Web 2.0 Wednesday Glittery Tool Highlight

Happy Independence Day! Cheers to celebrating the birth of American independence and the signing of the Declaration of Independence!

Anyone else always want to watch National Treasure when you hear "Declaration of Independence"? Love those movies!

In the spirit of independence, the Web 2.0 Glittery Tool I am highlighting today is Instagram!

Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform that allows users to create a profile, publish visual content, and share content with a HUGE community!

Instagram is an excellent example of a social media Web 2.0 tool, as "typical social media features promote individual users through profile pages (e.g., displaying likes, comments,recommendations)" and "include[s] interconnections with other users through links and news feeds, and sharing of user-generated content (e.g., photos, ratings, tags)" (Greenhow and Lewin, 2016).

Instagram, and social media as a whole, "has unique and powerful features, readily facilitating connections to others through sharing and community evaluation, leading to participatory engagement in effective, multimodal learning communities"(Greenhow and Lewin, 2016).

The key point from the quote above is "participatory engagement"; Instagram is one of the easiest platforms to facilitate connections and allows users to directly engage with content and authors, as it has features that easily allow users to follow hashtags, save and organize interesting and relevant content, facilitate targeted conversations through the use of comment threads, connect with other platform users by viewing their stories, and publish up to 60-minutes of video content to share on a personal "TV Channel" (similar to YouTube, but embedded within the Instagram app) #IGTV.

Though Instagram is focused on sharing photos and videos, and has less of an emphasis of sharing text-related content, one could think of Instagram like a graphic blog. According to Vanessa P. Dennen from Florida State University, "bloggers often communicate their community affiliations via sidebar links and share a number of communication, interaction, and identity norms with their community. Following these norms provides a key mean of gaining acceptance within a blogging community" (Dennen, 2009). Instagram users follow these same guidelines; Instagrammers can share relevant links and hashtags directly on individual posts and in their platform biography, and the most successful Instagrammers share multiple identity norms with their community, as one's Instagram profile can be branded to reflect personal interests and content-area expertise. While "starting a blog is quite easy for most people, but gaining an audience and becoming an acknowledged member of a community is more complex" (Dennen, 2009), Instagram overcomes that blogging roadblock by helping to connect users with additional Instragram profiles of interest using the Explore page.

Additionally, Instagrammers frequently promote other social media influencers (well known social media users) similar to the common practice among bloggers "where a new blogger ha[s] a friend who was already blogging, [so] the established blogger introduce[s] and welcome[s] the new one in a post with a link to the new blog" (Dennen, 2009). See the example below from one of my favorite influencers, karissakayabbott, who has THE cutest family EVER!

Being an effective Instagrammer requires a high level of digital literacy: "a robust knowledge of the affordances and limitations of digital tools and strategies to address goals and needs in a variety of settings and contexts,plus the skill-set and disposition necessary for critical thinking,social engagement, and innovation" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

"A digitally literate professional is able to adapt to new and emerging technologies quickly and pick up easily new semiotic language for communication as they arise by embracing technical, cognitive and social-emotional perspectives of learning with digital technologies,both online and offline" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

A digitally literate professional who wants to integrate social media and Web 2.0 tools into their portfolio "must actively and intentionally shape their digital footprints. Doing so involves deciding what one’s digital footprint should say and/or represent in the first place" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

When using Instagram, one must decide the professional web presence they want to showcase.

Keep in mind "a professional web presence can and should emphasize one’s best qualities (much like a résumé might) with accuracy and integrity, which in turn will actively shapes one’s digital footprint in a positive light" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

Steps to create an intentional web presence using Instagram:

1. "Think about what information you feel comfortable publicly sharing, especially in light of your intended professional audience(s)"

"If you think about your web presence as an instructional message about yourself with a designated audience or audiences (such as a teacher who may wish to consider multiple audiences, e.g., students, parents/guardians of students, colleagues, and administration), then you may consider what content about you is relevant to those audiences and to what level of detail and specificity you are comfortable sharing via a highly public distribution network" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

2. Once you have determined what information you feel comfortably sharing, begin to build your Instagram profile, always keeping your intended professional audience in mind.

As you are building your profile, consider the most effective way to share your resources with your audience. Would it be best to include a link to your portfolio in your Instagram account Biography? What about relevant hashtags? Would you consider including those to gain a wider audience? You only have 150 words to include in your profile biography, make sure those words are effective and engaging so you interest and retain followers to grow your community. As you set up your Instagram profile, read this blog post from Constant Contact's blog detailing 10 Things You Need to Do When Getting Started on Instagram.

3. After your profile is built, ensure the resources you plan on sharing are intentionally written to be shared via Instagram.

"Shared resources may include white papers, application recommendations, program evaluations,reports of pilot studies, teaching and training materials,and creative works... Social media sharing sites offer an opportunity to share your expertise with a wider audience" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016). Do you plan on recording videos to spark your audience's attention? How about creating some visual images to promote your shared resources? A great graphic design tool I recommend is Canva. In fact, Canva is SO great it's getting it's own Web 2.0 Wednesday highlight in the upcoming weeks! #staytuned

4. You've reflected on what you are comfortable with sharing, you have built your profile, your resources are ready to be shared, now it's time to create your post(s) and craft your web presence!

As you begin to make your posts this blog post from The Everygirl detailing How to Post on Instagram Like a Pro . Remember, "Each professional needs to craft a web presence that is appropriate given the professional audience(s) she/he is trying to attract and connect with, and feels comfortable, authentic, and sustainable overtime" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016). The posts you craft and create for your Instagram profile may look very different from the posts your other #EME6414 peers create, and that's OK.

"Intentionally building a web presence takes time and effort; the key is doing it in a way that leads to positive results by taking control of the story the web tells about you" (Lowenthal, P. R., Dunlap, J. C., & Stitson, P. 2016).

If you are setting up an Instagram post for the first time this week, I wish you the best of luck! I absolutely LOVE this Web 2.0 tool and I think you will too! As you set up your profile, here are some awesome accounts I recommend you follow