#Insta-Environment: Measuring the Effects of Instagram's Algorithm on Climate Change Communications

• In Event: The Social Life of Algorithms - II

Abstract

Instagram is becoming an integral part of communications infrastructure, with over a billion active users representing individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other entities. Changes to the methods and technology Instagram uses to display content has accompanied the influx of users over the past few years as the companies business needs change over time. Updates to Instagram's core algorithms change the way people post and receive information, giving the company has substantial control over communications practices that often lie hidden within proprietary technology. Recognizing the power of Instagram's platform, this paper asks: is there a relationship between algorithmic communication and environmental framing on Instagram?

This paper explores the relationship between technology and communications through a content analysis of posts on Instagram related to climate change. While the company does not reveal the exact formulas for its algorithms, it is possible to view networked communication on Instagram by following the path of hashtags. The method to create this empirical map takes ten environmentally-themed hashtags (e.g., #climatechange, #sustainableliving, or #globalwarming, etc.) and pulls the text, date of publication, user information, number of views and likes (i.e., engagement), and hashtags into a database for analysis. The patterns that emerge from this database provide insight into the structure of Instagram's algorithms and how information is shared between users. I argue that Instagram's algorithms shape environmental communication and that our communications infrastructure requires transparency if it is to avoid being discounted as untrustworthy by an increasingly media-savvy public.

Author

• David Christopher Rheams, The University of Texas at Dallas