Scrolling through your Instagram feed every day, you most likely come across various posts saying, “Wear your mask!” or “Support Black Lives!” Looking back to 2019, these posts would rarely appear on my screen. A majority of posts would concern a meme or a cute outfit a model wore. However, my screen is now flooded with calls to action. While 2020 has been one heck of a year, it has changed the layout of social media. With a pandemic shutting down the country for a majority of the year and a civil rights movement that has generated heated political debate, there is a lot to absorb and post about.
Celebrities not known for their political activism have taken to posting messages to their followers, encouraging them to support movements across the country.
E! News displayed a variety of celebrities wearing shirts in support of arresting the cops who killed Breonna Taylor. Some celebs mentioned were Amy Schumer and Mandy Moore. E! News, a celebrity news outlet, would typically only create content that informed followers about celebrity breakups, gossip and fashion. However, over the course of the last few months, they too have taken to creating content directed at the hot political climate that has taken hold in America. They have also created posts with celebrities wearing masks and pushing for followers to do the same.
While the entertainment industry has had a large influence on the call to action on Instagram, many civilians have also taken to posting in support of different causes. On my own feed, I see friends and family posting selfies in their masks saying, “If I can wear a mask, then you can too.” They post news articles explaining the need for social distancing and sanitizing. These posts show me content about Covid-19 that I would never actively search for on my own. The accounts that I follow, whether they are friends or a news outlet, provide me with meaningful information about the pandemic and social issues. On June 2, my feed was filled with black screens in support of Black Lives Matter. Blackout Tuesday managed to make its way to almost every account I follow. People who rarely post took on the movement and also posted a black screen.
While this call to action has been able to reach millions of people, there can be backlash. People in today’s world have so many varying viewpoints, and at times, ideals collide. I have seen people come together to support each other, but I have also seen people come together to put each other down. By commenting hate slurs and insults, these people attempt to make the ideas in a post irrelevant and inferior to their own ideas. However, the call to post continues, and so does the fight to rise up against hate. People continue to take action.
At West Virginia University, students used Instagram to come together to form a peaceful protest in response to the death of George Floyd. In the days leading up to the protest, students asked each other to join the Black Lives Matter movement and protest. On June 6, the students gathered together in downtown Morgantown. Mirage Magazine, WVU’s campus magazine, took to Instagram with photos that captured images from the protest, as well as asking supporters to help contribute to the movement by donating to the Black Visions Collective, an organization that supports Black lives and gives them opportunities to thrive.
From the start of 2020, Instagram has taken on a new roll. It has transformed from a photo-sharing app to a news outlet that not only allows big companies and those with large platforms to influence others, but ordinary people as well.