas that images can convey as opposed to a piece of text. 

Another form of power that Instagram has, as well as many other social media networks, is the platform in which businesses can drive traffic to their page, with a link to their website.  

Research shows that one out of every ten people who gain access to the internet are lifted out of poverty. The internet helps provide education, improve health care and deliver other vital services. By connecting more people in developing countries we have an opportunity to create more than 140 million new jobs, Zuckerberg. Therefore, showing that in the virtual world, there is an array of components of websites that are specifically created for a sole purpose, but all stem from the creation of the internet. Thus, displaying the power of the internet.   

References 

Allen, J. (2003). Lost Geographies of Power. Lost Geographies. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 

Barrett, C. (2012). Exploring Visual Power of Instagram. Retrieved from http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/exploring-the-visual-power-of-instagram/ 

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture week 2: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au 

Orwell, G. (2008). Nineteen Eighty-Four. England: Penguin Group.