[I realized later on this part wasn't necessary, but it helped me figure out the importance of each source for the overall project].
Emma Hudson
Dr. King
ENGL 494
4 November 2020
Feminist Instagram Branding Culture: Source Review
There are a multitude of ways to think about the cultural aspects of feminist Instagram branding culture because there’s a variety of feminist cultures to consider since we are in the age of fourth-wave feminism. The app can be studied within itself, such as taking notes on media promotion through tagging, hashtagging, design, and timing. When using a lens on branding, Instagram marketing strategies, the aesthetics, and consumer response all tie-in together. The various sources that accumulated during the research covers Instagram, branding, and feminism―all tied together by rhetorical practices in the digital age. Moreover, each source appeals to aspects of feminism, Instagram, branding, and combines the importance of these functions through a cultural lens.
Instagram offers an architecture that is unlike other social media apps. According to Caliandro and Graham’s “Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies,” there are one billion users on Instagram worldwide, which is more than the users on Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest combined. This source focuses on how much Instagram offers within the app’s structure in terms of ways photos can be cropped, filtered, and adjusted. These effects in themselves have altered the culture of photography and photo-sharing. The social media culture that arises from Instagram’s architecture. Understanding Instagram’s functions parallels understanding how feminism is curated on the app. “The Aesthetician of Feminism: A Case Study of Feminist Instagram Aesthetics” by Rosa Crepax ties in how feminism is presented and performed on Instagram. This article presents arguments that state the hyper-feminine appeal of feminist posts can either play into appealing to the white male gaze or is an action that reclaims femininity with pastel and glittery aesthetics. Cat Mahoney’s article “Is this what a feminist looks like?” furthers how trending feminist posts can fit into neoliberalism ideals; however, her study uses examples of influencers that undermine the normative views of women, thus, actually adopting feminist activism practices into their feeds.
In terms of branding on Instagram, a source that connected cultural and rhetorical ties was “Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance” by Nicholas Carah and Michelle Shaul. The user practices of Instagram typically involve glancing, swiping, and tapping. It’s this interaction that displays a cultural practice because Instagram has become integrated into multiple lives. For brands, the app’s architecture means having a visual that is worth a pause. The visual in itself must tie into self-presentation, giving the brand an identity. Then brands appeal on a cultural level through spaces, specifically showcasing pictures of cultural spaces. When it comes to branding, a social media manager tends to be the person in charge of the process, which is explained in Jenna Jacobson’s “You are a brand.” Social media is becoming an increasingly in-demand skill from employers, and various countries search for social media managers that can figure out how to overcome certain challenges. To become a successful brand, it takes an emotional touch as mentioned in Youn-Kyung Kim and Pauline Sullivan’s study on emotional branding. While the study pertains to retail, social media has become a space for retail and branding; therefore, their discoveries can apply and demonstrate rhetorical practices brands can adapt to continue the growing phenomenon of feminist Instagram branding culture.
Overall, feminist Instagram branding culture is a phenomenon with complex intersections that are necessary to understand in the digital age. Social media has the power to influence perception, and these sources help queue in the extent of success of Instagram as a cultural practice.
Opmerkingen