Dependent on the Platform? Discussing Journalistic Transformation Levels on and Through Instagram

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Instagram has become one of the most important channels for journalism to reach younger target groups. Because of this increasing importance, Instagram has since spurred a transformation of journalism on various levels. This chap- ter discusses the application’s impact on three of those levels. Firstly, looking at the organizational level, we highlight the changes that Instagram and other social media platforms have brought to individual journalists, newsrooms, and entire media organizations. Secondly, the content has experienced a change: It no lon- ger has to be created entirely according to familiar journalistic criteria, but according to the logic of the platform. Finally, direct interaction with audiences has caused a permanent change, which can be described in three logical steps. A central result of these considerations: Journalism remains dependent on the tech- nical offerings provided by the platform. However, it has found a promising way to drive its own innovations through format development.