Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Media Studies

Supervisor

Hearn, Alison

Abstract

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of Instagram influencer engagement pods to explore the dynamics of antagonism, resistance, and struggle unique to the structuring conditions and valorization processes of platform capitalism. I argue that beneath the seemingly frictionless data-driven accumulation strategies of social media platforms like Instagram lies a familiar struggle between the subjects of labour and capital, the “struggle over measure” (de Angelis & Harvie, 2009).

Instagram influencers are native-to-online, professional content producers who have amassed an online following that they monetize in various ways. These digital producers are the unique progeny of platform capitalism; they operate as independent “entrepreneurs-of-the-self,” yet they are tethered to platform companies whose business interests and proprietary digital architectures set the conditions for their work and employability. The influencer engagement pod is one response to their conditions. Engagement pods are platform-prohibited communities of strategic engagement and data production, where participants trade likes, comments, and follows to inflate their metrics, and attempt to “game” Instagram’s algorithms.

Through sixteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Instagram influencers who have experience with pods, I unpack the specific tensions and antagonisms that animate this emerging field and explore the possibilities and limits of collective organizing against social media platforms. I ask, how do Instagram influencers understand their relationship with Instagram and the role that it plays in their work? What impasses, coercions, and constraints do engagement pods respond to? How do Instagram influencers see their own power and resistance in and through the pods? And what does this tell us about the broader possibilities for struggle and resistance for subjects of platform capitalism?

Findings illustrate a struggle over autonomy and value between influencers and the platform that endows them with “influencer” status. I propose that influencer engagement pods express the contradictions of influencers’ conditions, articulating both a challenge and a commitment to the measures and value regimes of Instagram. Nevertheless, I argue this data-based subversion reveals the platform’s operations of data “capture” to be the site of a persistent struggle to subordinate subjects to the instruments of capitalist valorization - the daily struggle over measure. Theoretical implications and future research agendas are discussed.

Summary for Lay Audience

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of Instagram influencer engagement pods to explore the dynamics of antagonism, resistance, and struggle under platform capitalism. I argue that the Instagram influencer engagement pod is illustrative of a familiar labour struggle: the “struggle over measure” (de Angelis & Harvie, 2009).

Instagram influencers are native-to-online, professional content producers who have amassed an online following that they monetize in various ways. These digital producers are the unique progeny of platform capitalism; they operate as independent entrepreneurs, yet they are tethered to platform companies whose business interests and proprietary digital architectures set the conditions for their work and employability. The influencer engagement pod is one response to their conditions. Engagement pods are platform-prohibited communities of strategic engagement and data production, where participants trade likes, comments, and follows to inflate their metrics, and attempt to “game” Instagram’s algorithms.

Through sixteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Instagram influencers, I unpack the tensions and antagonisms that animate this emerging field and explore the possibilities and limits of collective organizing against social media platforms. I ask, how do Instagram influencers understand their relationship with Instagram and the role that it plays in their work? What impasses, coercions, and constraints do engagement pods respond to? How do Instagram influencers see their own power and resistance in and through the pods? And what does this tell us about the broader possibilities for struggle and resistance for subjects of platform capitalism?

Findings illustrate a struggle over autonomy and value. I propose that influencer engagement pods express the contradictions of influencers’ conditions, articulating both a challenge and a commitment to the measures and value regimes of Instagram. Nevertheless, I argue this data-based subversion reveals the platform’s operations of data “capture” to be the site of a persistent struggle to subordinate subjects to the instruments of capitalist valorization - the daily struggle over measure. Theoretical implications and future research agendas are discussed.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS