Playing the visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram
Abstract
Algorithms are said to affect social realities, often in unseen ways. This article explores conscious, instrumental interactions with algorithms, as a window into the complexities and extent of algorithmic power. Through a thematic analysis of online discussions among Instagram influencers, I observed that influencers’ pursuit of influence resembles a game constructed around “rules” encoded in algorithms. Within the “visibility game,” influencers’ interpretations of Instagram’s algorithmic architecture—and the “game” more broadly—act as a lens through which to view and mechanize the rules of the game. Illustrating this point, this article describes two prominent interpretations, which combine information influencers glean about Instagram’s algorithms with preexisting discourses within influencer communities on authenticity and entrepreneurship. This article shows how directing inquiries toward the visibility game makes present the interdependency between users, algorithms, and platform owners and demonstrates how algorithms structure, but do not unilaterally determine user behavior.
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Biographies
Kelley Cotter is a doctoral student in the Department of Media & Information at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on how users become aware of and knowledgeable about algorithms applied in sociotechnical systems and resultant implications for the accumulation of different forms of capital. She also explores the intersection between algorithmic (il)literacy and digital inequalities.
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Article first published online: December 14, 2018
Issue published: April 2019
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