Depicting social television on Instagram: Visual social media, participation, and audience engagement with #sbseurovision

Depicting
social television
on Instagram
Visual social media,
participation, and
audience experiences of
#sbseurovision
Tim Highfield
Queensland University
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
t.highfield@qut.edu.au
#ica15
San Juan, Puerto Rico
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
1

My my!
This is a paper about Eurovision and
fandom and Instagram
The Eurovision Song Contest:
European nations send artists + songs to
represent them, audience votes (but not for
their own country) with diﬀerent
implications/motives/interpretations across
Europe
The winner takes it all hosts the next
contest
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
2

#joinus
In Australia, Eurovision is a cult tv event,
shown on delay by multicultural
broadcaster SBS (until now)
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
3

Europe, start voting…
In a matter of hours,
the 2015 Eurovision Grand Final will be
held in Vienna, Austria
At which, for the first time,
Australia will compete?!
This paper is not about this story.
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
4

It’s a story ‘bout a social door
Eurovision and social media a popular
combination, Twitter especially:
live-tweeting, as a means of sense-
making, engagement, shared experiences
snark, sarcasm, and silliness
tropes and rituals of Eurovision
Promoted on-screen content,
140 characters ideal for one-liners
but visual social media?
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
5

Hello San Juan,
this is Brisbane calling
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
6

Party for everybody
Because delay – and primetime broadcast,
and encouraged by SBS –
Australians organise Eurovision parties,
making the broadcast social
(not universal or unique to Australia)
Social media used to document their
Eurovision experience:
if Twitter is live commentary, snark, &c.
then how is Instagram used to engage
with a live tv broadcast?
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
7

You gave me a rendez-vous
Methods:
Tracking #sbseurovision hashtag through
Instagram API
8-12 May 2014: 1846 media, 1205 users
Australian broadcast dates:
9 May – SF1 - 358 media
10 May – SF2 – 485 media
11 May – Final – 956 media
Analysis of the content of #sbseurovision
media – not considering comments/♥
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
8

…un miroir, dans lequel
chacun peut me voir
Selfies:
photographs taken by one of the people in
the photo, as a self-portrait (individual and
group): 520 items (28.2%) (173 solo, 347
group)
*mirror selfies: 12 items
POV shot:
presents what the photographer sees as
their viewing experience: 186 items (10%)
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
9

Beaux messieurs,
belles dames
1264 items (68.5%) featured people
(including hands in POV shots &c.)
Group size:
1 person: 435 media
2 people: 329
3: 127
4-12: each >10 items
Largest countable group: 35 people
24 items had crowds
465 items featured costumes:
85 either Conchita/fake beards
1 Leaning Tower of Pisa
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
10

My lovely horse pets
133 items (7%) featured animals:
Cats, dogs, … rabbits
61 of these featured animals without
people
32 selfies = pelfies
14 items had animals in costumes
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
11

I’ve got a cake to bake
263 items (14.2%) featured food
103 items featured food but no people
(e.g. overhead shots of food on table)
Popular items: cupcakes, dips:
Mix of standard party food and special
event (Eurovision-specific catering)
135 items had food + drink
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
12

Alcohol is free
418 media (22.6%) included drinks
bottles, glasses, cups, alcoholic and non-
alcoholic beverages
59 of these featured drink but no people
Low percentage due to group shots
where one person might be holding
glass/bottle – drink present but not
focus of image
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
13

Je voudrais un moustache
Other elements of party and costume
presentation:
Headwear, fake moustaches (drawn and
on sticks), painted nails, face painting…
Flags:
302 items, including: full-size flags,
bunting, iced cupcakes, painted nails, in
costumes…
Only 35 (11.6% of flags) including
Australian flags…
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
14

Vote, vote, vote
for the winners
But…
broadcast engagement through Instagram?
502 media (27.2%) featured tv screens
27 focused on on-screen social media content
(including highlighting user’s previous content)
29 items dedicated to voting – either SBS-
specific vote or home-run contests
71 items, though, featured SBS’s thumbs-
up/down props
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
15

Another cliché, baby
19 items showed
drinking game
rules or bingo
cards
acknowledgement
of tropes and
ironic/humorous
engagement with
Eurovision
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
16

Let’s do away with prejudice
But also: #sbseurovision final =
956 Instagram posts vs. >45,000 tweets
Disposability, fleeting relevance of tweets?
Both social, but Instagram more personal?
Snark in tweets vs. good-natured, social
presentation of Instagram – less the
contest, more the context?
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
17

The history book on the shelf
is always repeating itself
Instagram sets the scene for social
television: how a viewer is experiencing the
broadcast (where, with whom, how)
Common approaches to documenting this
– selfies, POV shots
Mix mundane and everyday with the
extraordinary and the special
Infrequent posting (unlike Twitter)
Less concerned with events on screen,
more the social experience of Eurovision
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
18

And the douze points
go to…
Thank you!
Questions &c. ?
And the Europop (pop)
makes me dizzy
And I just can't stop (stop)
'til it's finished
Tim Highfield
of Technology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
#ica15
23 May 2015
Instagram and
#sbseurovision
19

Depicting social television on Instagram: Visual social media, participation, and audience engagement with #sbseurovision

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Depicting social television on Instagram: Visual social media, participation, and audience engagement with #sbseurovision