As someone who regularly uses Instagram to express their love for fashion, I had never considered my social media usage as “labour” within the digital economy. Especially as it is the only platform I use, I rely on it significantly to search for and experiment with new styles. However, I have always questioned how the app interprets my data, prompting me to document my Instagram usage within the span of a day.
The Experiment and Observations
For leisure, Instagram is a significant source of my style and beauty inspiration. I mainly explore alternative fashion, jewellery, makeup and nail art, which I like or save to my profile daily. Through different reels and content that I view on my explore page, I engage with various influencers, brands and products recommended by the algorithm.
Simply interacting with the platform’s content is a process of commodification, whereby the time I’ve spent online generates a cybernetic commodity. This is the information companies extract from my online behaviour and consumption, which in turn, proposes content that might heighten my interest.
While viewing posts and scrolling through the platform, this process was surprisingly noticeable in my ads. Instagram recommended brands such as Naked Wolfe, Vitaly, MDV and Disturbia, which are platforms I have shopped from, as they all have aesthetics I admire. It just so happened that there was a sale happening for a pair of thigh-high boots I’d wanted for months from Naked Wolfe, which prompted me to purchase them.
It heightened my awareness of how disturbingly precise the algorithm is, prompting another question about how these companies utilise our data for monetisation. This is particularly relevant as Instagram’s primary income base comes from its ad revenue, with an estimated $33.3 billion made in 2022.
What about my own contributions?
My “labour” also extends to my contributions to the platform, as now and then, I enjoy doing outfit photoshoots with one of my friends, who is a photographer. Today, I received some photos she took for me and decided to share them on my main feed. The activity of tagging brands and circulating content translates into profit for Instagram, as I voluntarily share information that the company can use for marketing purposes or targeted ads. Furthermore, distributing content keeps users on the platform for a longer time, meaning that more advertisers can engage with audiences.
Although I’ve considered content creation more seriously in the past, its labour-intensive nature and the necessity to be consistent with posts to build a loyal following have definitely deterred me. The work required to style, shoot, edit and self-promote content, especially when starting as a micro-influencer, can be emotionally taxing as it is unpaid labour. Moreover, there is no guarantee that these efforts will pay off, reinforcing how success is very much down to serendipity as it is hard work.
Exploring this concept of aspirational labour put things into perspective, as it made me realise that past hopes to secure a part-time career sharing fashion content encouraged my participation within the online economy. However, as someone wanting to enter the creative industry in the future, I’ve acknowledged that Instagram can be a helpful networking tool and online portfolio.
Though I don’t gain monetary value from posting on Instagram, it doesn’t affect me significantly as I view shoots as a hobby and have limits on my app usage. I’d say I benefit from the content that I view and gain inspiration from it for personal use. However, if being a content creator was a full-time career within the digital economy, I think the constant pressure and time required to maintain a social media presence would prove challenging.