Visualizing Progress: The Role of Instagram in Communicating Development Initiatives for Poverty Alleviation in Indonesian Provinces

This research aims to ascertain how Instagram is used by Governors in Indonesia to disseminate Development Policies implemented in an effort to reduce poverty in their regions. Data was collected from the Instagram accounts of four Governors in Java: Khofifah Indar Parawansa (Governor of East Java); Ganjar Pranowo (Governor of Central Java); Ridwan Kamil (Governor of West Java); and Anies Rasyid Baswedan (Governor of DKI Jakarta). The observations were conducted for three months from August to October 2022. The results revealed several important conclusions: (1) The four observed Instagram accounts were indeed utilized by the governors to publicize and communicate their activities, including initiatives related to poverty reduction, both directly and indirectly. (2) Each of the four accounts featured a mixture of content presented both personally and in their capacities as public officials. (3) A pattern of ‘blended mutualism’ goals was evident in each content, where each governor used information about poverty reduction development to increase popularity, and conversely, personal popularity was leveraged to reinforce information about poverty reduction programs. (4) The majority of content informed about development initiatives directly or indirectly relevant to poverty reduction efforts. (5) Public responses to development initiatives published on Instagram accounts correlated with the number of followers of each respective account.