Social Media, Space and Place in South Africa: #egoli (Johannesburg) on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps, with 6-million users in South Africa. The photo-sharing app is a way for users to map their everyday lives via a curated selection of images. This Chapter explores Instagram as a space for mapping and creating reality via its visual affordances. The paper explores publicly shared visual representations of the city of Johannesburg, posted on Instagram and tagged with city specific hashtags. Via a visual social semiotic analysis of a selection of images, the paper explores the co-creation of narratives about Johannesburg. Instagram posts are a form of collective cultural storytelling, forming a networked narrative which reflects the contemporary visual culture and identity of the city. The analysis reveals this to be a luxurious, elite space where people perform idealized versions of their lives via the technique of the filter. The version of Johannesburg imagined via Instagram positions the black middle class at the centre of the social media imaginary. Posted images of users’ banal everyday lives reflect an urban landscape of money, power and consumption occupied by economically upwardly mobile individuals; with the contradictions and social inequalities of the city rendered invisible. Moreover, the use of Instagram to portray mundane everyday activities highlights the role of the digital in both mediating and transforming everyday life.