Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures Format: Paperback

In the first book-length examination of Instagram, Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield and Crystal Abidin trace how this mobile photography app has developed as a platform and a culture. They consider the new visual social media aesthetics, the rise of Influencers and new visual economies, the complex politics of the platform, and examine how Instagram's users have changed their use of the platform over time to respond to evolving features. The book highlights how different subcultural groups use Instagram, and how various public spaces and businesses of all kinds are reshaping their landscape and services to be 'Insta-worthy'. Far from just capturing moments, the authors argue that Instagram has altered the ways people communicate and share, while also creating new approaches to marketing, advertising, politics and the design of spaces.

Rich with grounded examples from around the world, Instagram is essential reading for student, scholars and practitioners of media and communication.

Tama Leaver is Associate Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University.

Tim Highfield is Lecturer in Digital Media and Society at the University of Sheffield.

Crystal Abidin is a digital anthropologist and ethnographer of vernacular internet cultures. She researches young people's relationships with internet celebrity, self-curation, and vulnerability. Her books include Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online (2018), Microcelebrity Around the Globe: Approaches to Cultures of Internet Fame (2018, co-edited with Megan Lindsay Brown), and Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures (2019, with Tama Leaver and Tim Highfield). She is listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2018) and Pacific Standard 30 Top Thinkers Under 30 (2016). Crystal is Senior Research Fellow and DECRA Fellow in Internet Studies at Curtin University, Affiliate Researcher with the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping University, and Research Fellow with the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. Reach her at wishcrys.com.