Tim Highfield and Tama Leaver presented on visual social media and digital methods. They discussed the increasing importance of visual content on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and how this enables new approaches to studying social media. They proposed methods for collecting and analyzing hashtag data and metadata to better understand visual tropes, practices and meaning-making on these platforms. Challenges addressed included the dynamic and ephemeral nature of visual social media data.

1. Tim Highfield + Tama Leaver
QUT Curtin
@timhighfield | timhighfield.net @tamaleaver | tamaleaver.net
Visual social media
+
digital methods
Instagrammatics…
…and beyond!
ANZCA 2015, Queenstown NZ
10 July 2015

2. Visual social media
Instagram selfies
Tumblr GIFs
Vine memes
Twitter infographics
YouTube mash-ups
Facebook profile pics
Vimeo talking heads
Periscope live streams
Line emoji
Snapchat coffee/brunchfast
… …
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 02

3. The visual turn?
The importance of the visual, enabled by
Technological capabilities
Ubiquitous internet access
Smartphones
Apps, platforms focused on images, videos,
streaming…
Visual representations and
the social mediation of everyday life
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 03

4. From Twitter to…
Building on capabilities and methods for studying
Twitter, develop new tools and processes for other
platforms
initial focus: #hashtags as common hooks
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 04

5. User
name
Tweet
Hashtag
Link
Date
and
4me
@men4on
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 05
Twitter data

6. Creator
user
name
Image/
video
Cap4on
Likes
Comments
Tag
@men4on
Date/4me
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 06
Instagram data

7. Instagrammatics
The Ends of Identity: #ultrasound, #birth, #funeral
cf. Tama Leaver (2015). “Researching the Ends of Identity:
Birth and Death on Social Media”. Social Media + Society
Approaches developed further through research into
#sbseurovision, #democracysausage, …
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 07

8. Instagrammatics
Hashtag-oriented datasets offer:
Quantitative analysis - # items, users, metrics
Metadata – location, time, filter, tags…
Content, visual analysis
Tropes of Instagram
Shared practices (#tbt, #nofilter…)
Photos vs. memes vs. collages vs. video
The presentation/performance of
experiences
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 08

9. Metadata of the visual
#thisisqueensland
Instagram
Oct 2014
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 09

10. Visual / textual
Taking into account both elements for combined
meaning-making, context
The use of visual media as supporting elements
for text commentary (e.g. reaction GIFs)
The text set-up or explanation for visual gags
The Dress as visual and textual social media
phenomenon?
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 10

11. Visual challenges
Dynamic data – comments, likes, shares
Visual analysis, data processing
The visual and the textual combined
Image + caption + tags + responses + …
Time and permanence/relevance?
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 11

12. Ephemerality
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 12

13. Not quite an image,
not yet a video?
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 13

14. Metricshttps://vine.co/v/O9deFBO6HZW
http://northgang.com/post/116372260562
https://twitter.com/RickWolff/status/
https://instagram.com/p/09Oza_BVz2/587657094444281857
Vine
Instagram
Tumblr
Twitter
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 14

15. Platform allowances
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 15

16. Visual ethics
What data is available? What data is allowed to be
captured?
The personal within the visual
The personal in the metadata
Location data coupled with depicting people/
place
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 16

17. Participatory +
co-created
Meaning and commentary created on social media
through images, text, and more
Visual expressions, visual cultures
e.g. Meme creation, promotion, sharing
Participation and extension further impacts upon the
visual objects of study
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 17

18. Participatory +
co-created
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 18

19. Participatory +
co-createdhttps://twitter.com/ABCnewsIntern/
status/587903015283101697
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 19

20. Participatory +
co-createdhttps://twitter.com/KieraGorden/
status/587939165284671488
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 20

21. Participatory +
co-createdhttps://twitter.com/ABCnewsIntern/
status/587928106955976704
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 21

22. Meaning and intent
Reading into visual media:
Constructing messages, opinions, commentary from
non-textual elements
e.g. Hashtaggery on Twitter vs. Instagram vs. …
e.g. Entirely made of emojis
Support and visibility of these forms on different
platforms, OS, in databases
Impact on interpretation?
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 22

23. For more:
Visual Cultures
of Social Media
timhighfield.net
The Ends of Identity
tamaleaver.net
@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 23