Defining network borders on instagram: the case of russian-speaking bloggers with migration background

Abstract

Mass self-communication [12] has led to a continuous process of de-institutionalization of media systems; today, myriads of bloggers are struggling to receive audiences’ attention. Networked user communities contribute to the creation of attitudes and transfer of information and ideas [6]. The two major approaches to reconstructing the discussion structure are the ‘issue mapping’ and the ‘actor mapping’. ‘Actor mapping’ focuses on a dataset of bloggers that is checked for interconnectedness and requires a development of a pre-defined list of bloggers; however, such lists are easy to create only in case of top political bloggers or journalists. This study aims to test a methodological approach of ‘actor mapping’ on Instagram; more precisely, we aim at testing a method for creating a corpus of relevant accounts on Instagram. The methodological design we have developed aims to create a database of Instagram blogs about migration in Russian language beyond an issue-triggered discussion. The paper discusses also the restrictions of Instagram as platform and contributes to the general knowledge how Instagram bloggers use hashtags.