Instagram as journalistic platform

The case of Agencia AUNO

Abstract

The new information and communication technologies cause big changes in the media scene in the 21st century. The expansion of the Internet put the traditional media transmission scheme in crisis. The reticular model of the “new media” enabled the configuration of a new environment determined by the multiplicity of actors, media and languages, where sources, contents and narrativa practices converge.

In this digital age, social networks became one of the main means by which citizens access informational content: more than half of the planet is on the Internet and each person makes use of digital media for an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes a day, giving half of this connection time through smartphones, according to Global Digital 2019 Report. Of the three thousand four hundred million users of social networks on the Internet, millions of them have active accounts on Instagram.

In this scene, the newsrooms modified their journalistic practices and routines, in order to bring the informative contents closer to a larger audience. Instagram, like other apps in the mobile world, is presented as an emerging space for journalistic innovation due to its versatility, visual impact and ability to transmit information live. Particularly, the use of Instagram stories represents a great opportunity to reach a young audience, providing real-time and contextualized information, and encouraging participation.

Throughout this document we explain the experience of the AUNO Agency in the Instagram application for journalistic work in a new media environment. In that sense, we implement Instagram functionalities to do media coverage and generate new ways of relating to our community.