A snap of intimacy_Larsen and Kofoed_AoIR 2016

A SNAP OF INTIMACY: INVESTIGATING PHOTO SHARING PRACTICES ON SNAPCHAT AND INSTAGRAM

M a l e n e C h a r l o t t e L a r s e n A s s o c i a t e P r o f e s s o r , P h D , D e p a r t m e n t o f C o m m u n i c a t i o n , A a l b o r g U n i v e r s i t y

J e t t e K o f o e dA s s o c i a t e P r o f e s s o r , P h D , D a n i s h S c h o o l o f E d u c a t i o n , A a r h u s U n i v e r s i t y

Paper presentation at AoIR 2016, The 17th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers,

Berlin, Oct 7 2016

@jettekofoed@malenel

Outline

Young people’s photo sharing practices

The concept of intimacy

Empirical background

Analytical findings

Conclusion and further research

YOUNG PEOPLE’S PHOTO SHARING PRACTICES

Young people’s photo sharing practices

• Young people are sharing photos:• Frequently/on a daily basis• Through various platforms• Often “on the go”

• “Networked photography” (Lobinger, 2016)• The sharing of photos right after they are captured – using for instance IM

services or social media applications• A pervasive routine communicative act in everyday life

• “Visual conversations” (Katz & Crocker, 2015)• A high frequency of interactions among sender and receiver

3 perspectives on photo sharing (Lobinger, 2016)

We share photos:

1. To talk about the content/tell stories• E.g. showing vacation photos – photos are a supporting conversational resource

2. To communicate visually• E.g. Instagram/self presentation on social media – focus shifts to the content and visual

qualities of the shared image. To tell something with (and not about) the photos

3. To keep in touch – phatic photo sharing• The photographic object is irrelevant - photos are exchanged for the sake of visual

connectivity and to confirm friendships. Photos only have “situational relevance”

Snapchat

• Second most used social media platform among youth in DK (after Facebook)• Two out of three Danish teenagers use Snapchat

on a daily basis (DR Medieudviklingen, 2016)• Can share ”a snap” (a photo or video message)

with chosen others in 1 to 10 seconds• ”MyStory” (available in 24 hours) • Filters and ”selfie lenses”• Often used and perceived as text messaging• Similar to face to face communication• Ephemerality as affordance• Is seen as “more intimate” and more

enjoyable than Facebook (Larsen & Kofoed, 2015; Bayer et.al., 2015)

THE CONCEPT OF INTIMACY

The concept of intimacy - 2 perspectives

1. Inspired by Chayko’s (2002) work on ”socialmental connecting” and ”sociomental bonds”

• According to Chayko, intimacy is:

• ”…the closest, strongest, most involving and generally most intense form of social bond, yet it does not necessarily require face-to-face contact or even sustained mediated connectedness. Intimacy can be either enduring in nature – characterized by frequent, reciprocal, long-lasting contact – orsituational, characterized by sporadic, transitory, more ephemeral situations of connectedness.”

(Chayko, 2002: 119)

The concept of intimacy - 2 perspectives

2. Inspired by Berlant (1998) where the concept of intimacy is extended

• ”… to intimate is to communicate with the sparest of signs and gestures and at its root intimacy has the quality of eloquence and brevity. But intimacy also involves an aspiration for a narrative about something shared, a story about both oneself and others that will turn out in a particular way.”

• But intimacy does not only contain positive and desirable qualities –also the instable, drama and betrayal à vulnerability

(Berlant, 1998: 281)

EMPIRICAL BACKGROUND & ANALYTICAL FINDINGS

Empirical background

• 4 focus group interviews in 2013 with a total of 25 14 year olds • Online field work across platforms (among focus group participants)• Online survey on photo sharing practices on Snapchat and Instagram in 2015

and 2016• 230 respondents between 12-17 years (through schools in different parts of Denmark

– pupils with different social backgrounds)• 223 test respondents between 19-29 years (only university students)• Mainly open-ended questions

• E.g.: ”What was the latest snap (or list of snaps), you received?” / ”Who sent the snap?” / ”What do you think about the snap?” (Memory sampling)

From the trivial and mundane to a high level of self-disclosure

• Typical snaps• Selfies• Food and snacks• Mundane in-the-moment activities • Phatic communication

(Larsen & Kofoed, 2015, 2016)

• “Polished” photos are shared on Instagram

• Facebook is reserved for practical communication

• On Snapchat many users are sharing photos that they would never post on other social media

• Among 19-29 year olds: 90%• Among 12-17 year olds: 57 %

What is only shared on Snapchat? - 12-17 year olds:

• Double chins and ugly selfies

(Kofoed & Larsen, 2016)

What is only shared on Snapchat? – University students:

• “An ugly photo – preferably with double chins and eyes pointing in different directions.” (22 year old female student)

• “Trivial and unimportant stuff you are just taking a photo of to send the text. Or me sitting on the toilet :D“ (22 year old male student)

• “Ugly facial expressions, toilet photos, dirty photos.” (21 year old female student)

• “Me, being butt ugly, without make up, and making double chins or being cross-eyed. I wouldn’t die of shame if they turned up on other social media, but they are just meant for the few people I send them to.” (21 year old female student)

(Larsen & Kofoed, 2015)

Signalling trust through intimacy

• A high level of self-disclosure:

• ”An ugly picture of myself, but I only send it to my girlfriends and I know that they willnot screenshot it. But if they do, I ask them to delete it or else I know that they will notuse it in an evil way.”

(14 year old girl about photos only shared on Snapchat)

• Sending an ugly selfie is like saying:• ”I trust you enough to share this with you”• Knowingly:

• ”You will not pass it on”(e.g. by taking a screenshot)

• But what happens when that trust is broken and the intimacy is intimidated?

Intimidation of intimacy

(Kofoed & Larsen, 2016)

Conclusion and further research

• On the one hand Snapchat lets young people bond in closeness by just “being themselves” and lower their self-presentational concerns

• On the other hand it intensifies the shared intimacy by adding high pace, disturbed temporalities and vulnerabilities

• Thus, Snapchat carries the promise of closeness and potential failure of intimidating this very promise

• Builds closeness when young people share unimportant photos of food, silly doodles or double chins and ugliness

• Threatens to destabilize closeness when snaps are screenshot and shared again

Conclusion and further research

• Snaps of intimacy reverberate as utterly unimportant, yet publicly embarrassing, yet threatening vulnerabilities

• We need more research to understand the inherent dramas, desires, betrayals and declarations that are lived both incognito and publicly in these highly mediatized intimacies

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

[email protected] [email protected]

http://vbn.aau.dk/da/[email protected] http://pure.au.dk/portal/da/[email protected]

How to cite: Larsen, M. C., & Kofoed, J. (2016). A snap of intimacy: Investigating photo sharingpractices on Snapchat and Instagram. In Proceedings from AoIR 2016, The 17th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, Berlin, Oct 7 2016.

References

• Bayer, J. B., Ellison, N. B., Schoenebeck, S. Y., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Sharing the small moments: ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat. Information, Communication & Society, 19(7), 956–977.

• Berlant L. (1998) Intimacy: A Special Issue. Critical Inquiry 24: 281-288.• Chayko, M. (2002). Connecting: how we form social bonds and communities in the Internet age.

Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.• DR Medieforskning. (2016). Medieudviklingen 2015.• Katz, J., & Crocker, E. (2015). Selfies and Photo Messaging as Visual Conversation: Reports from

the United States, United Kingdom and China. International Journal Of Communication, 9, 12. • Larsen, M. C., & Kofoed, J. (2015). Snip snap snude - dobbelthagerne er ude: Analyse: Hvorfor

hitter Snapchat?. Kommunikationsforum, 8. april 2015.• Lobinger, K. (2016). Photographs as things – photographs of things. A texto-material perspective

on photo-sharing practices. Information, Communication & Society, 19(4), 475–488.