I decided to (AB)USE Instagram. I’ve been using it a lot lately, but I’ve never really thought much about how it works beyond the posting, liking, commenting, and using hashtags to put your picture in a group with similar pictures.
@nikyreynolds is an IG account, which I started May 2013. I posted several pictures over the course of two weeks, and then didn’t use it anymore. All of my followers are people I know “in real life”, so I thought this would be a good platform to poke around and get some attention about it all. I figured my sudden reappearance on IG, coupled with my odd behavior, might spark some interest.
For another class, I began a project where when I take a picture on my phone, I also take a picture with the opposite camera on my phone. It’s called the Antipicture Project. I’m not going to get in to the details of that here, but I decided they were a good starting point for our (AB)USE project. I hadn’t shared any of these pictures publicly, and I thought that it would be interesting to share these pictures because most of them are unflattering shots of my face, or they are random things like blank walls and the palm of my hand. I just wanted to see what would happen if I shared them (and only them) on Instagram.
My basic starting rules for this performance were:
- post every antipicture
- don’t post anything but antipictures
- captions and hashtags can be anything
- no responding, only publishing
- only comment on my own posts
Performance Opening
I started my project performance early in the week, so I’ve been at it for about a week now. The first day, I played catch-up, uploading the antipictures that I took over the previous week. I wanted to start this performance off by being able to upload my antipictures as soon as I took them (or at least ASAP). At this point, I posted picture captions which described what was happening in the “real” picture.
I started my project performance early in the week, so I’ve been at it for about a week now. The first day, I played catch-up, uploading the antipictures that I took over the previous week. I wanted to start this performance off by being able to upload my antipictures as soon as I took them (or at least ASAP). At this point, I posted picture captions which described what was happening in the “real” picture.
Interesting
I noticed that some people liked my pictures or followed me just based on the caption I was using, more specifically the hashtag. The posts with hashtags garnered attention, while those without did not. I knew that insincere likes were real, but I didn’t realize that some “people” don’t even look at the picture itself. I even received a comment praising my picture.
Hashtag Bomb
I started doing an internet search for things like “kitten hashtags” and “food hashtags” to supply my photos with “catch worthy” hashtags. This was in an attempt to gain more likes, comments, and followers. It definitely worked, but not on a mass scale. It was during this time that I discovered you can only have 30 hashtags in a post, including comments. I didn’t check if anyone else could comment a hashtag, as no one did.
I started doing an internet search for things like “kitten hashtags” and “food hashtags” to supply my photos with “catch worthy” hashtags. This was in an attempt to gain more likes, comments, and followers. It definitely worked, but not on a mass scale. It was during this time that I discovered you can only have 30 hashtags in a post, including comments. I didn’t check if anyone else could comment a hashtag, as no one did.
Hashtag Takeover
I noticed that I became the top post for a random hashtag during my hashtag bombing. This spurred the idea of a hashtag takeover. Would anyone notice if all of a hashtag’s top posts were my antipictures? Would Ben notice if I took over his name? Would IG let me do this?
I noticed that I became the top post for a random hashtag during my hashtag bombing. This spurred the idea of a hashtag takeover. Would anyone notice if all of a hashtag’s top posts were my antipictures? Would Ben notice if I took over his name? Would IG let me do this?
I didn’t receive any direct information from anyone stating that they noticed my hashtag takeovers, but I did learn a bit about how IG works with hashtags and top posts. First, the more attention you get (likes, comments, activity), the higher you go in the post ranking.
Banned Hashtags
At first, I noted that Instagram doesn’t seem to censor anyone. I was writing swear words and sexual things, but I didn’t get any errors. I hashtagged similar words, but my posts and captions still showed up. I even commented those things, and nothing happened.
At first, I noted that Instagram doesn’t seem to censor anyone. I was writing swear words and sexual things, but I didn’t get any errors. I hashtagged similar words, but my posts and captions still showed up. I even commented those things, and nothing happened.
But then I started clicking on the hasshtags. Some of them went to a blank page with no results, and some went to a “does not exist” page. I could understand something like “#pussy” or “#fuck”, but “#eggplant” and “#vanentinesday”?
Another interesting thing to report is that on my computer, I saw zero results while clicking on banned hashtags. On my phone I received a filtered version of the results (read: what IG wants me to see), and a note on the bottom of the results page which let me know that this hashtag is being filtered. I coined this as Instagram Neutrality.
Comment Bomb
I started commenting on one of my pictures to see if it changed the top post ranking in any hashtag. I found out quickly that IG will try to stop you from spamming comments too quickly. It didn’t seem to care how many comments in a row were my own, just that I didn’t do them too quickly.
Grounded from IG
On Saturday morning, I woke up to find myself grounded from Instagram — without warning or explanation. I was able to post pictures, but the captions I made were deleted. I wasn’t able to comment on my pictures either (I didn’t try to comment on others’ pictures per my performance rules).
On Saturday morning, I woke up to find myself grounded from Instagram — without warning or explanation. I was able to post pictures, but the captions I made were deleted. I wasn’t able to comment on my pictures either (I didn’t try to comment on others’ pictures per my performance rules).
I researched banns on IG and found that “looking like a normal person” might grant you earlier freedom. This was difficult based on my rules, but I tried what I could. First, I updated my bio to include a “help me message”.
Then I started checking how long the ban was. I started uploading pictures with captions, and every time the caption was deleted. First every hour, then every 10 minutes. After a while I gave up on posting, and went on with my day and the performance as it was before the ban. I was, however, encouraged to take more pictures. I was hoping someone would notice my captionless pictures and comment on them. They didn’t. Some of my newfound followers did start liking my pictures, which was at least a little bit of attention. I wonder if some of them saw my bio.
Even More Interesting
While on my caption and comment ban, I found that I could edit the captions of pictures which were uploaded before the ban. I played around with adding, deleting, and changing hashtags in an effort to gain more likes and comments. I gained more likes and a couple of follows, and one comment from a friend I haven’t seen in a while. I wasn’t able to comment back, but at least someone was paying attention.
While on my caption and comment ban, I found that I could edit the captions of pictures which were uploaded before the ban. I played around with adding, deleting, and changing hashtags in an effort to gain more likes and comments. I gained more likes and a couple of follows, and one comment from a friend I haven’t seen in a while. I wasn’t able to comment back, but at least someone was paying attention.
Ungrounded
I became ungrounded on Sunday, and kept along with the project. Nothing new to report. A good amount of likes, some followers, and no comments.
I became ungrounded on Sunday, and kept along with the project. Nothing new to report. A good amount of likes, some followers, and no comments.
Final Day
The status quo continues. Uploads, fake likes, a few new fake followers, a couple of potential legit followers. My “in real life” friend commented on another picture again. I haven’t replied, but I intend to after the close of this performance.
The status quo continues. Uploads, fake likes, a few new fake followers, a couple of potential legit followers. My “in real life” friend commented on another picture again. I haven’t replied, but I intend to after the close of this performance.
Summary
Instagram appears to be a platform where censoring is not involved, but my performance showed otherwise. I was restricted from commenting too quickly, and was eventually banned from commenting or captioning pictures for 24 hours. Even more, I was given the illusion that some of my hashtags were working, but they went nowhere.
Instagram appears to be a platform where censoring is not involved, but my performance showed otherwise. I was restricted from commenting too quickly, and was eventually banned from commenting or captioning pictures for 24 hours. Even more, I was given the illusion that some of my hashtags were working, but they went nowhere.
Hashtags were created to group similar pictures together, but they could also be used “inappropriately” to takeover a hashtag. During my performance, I began testing the idea of taking over a hashtag as a form of protest. As a note: I wasn’t protesting my professor, he was just an easy target. Check out his hashtag takeovers #bengrosser and #benjamingrosser. Check them out on the computer and on your phone — the results are slightly different.
