Visuals of Activism Instagram Images and the Shaping of American Political Consciousness

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Visuals of Activism

Instagram Images and the Shaping of American Political Consciousness

Master’s Thesis, New Media and Digital Culture University of Amsterdam

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1_{Matt Saincome, "What It Was Like Inside a Nike Call Center After the Colin Kaepernick Ad Dropped," Rolling Stone, September 13, 2018. Accessed} June 11, 2019, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/colin-kaepernick-controversy-nike-call-center-720713/.

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Introduction

However unlikely, Instagram has become a platform for political and social action. Politicians and activists are moving their political campaigning and mobilization tactics to Instagram. By showing behind the scenes footage of the Congress chambers and videos that expose government corruption, Instagram is housing political action. Activist Colin Kaepernick has chosen Instagram to be the primary site for his social justice movement, Know Your Rights. From Malcolm X’s inspirational quotes to images of police brutality victims, Kaepernick’s Instagram pages, @Kaepernick7 and @YourRightsCamp, visually translate Kaepernick’s message to fight for social and racial equality. Using both announcement and portrait posts, Kaepernick has transformed his Instagram pages into both a news channel and an inspirational portrait gallery.

The purpose of this thesis is to perform an analysis on Instagram activism, post type, and user engagement making this research particularly niche. As more activists and politicians move to Instagram to share their message and give a glimpse into their lives, I began questioning if there is a strategy or meaning behind Instagram visuals being implored for political campaigning. These questions led me to formulate my thesis question, what do Colin Kaepernick’s type of Instagram post and incurred user engagement mean? I additionally asked, why Instagram, what categories of posts are being posted, why are they being used, what kind of engagement is being incurred, and what does the engagement mean? In the following pages my questions concerning Instagram activism, post category, and user engagement will be answered.

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Importance of the Study

Social media platforms have become the new curators of public discourse. Information, news, and entertainment all circulate on, are being produced on, and obtained on social media platforms. Social media platforms are the “producers of sociality, enabling connections as well as forging them.”2_{Specifically, Instagram has become one of the primary platforms for finding} connections and producing content related to human rights and politics.3_{With so much of our} news coming from social media platforms, it is necessary to pause and question what type of news is emerging, by who, how it is being interacted with, what this interaction means, and how it may be impactful.

Social media platforms have become a space for social and political activism and have increased in importance to American’s daily lives.4_{More Americans are obtaining their news} from social media than other forms from the past, such as print newspapers. To be exact, twenty percent of Americans, at least, “often” get their news via social media5_{. The relationship between} social media and news raises two questions, what does the reliance on social media mean and how can it be utilized best? It is worthy to investigate these two questions alongside the way’s users are engaging with visual content that is related to politics and social justice movements.

Activists, people in the public eye, and other social justice movement leaders are turning to social media platforms as a means to stay connected, get their messages out, inspire others, and create a global digital community that will enact change and hopefully rouses more social justice work. Celebrities, in particular, have become more involved in politics and social justice movements on social media platforms6_{. It is additionally worthy to explore the growing role that} the celebrity has in social media activism, specifically on Instagram. With many of the visuals circulating on Instagram relating to politics and social justice, investigating how these posted

2_{Stefania Milan, "When Algorithms Shape Collective Action: Social Media and the Dynamics of Cloud Protesting," Social Media Society1, no. 2 (2015).} doi:10.1177/2056305115622481.

3_{Todd Haselton, "More Americans Now Get News from Social Media than from Newspapers, Says Survey," CNBC, December 10, 2018. Accessed June} 10, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/10/social-media-more-popular-than-newspapers-for-news-pew.html.

4_{Todd Haselton, "More Americans Now Get News from Social Media than from Newspapers, Says Survey," CNBC, December 10, 2018. Accessed June} 10, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/10/social-media-more-popular-than-newspapers-for-news-pew.html.

5_ibid

6_{Emily Harnett. "Celebrities: They're Not Just Like Us." Literary Hub. April 10, 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://lithub.com/celebrities-theyre-not-just-like-us/.

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visuals are affecting user engagement is vital for the success of future social movements on Instagram.

This thesis is an exploratory study. With any research study, exploratory or otherwise, there are always limitations. The data collected and analyzed in this research is only a sample of @Kaepernick7 and @YourRightsCamp Instagram data.

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There has been research performed by Henrick Serup Christensen, Political activities on

the Internet: Slacktivism or political participation by other means?8_{, by Dana Rotman, From}

Slacktivism to activism: participatory culture in the age of social media9_{, amongst others on the}

effectiveness and ineffectiveness of social media activism. Research on social media movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo has been performed by many researchers including Nikita Carney’s article, All Lives Matter, but so Does Race: Black Lives Matter and the Evolving Role

of Social Media10_{and Kaitlynn Mendes’ article, #MeToo and the promise and pitfalls of}

challenging rape culture through digital feminist activism11_{. With all the research being}

published on social media activism, of course, some of this research pertains to Colin

Kaepernick’s social activism movement, #IStandWithKap, and how his role as an athlete affects

7_{Armando Salguero, "Unrepentant Hypocrite Colin Kaepernick Defends Fidel Castro," Miami Herald, November 28, 2016. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article117033883.html.

8_{Henrik Serup Christensen, "Political Activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or Political Participation by Other Means?" First Monday, February 7, 201.} Accessed June 10, 2019, https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3336/2767">.

9_{Dana Rotman, "Participatory Culture in the Age of Social Media," From Slacktivism to Activism, May 7-12, 2011, , accessed June 10, 2019,} https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1979543.

10_{Nikita Carney, "All Lives Matter, but so Does Race," Humanity & Society 40, no. 2 (2016). doi:10.1177/0160597616643868.}

11_{Kaitlynn Mendes, Jessica Ringrose, and Jessalynn Keller, "#MeToo and the Promise and Pitfalls of Challenging Rape Culture through Digital Feminist} Activism," European Journal of Women’s Studies 25, no. 2 (2018). doi:10.1177/1350506818765318.

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his movement. My research will hopefully contribute to the discussion about Colin Kaepernick and his usage of Instagram for activism.

The politicization of Colin Kaepernick’s decision to “take a knee”, the massive media coverage he has garnered, and the real-life impact his movement has made makes researching the visual logistics of his Instagram movement a worthy case to study for this research. Since Colin Kaepernick “taking a knee” during the national anthem, in protest of the injustices enacted on people of color in America, has both outraged and inspired so many people, researching how the visuals he uses on Instagram affect how users engage with his posts is necessary for activism work and social media activism research.

Through the various types of pictures posted on @Kaepernick7 and @YourRightsCamp, I will be able to see how the different categories of visual posts are affecting user engagement and what the post type and engagement mean. This thesis will also investigate how celebrities, such as Colin Kaepernick, “appear to reach those who have never participated in philanthropy or activism before” while contextualizing how celebrities are “making their first powerful

connections with political figures and witnessing the change they can make as citizens”12_{and as} celebrities.13_{This study explores the relationship between the visuals posted and the engagement} received. I will further examine how Kaepernick, being the celebrity object of fandom,

potentially affects his social justice movement’s (post) operations and (engagement) outcomes on Instagram.

12_{Lucy Bennett, "‘If We Stick Together We Can Do Anything’: Lady Gaga Fandom, Philanthropy and Activism through Social Media," Celebrity} Studies 5, no. 1-2 (September 10, 2013). doi:10.1080/19392397.2013.813778.

13_{Lucy Bennett, “‘If We Stick Together We Can Do Anything’: Lady Gaga Fandom, Philanthropy and Activism through Social Media,” Celebrity Studies} 5, no. 1-2 (September 10, 2013). doi:10.1080/19392397.2013.813778.

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Problem & Question

As social justice movements increasingly rely on and operate on Instagram, investigating the logistics of social media activist’s Instagram pages has become a necessary and important step for social media activism work and social media activism research. This thesis critically examines the discourses surrounding celebrity activism, social media activism (specifically on Instagram), the interlaced relationship between media, politics, and society as well as research on user engagement. This thesis offers a grounded analysis of celebrity activism that is performed on Instagram and the relationship between post type (content and format) with the incurred user engagement (active or passive).

Through a social activists’ lens, this research will specifically be looking at how user engagement is affected by the visuals that are shared and implored on Instagram by social activist Colin Kaepernick. By aggregating, organizing, and analyzing the user engagement data alongside the post category, this research will interpret how different types of visual posts are incurring certain types of user engagement. My thesis question asks, what do Colin Kaepernick’s type of Instagram post and incurred user engagement mean?

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Structure of the Report

The remainder of this research will be structured by introducing the literature and theoretical framework, methodology, results and findings, and ending with the discussion. The literature and theoretical section is organized in the style of upside-down triangle, starting broad with the essential concepts and becoming more specific as the section goes on. I will start by giving a background on digital activism and social media activism, explaining what the two are and how they are being used, followed by defining user engagement and contextualizing why it is important. Next, I will explain what celebrity activism is, specifically applying the role of the celebrity within social media activism framework. From there, I will give a background on the Instagram platform and Instagram activism. After situating the theories and concepts within a social media and celebrity activism context, a necessary background on the case study being research will be given. Therefore, in the following section, I will give a background on activist and athlete Colin Kaepernick and his social justice movement. The background will explain who Colin Kaepernick is, what his social justice movement is, and explain how the movement started, what the movement entails, what the movement has accomplished, and how the movement operates on Instagram.

Throughout the literature and theoretical section, I will be intertwining pertinent literature that was used as well as relevant theories on digital activism, social media activism, Instagram activism, and celebrity activism. I will also elaborate as to why I chose specific literature and theories and how the chosen literature and theories have been applied to this research. Through an explanation as to why I chose specific literature and theories, readers will understand why they have been deemed necessary as well as their relevance and application in answering my research question.

Following the literature and theoretical framework section is the methodology section. The methodology section will outline and justify the methodological framework that was used to conduct this research. By writing out the applied methodology, readers will be able to see what data was extracted and researched, why this data was chosen, what tools were used to extract and visualize the data, why these tools were chosen, how the data was organized and visualized, as

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well as how the data was operationalized to answer my research question. The methodological framework section will also define the variables used in this research: quantitative and

qualitative research, active engagement, passive engagement, announcement posts, and portrait posts. The research method, why this methodology and variables were chosen, and why they are deemed necessary for conducting research for this case study will also be explained. There are two intended outcomes for readers by detailing the methodology that was used for this research: first, readers will be able to use, and hopefully expand on, the methodology to use it for future research on social media activism and secondly, through the methodological explanation readers will understand the operational workings on how my research question has been answered.

After the methodological framework, the results and findings of this research will be laid out. The results and findings section will provide an engaging description of the results that have been found. Through an interpretation of the results, this section will explore what the results say in relation to my research question. I will further unravel what my results mean by diving deeper into how the literature and theoretical framework engage with my results, what my data says in relation to broader theory, and what is new or particularly interesting about my results, both alone and in comparison, to prior research.

The final sections will be the discussion and conclusion. The discussion and conclusion sections of this report will explain the results and key points of my investigated research problem and research question. In this section, I will wrap-up what was explained in previous sections, what the most interesting results are, their relation to the theory and literature used, what

limitations of my study were discovered, and possible expansions for future studies. Here, I will also further contextualize what the results mean in relation to user engagement, celebrity

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Literature and Theoretical Framework

To inaugurate the critical theoretical framework that historicizes and politicizes celebrity activism, I turn towards Mix Panel’s research on user engagement, Stefania Milan’s writings on activism and visibility, and The Academy of Finland’s media and society studies department, research on celebrity humanitarianism, Lucy Bennett’s work on celebrity activism, Caroline O’Donoghue’s report on Instagram activism, as well as elements incorporated from Zeynep Tufekci’s research on social movements, attention, and the microcelebrity. In addition to the key researchers stated, additional researchers and journalists will be introduced throughout this report to contextualize the connection between user engagement, social media, celebrity activists, the digitization and sociality of politics, and the visualization of politics online.

Similar to Stefania Milan’s article, “When Algorithms Shape Collective Action” this research will also be taking social networking, or (social media) platforms, as a whole in order to stress the combination of sociality, mobility, politics and in this case visual posts, being at the core of social media activism. I will explore how user engagement, is affected by different types of visuals posted on Instagram. Since social media platforms, “carry specific encoded politics (a certain worldview) and policy (community rules and legislation) they have the ability to modify a state of affairs by making a difference.”14_{The politics encoded in the Instagram visuals, via} their content, that are posted by Colin Kaepernick also have the ability to make a difference in the “state of affairs,” with how users engage while also producing real-world outcomes.

Bennett’s, and Tufekci’s research on celebrity activism will contextualize how celebrity activism is being performed on social media platforms, specifically on Instagram, and how the role of the celebrity effects the outcomes and perception of the activism that is performed on social media. Their work also explores the role that social media plays in political discourse.

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Social Media Activism

Digital activism includes all activism work performed in a digital space, from social media movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter to female hack labs. While digital media activism is broad, incorporating all forms of online activism, social media activism centers around activism that is performed on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. “Social activism refers to a broad range of activities which are beneficial to society or particular interest groups. Social activists operate in groups to voice, educate and agitate for change, targeting global crises.”15

The aim of many forms of activism, on and off social media, has always been “to get society moving closer […] to solutions that work for all.”16_{Throughout history, dissident voices} have been pushed far out into the margins of political discourses. From Frederick Douglas’ The

North Star to South Africa’s anti-apartheid radio station, Radio Freedom to the miner’s

resistance and union movement radio stations in Bolivia, individuals and communities that wished to have their voices heard found ways to do so. As the internet became a publicly accessible tool in the 1990s, followed by the rise of social media in the early 2000s, those with access to the internet and social media were able to connect in quicker, revolutionary ways. “The web became the backbone and metaphor of new ways of organizing, nurturing a logic of

networking that favored informal arrangements.17_{It also “allowed movements to reduce and} externalize the costs of mobilization.”18_{Social media is “facilitating a new global protest”}19_and a new global means of communication.20

Social media platforms have enabled dissident voices and ideas to spread like virtual wildfire. “These days the voices of dissent” are increasingly transmitted and connected “via the

15 Shahla Ghobadi, "Going Viral: What Social Media Activists Need to Know," Going Viral: What Social Media Activists Need to Know, July 17, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019, https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/viral-social-media-activists-need-know/.

16_{Shahla Ghobadi, "Going Viral: What Social Media Activists Need to Know," The Conversation, July 17, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://theconversation.com/going-viral-what-social-media-activists-need-to-know-96043.

19_ibid 20_ibid

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evolving medium of the internet”, mainly social media platforms.”21_{“Digital media are not just} an Orwellian ‘Big Brother’ mechanism, but a system that allows individual citizens to voice their concerns and to anonymously leak violations.”22_{Social media activists are staging “noisy global} justice protests” and “engaging in disruptive actions against multilateral summits.”23_{To word in} a way that specifically applies to this research, social media activists are partaking in disruptive actions against the hegemonic status quo in political representation, political focus, and both mainstream media’s coverage and representation.

It has become nearly impossible to scroll through a social media platform, such as Instagram, and not see a post about a local or global news occurrence. When accessible, social media platforms afford speedy, global communication for their users and their normative shattering ideas and progressive deeds.24_{Internet cultures inspire the organization into affinity} groups: short-lived action-oriented clusters, which “reflect the convergence of the people who act through them25_{.” Activists who are converging, acting through social media platforms, and} inspiring “short-lived action-oriented clusters” have become the main organizational code of dissent.”26_{With many purposes, plenty of organizers, and countless participants, much of the} activism that is being performed on social media platforms has at least one of three goals in mind: “to spread information not available in mainstream media, to share censored news stories [that are also often not shared in mainstream media],”27_{or to change policies and public thinking} on, usually, political topics.

Social media platforms are distorting and modifying reality28_{by “contributing to a} redistribution of action well beyond the realm of technological practice, promoting a

self-21_{Shahla Ghobadi, "Going Viral: What Social Media Activists Need to Know," The Conversation, July 17, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://theconversation.com/going-viral-what-social-media-activists-need-to-know-96043.

22_{Media and Society (mediasoc). February 28, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.}

https://www.aka.fi/globalassets/32akatemiaohjelmat/media/ohjelmamuistiot/programme_memorandum_mediasoc.pdf.

24_{Caroline O'Donoghue, "How Hashtags Are Changing the World," Glamour, August 30, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/activism-on-instagram.

27_{"Media Activism." Wikipedia. March 22, 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_activism.}

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regulating rearrangement of both actors and participation dynamics.”29_{From Russian trolls} disseminating fake news and interfering in the 2016 United States presidential election to anti-vaccination conspiracies being spread on social media leading to parents opting out of

vaccinations and causing outbreaks, real-world complications have already roused from the persistent presence that social media platforms have in the daily lives of many individuals. “The digital environment provides access to sound and truthful knowledge, but also to apparent disinformation.”30_{Due to the spread of misinformation and the influence that media has on} Americans, politicians, researchers, and activists are starting to pay attention to the influence that social media is having positively and negatively, both online and in the non-digital world.

In addition to the spread of misinformation, there are additional threats and negative consequences of social media and social media activism. Even though social media activists deliver an awakening to the organizational elites, help organize collective actions, and amplify the conditions for movements to form, there are halts and obstacles constantly being

implemented and enforced on and offline. Some researchers argue that although “this modern form of activism may increase participation in online activities, it might merely create the

impression of activism,”31_{commonly referred to as slacktivism. Additionally, there may be even} greater “negative consequences such as creating social stereotypes about feminists and

environmentalists or getting social activists arrested”32_{and killed.}

Although often being used to spread awareness and mobilize, social media platforms that are being used by activists are not entirely operating neutrally. The provocation from activists to the established governing bodies in Washington result in countermeasures such as increased surveillance to track activists. Some governmental authorities intensified internet filtering, blocked access to several websites and decreased the speed of the internet connection to slow down social activism. “These measurements prompted self-censorship among activists and a loss of interest among the public in relation to the cause and contributed to the ultimate decline of

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social activism over time.”33_{Social media activism can help “generate new knowledge in} wisdom” for people, but this does not come about without complications. “Still, social activists wield the power of the internet to pressure powerful organizations.”34

Political discourses and policy making are also being negatively affected by social media in the “restless and accelerating pace of the attention economy35_{.” Many of our actions and} interactions are “being filtered by social media.”36_{“At times of social, political, economic and} linguistic upheavals, the media are to an increasing extent involved in democratic decision-making.”37_{In the fragmented social media landscape, “narrow interest groups are able to} reinforce their own realities, creating what is similar to an Orwellian theory of a post-factual society and alternative truths.”38_{These dystopian arguments of social media’s negative effects on} society and politics “is not only a consequence of the rapidly changing digital media

environment but is itself contributing to this change. All these phenomena reflect the

vulnerabilities of the evolving democratic information society– and present novel and profound challenges to social and cultural research.”39_{Social media platforms and the activism being} performed on them are not necessarily molding to fit society’s needs but are instead causing society to mold for a social media-saturated environment.

The ways political discourse is happening has also changed with the growth and reliance on social media. Whereas in electoral campaigns of the past, politician’s relied on television advertising space, politicians are now politicking through social media platform. Legislatures, policies, political campaigning, political corruption, and political smearing are disseminated amongst Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. As daily social media usage increases, politician’s and activist’s social presence has become even more vital. During election cycles and political campaigning in previous decades, politician’s paid big bucks for television advertising time to air

33_ibid

https://www.aka.fi/globalassets/32akatemiaohjelmat/media/ohjelmamuistiot/programme_memorandum_mediasoc.pdf. 38_{Media and Society (mediasoc). February 28, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.}

https://www.aka.fi/globalassets/32akatemiaohjelmat/media/ohjelmamuistiot/programme_memorandum_mediasoc.pdf. 39_ibid

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their political campaign messages. Now, politician’s open their phone, press record, and start live question and answers (Q&A’s) as well as information sessions on Instagram live and Facebook live. Surrounding election time, the passing of legislatures, and other political occurrences, social media feeds turn into both a political debate chamber and a political propaganda generator. Although politicians are mobilizing and politicking on social media platforms, “social media platforms still provide a forum for individuals to challenge the positions and performance of politicians and their parties.”40

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Social Media Addicts

For many users of social media platforms, “social media is now part of their daily routine.”41_{According to Pew Research, about two-thirds of Americans obtain at least some of} their news from a social media platform. “A majority of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram users visit these platforms on a daily basis.”42_{Seventy-one percent of Americans between the} ages of eighteen and twenty-four “now use Instagram.”43_{Among American adults, thirty-eight} percent use Instagram several times a day and twenty-two percent of adult Americans say they use Instagram about once a day. That is around “six-in-ten Instagram users visiting the site at least once a day.”44_{Overall, American “adults now spend nearly half a day interacting with} media.”45

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While millennials are notoriously known for their co-dependence with smartphones and social media, older generations are quickly catching up to millennials with their embrace of “digital life.”47_{About ninety-two percent of millennials own smartphones, but Generation Xers} (aged thirty-nine to fifty-four), Baby Boomers (aged fifty-five to seventy-two), and the Silent

41_{"Demographics of Social Media Users and Adoption in the United States." Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. February 05, 2018. Accessed} June 10, 2019. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/.

42_{Aaron Smith and Monica Anderson, "Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics," Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, April 17,} 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/.

43_{Aaron Smith and Monica Anderson, "Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics," Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, April 17,} 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/.

44_{"Demographics of Social Media Users and Adoption in the United States." Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. February 05, 2018. Accessed} June 10, 2019. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/.

45_{"Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting with Media." What People Watch, Listen To and Buy. July 31, 2018. Accessed June} 10, 2019. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/time-flies-us-adults-now-spend-nearly-half-a-day-interacting-with-media.html.

46_{Patricia Fitzgerald, "Is Smartphone Addiction Ruining Your Memory?" Thrive Global, February 19, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://thriveglobal.com/stories/is-smartphone-addiction-ruining-your-memory/.

47_{Jingjing Jiang, "Millennials Stand out for Their Technology Use," Pew Research Center, May 02, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,}

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Generation (aged seventy-four to ninety-one) are adopting smartphones and social media platforms. Eighty-five percent of Generation Xers own a smartphone and seventy-five percent use social media. Sixty-seven percent of Baby Boomers own a smartphone and fifty-seven percent are using social media. Even thirty percent of the Silent Generation owns a smartphone and about twenty-three percent of them are using social media platforms. Generation Xers, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation “have started to adopt a daily usage of smartphones and social media.”48

The study conducted by Pew Research Center also shed light on the impact that social media is having on American's obtainment of news. According to the Pew Research study, “about two-thirds of American adults are getting at least some of their news on social media.”49 This research also showed that “about three-quarters of non-whites, or seventy-four percent, get news on social media sites, up from sixty-four percent in 2016.” 50_{When pairing Pew Research’s} statistics with the fact that Black and Hispanic social media users are viewing “these [social media] platforms as an especially important tool for their own political engagement,” it is apparent the impact that social media is having on young people as well as Black and Latino Americans politically.

In the United States 2018 midterm election, voter turnout hit a 50 year high with “almost half of the possible voters actually [voting].”51_{The 2018 midterm election also had a 31% youth} voter turnout - the largest in twenty-five years. It is impossible to attribute the success of the past U.S. 2018 midterm election solely to the impact of and reliance on social media. Still, it is undeniable that social media is having a powerful impact in today’s world by influencing ideologies and prompting political engagement. Social media platform’s role in politics has become “the zeitgeist of the day,”52_{being the hosts of the sharing practices of celebrity}

48_{Jingjing Jiang, "Millennials Stand out for Their Technology Use," Pew Research Center, May 02, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,}

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/02/millennials-stand-out-for-their-technology-use-but-older-generations-also-embrace-digital-life/. 49_{Angela Moon, "Two-thirds of American Adults Get News from Social Media: Survey," Reuters, September 08, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-socialmedia/two-thirds-of-american-adults-get-news-from-social-media-survey-idUSKCN1BJ2A8. 50_{Angela Moon, "Two-thirds of American Adults Get News from Social Media: Survey," Reuters, September 08, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-socialmedia/two-thirds-of-american-adults-get-news-from-social-media-survey-idUSKCN1BJ2A8. 51_{Camila Domonoske, "A Boatload Of Ballots: Midterm Voter Turnout Hit 50-Year High," NPR, November 08, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.npr.org/2018/11/08/665197690/a-boatload-of-ballots-midterm-voter-turnout-hit-50-year-high.

52_{Liza Tsaliki, "“Tweeting the Good Causes”: Social Networking and Celebrity Activism," A Companion to Celebrity, 2015.} doi:10.1002/9781118475089.ch13.

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advocates in activist causes and activist mobilization efforts.53_{With the impact social media is} having on people of color and the overall increased reliance on social media for obtaining news, are digital activism movements on social platforms having any additional impact on users? If so, why and how?

53_{Liza Tsaliki, "“Tweeting the Good Causes”: Social Networking and Celebrity Activism," A Companion to Celebrity, 2015.} doi:10.1002/9781118475089.ch13.

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Social Media VS. the World

Often, those that cover digital activism or social media activism miss the crucial point and the core values of social media activism. “It has often been suggested that decision-makers, medical doctors, scientists, and even journalists are inherently corrupt, that their only concern is to disseminate information that furthers their own interests or those of some power-wielding groups.”54_{Social media activism is often portrayed as being an unnecessary and useless}

ephemeral place where “everyone who comments on a photo or [re-posts] an image is just flying idly by and stopping for a quick wash before carrying on with their day. As if [individuals] interest in an issue is only three inches deep, simply because you’ve expressed that interest through [Instagram].”55_{In reality, many people who utilize social media for social and political} justice movements only have the means to do so through a social media platform – as social media platforms do not require payment to use and can afford a cloak and anonymity, granting protection when needed or wanted. “Anonymity may furthermore allow for the coverage of sensitive issues and access to peer support, but on the other hand peer support and anonymity also make it possible for extremist movements and individuals to exchange information.”56_“The anonymity offered by online communication provides the possibility of expressing the views of marginalized minority groups that might otherwise be ignored, punished, or sanctioned. Online activities reinforce collective identity by reducing attention to differences that exist within the group (such as education, social class, ethnicity, race, and physical appearances).”57_The affordances granted by social media platforms, like anonymity and erasure of real-world tropes that halt individuals’ movements, motivates social media activists to grant depth, attention, and inclusivity to social justice movements that are often disregarded or inaccurately reported on.

“The media have become increasingly important, but at the same time an increasingly complex and unpredictable part of every facet of society and culture. The threats and opportunities of change cannot be reduced to

the changes happening in the media, but it is difficult to understand what is going on without a clear picture of the

https://www.aka.fi/globalassets/32akatemiaohjelmat/media/ohjelmamuistiot/programme_memorandum_mediasoc.pdf. 55_{Caroline O'Donoghue, "How Hashtags Are Changing the World," Glamour, August 30, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/activism-on-instagram.

57_{"What Online Activists Need to Know about Going Viral." FeedBox. July 29, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://feedbox.com/2018/07/what-online-activists-need-to-know-about-going-viral/.

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role and significance of the media. Society has become thoroughly mediatized. Every aspect and area from the economy and politics to civil society and everyday social relations is increasingly saturated, in ever new ways, by

media. The growing role of social media is changing the criteria for what or who is considered an expert and for constructive public debate. Experienced experts are now debating their positions with novice amateurs on online

discussion sites.”58

Society’s relationship with the often-one-sided mainstream media has always been complex. From the release of harrowing Vietnam War images, the concealment of the

Afghanistan War causalities, to the racist depiction of the 1906’s Civil Rights activists, to FOX

News triggering and divisive new coverage,59_{mainstream media has had an unsavory} relationship with political activists and their bold social justice movements.

“Described as one of humanity’s great civilizational revolutions and compared to the Neolithic agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution that started in the 18th century, the “digital disruption” is one of the most significant changes in technology and human communication. Some view that the “digital disruption is just one in a

succession of industrial revolutions driven in turn by the steam engine, the combustion engine, electricity, etc. Others refer instead to long waves of capitalist development that recur every few decades: they prefer to talk about economic and technological revolutions that creatively destroy old modes of production and generate new kinds of

activity.”60

A new and imperative relationship has emerged between social media, politics, and American’s obtainment of news. This relationship has become more convoluted with the rise of social media activism. With an ability to globally connect on issues concerning social justice issues a symbiotic relationship between social media platforms and social justice movements have been created. The news that is presented to us and how it is being shared with us, and portrayed visually on social media platforms, like Instagram, is involuntarily shaping our perception of the world around us. “The ongoing digital disruption is precisely a revolution of communications and information processing, and the so-called new media evolving from this revolution are a crucial factor in the profound change taking place in society,”61_{As we rely on}

59_{"Tell Advertisers to Drop Fox News Now." Media Matters. Accessed June 10, 2019. https://action.mediamatters.org/secure/drop-fox.} 60_{Media and Society (mediasoc). February 28, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.}

https://www.aka.fi/globalassets/32akatemiaohjelmat/media/ohjelmamuistiot/programme_memorandum_mediasoc.pdf. 61_{Media and Society (mediasoc). February 28, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.}

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Instagram to provide us with updates on social and political events, the ways we engage with the news presented to us, through visual posts, has become worthy of researching.

Social media platforms have become independent, recognizable, and esteemed media outlets for obtaining news and information. “Traditional media knows it is competing with social media more than ever.”62_{These social platforms are replacing traditional media outlets, like} newspapers and television news programs. Social media platforms have “extended political action into the realm of the private and the quotidian, as protest has ceased to be a separate pursuit and is now accessible from one’s phone.”63_{Media and news outlets like Broadly, Vice,}

Bitch Media, and The Guardian operate solely online, relying heavily on Instagram, Twitter, and

email subscriptions to reach their audiences. Besides media companies that were created online and operate solely through digital services, traditional media companies like The Washington

Post and The New York Times are turning to social media to stay relevant. In addition to media

outlets and news companies utilizing social media for visibility, social media platforms like Instagram are quickly becoming the go-to space for news and activism.64_{Social media platforms} like Instagram are playing a crucial role in the organization, unfolding of, and diffusion of contemporary protests.

64_{Kimberly A. Whitler, "How Traditional Media Planning Is Changing, And What Marketers Can Do About It," Forbes, May 30, 2017. Accessed June 10,} 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2017/05/28/how-traditional-media-planning-is-changing-and-what-marketers-can-do-about-it/#4eefd0417c49.

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What’s Up with All the Pretty Pictures?

65

The word Instagram is a portmanteau, a verbal mashup of instant camera and telegram. In the earlier days of Instagram, many people shied away from using the app, since, to many, the app was simply a “meaningless void of pretty pictures and half-arsed captions.”66_{With the new} and varied affordances of Instagram, it is clear that Instagram has evolved far past its roots as a “check-in project.”67_{Any daily or weekly user of Instagram can attest that it is common to get on} Instagram, start scrolling through the “home feed,” the “discover” pages, or begin watching users’ “stories,” and realize that a design change or a new click feature was added overnight. Within the last couple of years, Instagram has rolled out an in-app shopping feature and live streaming. On November 28, 2018, Instagram implemented an alternative text feature, adding a much-appreciated layer of inclusivity to the platform. Alternative text is available on both photo posts and users’ stories, “allowing visually impaired user to listen to descriptions of each photo

65_{Zee Hoffmann Jones, "How to Use Instagram Like a Beauty Brand," Moz, April 16, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://moz.com/blog/how-to-use-instagram-like-a-beauty-brand.

67_{Somini Sengupta, Nicole Perlroth, and Jenna Wortham, "Behind Instagram's Success, Networking the Old Way," The New York Times, April 14, 2012.} Accessed June 10, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/technology/instagram-founders-were-helped-by-bay-area-connections.html.

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which has alternative text, either automatically generated text or user-input text.”686970_{With the} alternative text feature, even users who are visually impaired can participate in Instagram’s video and photo sharing. From the alternative text, “suggested for you” which suggests pages based of your activity, to the discover page which shows images and videos based on your “likes” and who your following’s “likes”, almost anyone, from the visually impaired to social activists, can find a liked-minded community on Instagram. While users are still able to “check-in”, the platform now also acts as a sharing tool, a messaging tool, a shopping tool, a search engine, and political campaigning tool all in one.

71

All through the visuals on Instagram, users are conveying their opinions about what is going on in the world around them and showing what they are doing to enact change72_{. On} Instagram, textual description and replies to followers are de-emphasized in favor of images, particularly selfies and attention-grabbing visuals73_{. Although the Instagram platform is still a} place to share photographs or launch a lucrative career as a social media influencer, Instagram has become a platform to find and share local and global news occurrences or to start a social justice movement. Besides flyers, inspirational quotes, dancing videos, and travel photographs,

68_{"Creating a More Accessible Instagram." Instagram. November 29, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://instagram-press.com/blog/2018/11/28/creating-a-more-accessible-instagram/.

69_{Matthew Humphries, "Instagram Adds Object Detection, Alt Text for the Visually Impaired," PCMAG, November 29, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.pcmag.com/news/365190/instagram-adds-object-detection-alt-text-for-the-visually-i.

70_{Matthew Humphries, "Instagram Adds Object Detection, Alt Text for the Visually Impaired," PCMAG, November 29, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.pcmag.com/news/365190/instagram-adds-object-detection-alt-text-for-the-visually-i.

71_{Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, "LOTS of People Asking about the Status of Ocasio2018 Petitions, How Many Signatures We Have, Etc. We Have Not Yet} Released Precise Numbers. We Will Release a Public Statement upon Official Submission. Can't Wait? Follow Our IG Stories for Live Updates. (Instagram: @Ocasio2018) Pic.twitter.com/0fplIRVH6y," Twitter, April 10, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019,

https://twitter.com/aoc/status/983710225474772992.

73_{Emily Harnett. "Celebrities: They're Not Just Like Us." Literary Hub. April 10, 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://lithub.com/celebrities-theyre-not-just-like-us/.

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Instagram has become a place where sharing important messages through captivating, attention-grabbing visuals can resonate with viewers, sometimes enabling real-life action.74

Instagram has become a platform for “grassroots activism and real change.”75_Interacting with users’ posts is done so with ease due to Instagram’s intuitive user experience and user interface design and the step-by-step instructions that are offered when new features are implemented, there is a design change, or users are logging on to Instagram for the first time. With the intuitiveness of using the platform, it has come to be regarded as the go-to social media platform to find an amalgamation of images76_{and information.}

“The Internet, in particular social media platforms like Instagram, favors the

mushrooming of self-organized digital media, which has become the main vehicle for social movements’ cultural […] production.” 77_{Activism that is performed on Instagram “allows} activists to organize events with high levels of engagement, focus, and network strength.”78 Instagram’s core premise is to share the most visually appealing photographs with your followers in order to gain more followers, engagement, and popularity.79_{While the endless stream of} perfectly curated profiles, impeccably edited pictures, and catchy captions have not vanished, Instagram’s visual purpose now heavily orbits around who is visually doing it better or enacting change. With Instagram’s 700 million monthly active users and 4.2 billion ‘likes’ per day (both continuously growing), and “and strong, visual purpose”80_{Instagram users are using visuals to} show their physical and material place in the world.

76_{Jayson DeMers, "Why Instagram Is The Top Social Platform For Engagement (And How To Use It)," Forbes, March 28, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/03/28/why-instagram-is-the-top-social-platform-for-engagement-and-how-to-use-it/#48102b7836bd. 77_{Stefania Milan, "When Algorithms Shape Collective Action: Social Media and the Dynamics of Cloud Protesting," Social Media Society1, no. 2 (2015).} doi:10.1177/2056305115622481.

78_{"What Online Activists Need to Know about Going Viral." FeedBox. July 29, 2018. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://feedbox.com/2018/07/what-online-activists-need-to-know-about-going-viral/.

79_{Jayson DeMers, "Why Instagram Is The Top Social Platform For Engagement (And How To Use It)," Forbes, March 28, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/03/28/why-instagram-is-the-top-social-platform-for-engagement-and-how-to-use-it/#48102b7836bd. 80_{Caroline O'Donoghue, "How Hashtags Are Changing the World," Glamour, August 30, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,}

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Activism on Instagram

The social media platforms that are used on a daily basis, “not only carry but also transform, translate, distort, and modify content and relationships.”81_{As the ability to withstand} long, heavy discussions and texts continually decreases82_{, activists have learned to say and share} what is needed in a visually appealing and short descriptive manner via Instagram. Alongside celebrity activists like Colin Kaepernick, non-celebrity activists are turning to Instagram to mobilize their movements. For example, “in the first six weeks of setting up the

@theworldwidetribe charity, founder Jaz O'Hara raised over 196 thousand dollars for the refugee crisis, working alongside CalAid and Amnesty International.”83_{Instagram is also where Katie} Meyler, founder of @morethanmeorg, was able to directly impact the spread of Ebola awareness in Liberia.”84_{By visually humanizing the harrowing Ebola crisis, moving the crisis past hollow} statistics and sterile images of people in moon suits, “Katie began documenting stories of the thousands of lives being threatened by Ebola, pleading with the world to intervene. Eventually, her following [on Instagram] grew so huge that global news outlets were using her photos for their coverage.”85_{Social media activists are “leveraging the technical properties of social media} to develop a joint narrative and a collective identity.” 86

With the idea of connecting people visually as a core value to Instagram, the platform “encourages users to make [hash]tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging generic words like "photo", to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagram users.”87 #RepealThe8th is a social media hashtag created to abolish Ireland’s anti-abortion ban. The hashtag gained so much traction that Irish women flew home from all the world to vote,

hashtagging #RepealThe8th during their journey home and after they voted for the appeal. This led to a (virtual) public outcry and persistent reporting of the eight-amendment appeal.

82_{Derek Thompson, "The Political Question of the Future: But Are They Real?" The Atlantic, January 14, 2019. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/politicians-are-live-streaming-videos-instagram/579490/.

85_ibid

87_{Tumblr. Accessed June 10, 2019.} https://www.tumblr.com/privacy/consent?redirect=http://instagram.tumblr.com/post/17674993957/instagram-tips-using-hashtags.

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The founders and participants of these Instagram movements are “using Instagram to change what it means to be an activist.”88_{From #RepealThe8th to #ImWithKap, these Instagram} movements show the inclusive, inter-connected, fresh voices that are able to move and speak via Instagram. Social media movements like #RepealThe8th, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and #ImWithKap have gained global traction, leading to real-world implications, such as legal appeals, career losses for assailants, the legal prosecution of murders, and grassroots

crowdfunding of money that is distributed amongst various charities and other social justice organizations.89

Beyond gaining international and mainstream media coverage, Instagram activists’ motives also include switching mainstream media’s, often, normative and conforming gaze when discussing politics and activism. “The rapidly diffused global internet has allowed activists to report directly from the demonstrations without any editorial control or intervention. The Internet has favored the mushrooming of self-organized digital media, which became the main vehicle for the movements’ cultural and normative production. Activists can develop their narratives in a myriad of websites, bypassing mainstream media and the monopoly over symbolic production previously detained by resource-rich organizations.”90_{The informality and fluidity of social} media allow for “multiple and flexible identities, fluctuating and horizontal leadership, and temporary aggregations on the basis of affinity.”91_{In the case of Katie Meyler, her images on} Instagram humanized the Ebola crisis, changing the way mainstream media covered the Ebola epidemic.

A social platform, notoriously known for filters and Face tune (a facial editing app that can change anything from your eye color to the contours of your face) is now infamously

associated with “galvanizing”92_{very unfiltered images of change. With plenty of reason to do so,}

89_{"Colin Kaepernick Reaches $1m Pledge Goal with Help from Famous Friends," The Guardian, January 31, 2018. Accessed June 11, 2019,} https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/31/colin-kaepernick-million-dollar-pledge-goal.

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activists are turning to Instagram to launch and bring awareness to their social justice

movements. Activists that use Instagram for social change are literally “taking the camera and creating the agenda [themselves].”93_{With a lack of news editors to filter content, no board of} directors to censor content, and no employee morality clauses to abide by, Instagram movements are fueled by determination. Encapsulating what Instagram has become, Sarah Maria Griffin said in an interview with Glamour magazine, “the internet is not [only] some shallow bird bath.” With the daily usage of and reliance on social media for obtaining and sharing news, studying user engagement will illuminate what is causing us to stop and engage with deeper through comments, what we simply double tap to “like,” what we blissfully scroll past, and why.

94

94_{Kyle Griffin, "Beyoncé Backs Beto. Pic.twitter.com/f1zo8k6PsD," Twitter, November 06, 2018. Accessed June 11, 2019,} https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1059932252656803842.

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“Who’s to Say Who’s an Expert?” 95

Celebrity activism includes all forms of activism being performed by a celebrity in the public arena. From wearing t-shirts with political messages to starting a social justice campaign to volunteering, donating money, and raising awareness, celebrity activism includes many types of activism. Celebrity activism focuses on awareness spreading, dissemination of knowledge, and mobilization through a digital space. “Modern celebrities increasingly utilize social media to mobilize audiences towards philanthropic and activist causes.”96_{Raising a large amount of} awareness can be more efficiently done for those in the public eye. By using their fame, celebrities are eliciting change, from door-to-door knocking on people’s homes for voter registration97_{to working with law enforcement to remedy gang violence.}98_{By encouraging} participation both online and offline, celebrities are also turning to social media platforms to bring awareness to injustices, incite change, and mobilize.99_{For the purpose of this research} “celebrities” are defined as being entertainers, musicians, actors, pop icons, or athletes in the public arena.

100

In this study, Lucy Bennet’s critique will be applied to Colin Kaepernick, since he is the celebrity in my case study. In “If we stick together, we can do anything” Lucy Bennet “traces

95_{Ronald Brownstein, "Celebrities as Political Activists - Why Stars Make Lasting Marks as A...," AARP, June 03, 2011. Accessed June 10, 2019,} https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-06-2011/NJ-Top-20-Intro.html.

97_{Randall Colburn, "Will Ferrell Went Door-to-door stumping for Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams," October 29, 2018. Accessed June 11, 2019,} https://news.avclub.com/will-ferrell-went-door-to-door-stumping-for-georgia-dem-1830070136.

98_{Janelle Griffith, "Nipsey Hussle's Planned Meeting with L.A. Police on Gang Violence to Go on in His Honor," NBCNews.com, April 1, 2019. Accessed} June 11, 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nipsey-hussle-s-planned-meeting-l-police-gang-violence-go-n989676.

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how Lady Gaga has been actively engaged in a range of philanthropic and activist efforts that often work to address her fans as fellow partners and subsequently inspire many of them to engage in further initiatives.”101_{Similarly to Lady Gaga, Colin Kaepernick is also actively} engaged in social activist efforts that address his fans as fellow activists, subsequently inspiring many of them to engage further. By “achieving millions of followers on social media, [Colin Kaepernick] is a timely example of how social media can be used as a tool to promote specific causes and to secure an active response from fan networks.”102

Forgotten by many, Francis Bushman “was one of the first silent stars.”103_{“Traveling by} train one day to a benefit in Boston, Bushman found himself summoned to a meeting with President William Howard Taft. To Bushman's astonishment, the president told the actor that he "envied" him.”104_{In reference to Francis Bushman, President Taft, who was heading for a}

landslide defeat in 1912, remarked: “all the people love you and I can't have even the love of half the people.”105_{This early, adoring, encounter between President Taft and Francis Bushman “is a} reminder that the fascination between Washington and Hollywood is nothing new.”106

Similar to kings, queens, and presidents, celebrities also have an unattainable, yet inspirational, air to them. Before the 1960s most stars stayed in a “supporting role” where they waved from the stage instead of delivered a speech.107_{As the Civil Rights Movement in the} United States took hold, many “institutions lost authority in the 1960s, that deference crumbled, and stars became increasingly willing to assert their personal views.”108_{After investing his fame} in 1968 presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, American actor Paul Newman posed two resonating questions, “who’s to say who’s an expert?” and “just because I can sway more people than I have a right to, does that mean I'm not entitled to my opinions or to voice them?”109_Both

101_{Lucy Bennett, “‘If We Stick Together We Can Do Anything’: Lady Gaga Fandom, Philanthropy and Activism through Social Media,” Celebrity Stud ies} 5, no. 1-2 (September 10, 2013). doi:10.1080/19392397.2013.813778.

106_ibid 107_ibid 108_ibid 109_ibid

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questions asked by Paul Newman in the late 1960s still apply to today’s celebrities involvement in politics and activism.

110

From Al Jolson, leading “delegations of entertainers into the Republican presidential campaigns of Warren Harding in 1920 and Calvin Coolidge in 1924,”111_{to Louis Mayer who} was a “close friend and advisor to President Herbert Hoover,”112_{to President Nixon hosting} Elvis Pressley during his time in the oval office to President Obama meeting with actors and musicians in the oval office, to President Trump hosting both Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West in the oval office, there has been a timely draw that many non-celebrities (including presidents) have for celebrity artists, musicians, actors, and athletes. “The relationship between the capital of glamour and the capital of power has endured for decades […],”113_{and does not} appear to be letting up.

110_{Olivia B. Waxman, "Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon: The Story Behind the Photo," Time, August 15, 2017. Accessed June 10, 2019,} http://time.com/4894301/elvis-president-nixon-photo/.

Visuals of Activism Instagram Images and the Shaping of American Political Consciousness