Digital Racial Socialization on Instagram during the Summer of 2020

• In Event: Racial Socialization in the Sociopolitical Era of “Black Lives Matter”: Parents, Schools, and Social Media

Abstract

Despite early scholarship suggesting the internet could erase race and corresponding social ills, nearly two decades of research show online race-related experiences have increased in importance (English et al., 2020; Tynes et al., 2004; Tynes et al., 2020; Tynes et al., 2015; Tynes et al., 2019). Tynes and colleagues’ (2004) early research on adolescents showed 37 out of 38 AOL and Yahoo chat transcripts had race-related statements. In addition, this study was the first to show how young people socialize one another into ways of doing race, including how to express their racial identities, maintain same- and cross-race friendships, find romantic partners, and learn about within and outgroup experiences in online spaces (Tynes et al., 2004). Subsequent research has also suggested that young people learn about race through assuming different roles online such as advocate, witness or friend (Tynes, 2007). To our knowledge, there is conceptual scholarship (e.g. Frey et al., 2022), but no empirical studies have examined digital racial socialization in the most commonly used social media platforms. One study used the term online socialization but assessed racial discrimination rather than socialization messages (Byrd & Ahn, 2020).

The present study examined digital racial socialization in Instagram Carousel posts and their comments during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. Using keyword searches such as “Black Lives Matter” and “police brutality”, we collected 99 Instagram presentations and their comment sections that were created in June through August of 2020. We conducted deductive thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) to first determine the types of racial socialization messages users receive that align with parental and school racial socialization. We then performed an inductive thematic analysis to determine types, practices and modalities used in the socialization process that are unique to digital spaces and specifically Instagram.

Findings show the types of digital racial socialization include a broad range that is both consistent and departs from those typically discussed in the literature. Examples include cultural, emotion, colorblind, white supremacist, race-related civic education and engagement, anti-racism and digital media literacy. The Carousel feature along with other aspects of the interface afforded users the ability to engage in a number of practices where they socialize these messages. Directives, social justice advocacy, asking questions, responding, information sharing, teaching, modeling, and providing social support are practices that provide the pathways for socializing race-related messages.

Although studies have shown through interview data that Instagram influencer allyship was largely performative during the summer of 2020 (Wellman, 2022), this study suggests average users created and were exposed to sophisticated college-level presentations of race-related material. At the same time, racist and colorblind messages were common.

Authors

• Brendesha Tynes, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Sia Seko, University of Southern California