Making Instagram posts that actually inform Scattered amongst them all are brands scrambling to show their Zoomer audience that they care (while ignoring their own negative impact on the world).Įven with the best of intentions, reducing complex issues that affect thousands of real people to the same informational level as a summer sale will not work. And at the other end, you have accounts that sacrifice any nuance for provocative points to make them as shareable as possible. On one end of the spectrum, there are accounts pasting huge blocks of well-thought-out arguments onto tiny squares, making the reading experience nearly impossible. But many posts fell into the trap of either belittling serious or triggering events, or pairing them with tone-deaf cutesy graphics. There's nothing wrong with using eye-catching design to accompany a strong message. But, at its very worst, the Instagram Infographic Industrial Complex is a reductive game of social justice telephone that further confuses everyone.Īfter all, when dense posts about political revolution are sandwiched between photos of your friend’s dog and funny videos, how does that change the way we perceive the issue? Where is the line between informing others and making memes that exploit the deaths of Black Americans? Are they important, or are they blending in with sponsored ads from your favorite Instagram shop? Do they actually encourage you to read and take further actions, or are they simply adding noise on top of noise? If you ask Terry Nguyen of Vox, she'd tell you. If surface-level awareness of an issue was the goal, we’ve exceeded expectations. The Minnesota Freedom Fund received upwards of $20 million in donations after the murder of George Floyd, “many of them stemming from social media.” As the watering-down occurred, accounts like (previously garnered thousands of likes per post. In its best iteration, people like Dom Roberts and Eiselle Ty effectively used interesting design, personal experience, reliable sources and step-by-step topics to reach thousands. The “call to action” went from protests, reparations or political action to shares, likes and engagement numbers.Īnd engage we did. Genuinely helpful posts became lost in a sea of sameness. But as people joined the “trend” (and not the actual movements), the focus shifted to undefined "awareness” of issues with no IRL follow-through. Instagram creators who were offline activists and BIPOC were able to focus their content around collective action and quick, useful advice based on their experiences and needs. That meant we had more time to reflect on the past couple of months, and ask ourselves questions like: did we make a difference? Did these long, informative posts actually work? Let’s parse through the Instagram Infographic Industrial Complex. School was starting again, the summer heat and the pandemic continued to rage on, and though justice for Black Americans is still being sought to this day, the news cycle was starting to shift their attention elsewhere. Even we joined in, as did a number of the largest agencies across the industry.īut by August, the general public was already beginning to move on. Known also as “ PowerPoint Activism, ” “slacktivism” or “bite-sized activism,” heavily-designed Instagram carousel posts detailing complex issues became an expected part of any new event or movement taking place online. Unlike many years prior, this summer led to countless people flocking to social media as a safer way to show their support and solidarity for the protests taking place nationwide. There’s only one period of time we could be talking about: the summer of 2020. The tragedy of experiencing a pandemic mixed with the absurdity of spending all our time indoors and online. Generation Z coming into their own as socially aware, outspoken teens and adults. A strong resurgence in modern-day civil rights with the Black Lives Matter movement.
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