Social media for social good? A thematic, spatial and visual analysis of humanitarian action on Instagram

ABSTRACT

As an image and location sharing platform, Instagram offers intimate visual access to events, experiences and situations in a manner that is mobile and contextual. Partnering with Australian Red Cross, this paper develops a mixed methodology for using Instagram data to identify and understand individuals’ everyday humanitarian activity in a major urban centre (Melbourne, Australia) outside of the temporal frame of crisis. The research integrates hashtag data collection with thematic analysis in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to use visualise the links between types of humanitarian action, their motivations and contextual situations to precise urban locations. These attributes of Instagram posting practices offer a base layer of information about disparate prosocial action taking place in an urban context. We see this as informing and sustaining a new hybrid mode of promotional and humanitarian communication, evidencing social good ‘place making’ and enabling new forms of visible humanitarian participation.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital humanitarianism
• Instagram
• grounded visualisation
• GIS
• locative media
• Red Cross

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ebony Gaylor, Amanda Robinson, Panaiyota Romios, and Penny Harrison at Australian Red Cross for their input, along with Sam Wilson and Natalie Jovanovski for their contributions to the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported through a Strategic Partnership Fund from Australian Red Cross, and Seed Funding from Swinburne University of Technology.

Notes on contributors

Anthony McCosker

Anthony McCosker is the Deputy Director of the Social Innovation Research Institute and lectures in Media and Communications in the Faculty of Life and Social Sciences at Swinburne University, Australia. His research explores media affect, digital and visual cultures and social media practices and publics.

Peter Kamstra

Dr. Peter Kamstra is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Social Innovation Research Institute at Swinburne University, Australia. His research explores rural health services, social media practices and publics with an emphasis on qualitative GIS-based analyses.

Tracy De Cotta

Tracy De Cotta is a research assistant at the Social Innovation Research Institute at Swinburne University, Australia. Her research explores social media practices and publics, innovations in health workforce, community participation, social enterprise and applied geography.

Jane Farmer

Prof. Jane Farmer is the Director of the Social Innovation Research Institute at Swinburne University, Australia. Her research explores social disadvantage, rural community development and novel uses of data analytics for addressing social challenges.

Frances Shaw

Dr. Frances Shaw is an independent writer and researcher based in Tasmania, Australia. She has published widely on digital activism and ethics.

Zoe Teh

Zoe Teh work at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research explores suicide prevention, mental health and social media practices and publics.

Arezou Soltani Panah

Dr. Arezou Soltani Panah is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Social Innovation Research Institute and co-founder of the Social Data Analytics (SoDA) Lab at Swinburne, University. Her research combines both theoretical and practical aspects, addressing applications on several domains such as humanities and community wellbeing.