The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media

Abstract Despite the growing popularity of Instagram as a medium to portray nature and the outdoors, there remains limited research available exploring its influence on people's experiences in nature. We investigate Instagram as a three‐way negotiation between users, the platform's afforda...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Irma Arts, Anke Fischer, Dominic Duckett, René van derWal
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Wiley 2021
Materias:	environmental communication Instagram mobile media technology nature experience outdoor recreation photography Human ecology. Anthropogeography GF1-900 Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2dec738ce9ab4dd5b90c9c608009d896
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:2dec738ce9ab4dd5b90c9c608009d896
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2dec738ce9ab4dd5b90c9c608009d8962021-12-01T05:33:13ZThe Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media2575-831410.1002/pan3.10239https://doaj.org/article/2dec738ce9ab4dd5b90c9c608009d8962021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10239https://doaj.org/toc/2575-8314Abstract Despite the growing popularity of Instagram as a medium to portray nature and the outdoors, there remains limited research available exploring its influence on people's experiences in nature. We investigate Instagram as a three‐way negotiation between users, the platform's affordances and social norms associated with both Instagram use and outdoor experiences. Moving beyond polarized, conceptual debates situating social media affordances within dystopias and eutopias, we provide empirical insight from the lived experiences of everyday Instagram users reflecting upon their mediated outdoor activities. We found that participants shared special moments, beautiful landscapes and happy memories while they struggled with notions of authenticity associated with these experiences. They perceived certain scenes as more ‘Instagrammable’ than others, and this led to sharing homogenous stories and visual representations of the outdoors. At the same time, participants actively reflected on this standardization and aestheticization of the landscape and their experiences, and highlighted strategies to counter this, such as actively following voices normally under‐represented in media portraying outdoor activities or posting pictures that were not ‘polished’. We conclude that to understand modern‐day interactions with nature and move beyond purely theoretical discussions about the flaws or merits of social media, we need to look at users' own strategies that integrate visual social media into their outdoor activities, while taking into account how platform features and social norms contribute to the construction of these activities. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.Irma ArtsAnke FischerDominic DuckettRené van derWalWileyarticleenvironmental communicationInstagrammobile media technologynature experienceoutdoor recreationphotographyHuman ecology. AnthropogeographyGF1-900EcologyQH540-549.5ENPeople and Nature, Vol 3, Iss 6, Pp 1244-1256 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	environmental communication Instagram mobile media technology nature experience outdoor recreation photography Human ecology. Anthropogeography GF1-900 Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	environmental communication Instagram mobile media technology nature experience outdoor recreation photography Human ecology. Anthropogeography GF1-900 Ecology QH540-549.5 Irma Arts Anke Fischer Dominic Duckett René van derWal The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
description	Abstract Despite the growing popularity of Instagram as a medium to portray nature and the outdoors, there remains limited research available exploring its influence on people's experiences in nature. We investigate Instagram as a three‐way negotiation between users, the platform's affordances and social norms associated with both Instagram use and outdoor experiences. Moving beyond polarized, conceptual debates situating social media affordances within dystopias and eutopias, we provide empirical insight from the lived experiences of everyday Instagram users reflecting upon their mediated outdoor activities. We found that participants shared special moments, beautiful landscapes and happy memories while they struggled with notions of authenticity associated with these experiences. They perceived certain scenes as more ‘Instagrammable’ than others, and this led to sharing homogenous stories and visual representations of the outdoors. At the same time, participants actively reflected on this standardization and aestheticization of the landscape and their experiences, and highlighted strategies to counter this, such as actively following voices normally under‐represented in media portraying outdoor activities or posting pictures that were not ‘polished’. We conclude that to understand modern‐day interactions with nature and move beyond purely theoretical discussions about the flaws or merits of social media, we need to look at users' own strategies that integrate visual social media into their outdoor activities, while taking into account how platform features and social norms contribute to the construction of these activities. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
format	article
author	Irma Arts Anke Fischer Dominic Duckett René van derWal
author_facet	Irma Arts Anke Fischer Dominic Duckett René van derWal
author_sort	Irma Arts
title	The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
title_short	The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
title_full	The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
title_fullStr	The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
title_full_unstemmed	The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
title_sort	instagrammable outdoors – investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media
publisher	Wiley
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2dec738ce9ab4dd5b90c9c608009d896
work_keys_str_mv	AT irmaarts theinstagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT ankefischer theinstagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT dominicduckett theinstagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT renevanderwal theinstagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT irmaarts instagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT ankefischer instagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT dominicduckett instagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia AT renevanderwal instagrammableoutdoorsinvestigatingthesharingofnatureexperiencesthroughvisualsocialmedia
_version_	1718405532005433344

The Instagrammable outdoors – Investigating the sharing of nature experiences through visual social media

Ejemplares similares