Instagram hashtags in context: Patterning of the discursive space in search for the #goodlife

Journal Paper by Anastasia Loukianov, Kate Burningham and Tim Jackson
The Information Society | October 2022

Summary

Stories about what living well means are critical both to the maintenance of existing ways of living and to the possibility of envisioning and transitioning toward fairer and more sustainable futures. The implications of the stories told on social media for the possibility of such futures have yet to be explored.

In this open access paper, CUSP researcher Anastasia Loukianov together with Kate Burningham and Tim Jackson explore how the use of hashtags on Instagram shapes the visibility and recognisability of understandings of the good life in the discursive field created by #goodlife on the platform.

Using network analysis, we map the co-occurrence of hashtags in 793 posts tagged #goodlife to explore the formation of hashtag-based narrative and hyperlink patterns. Our findings suggest that the visibility and recognisability of narrative patterns within this discursive space are shaped by interactional conventions and by algorithmic infrastructure, favouring corporate interests over sustainable and fair livelihoods. However, we also identify themes that could support fairer and more sustainable understandings of living well and reassert their ongoing importance.

Further Reading