TY - JOUR
T1 - An investigation of the online presence of UK universities on Instagram
AU - Stuart, Emma
AU - Stuart, David
AU - Thelwall, Mike
PY - 2017/4/5
Y1 - 2017/4/5
N2 - Purpose - Rising tuition fees and a growing importance on league tables has meant that university branding is becoming more of a necessity to attract prospective staff, students, and funding. Whilst university websites are an important branding tool, academic institutions are also beginning to exploit social media. Image-based social media services such as Instagram are particularly popular at the moment. It is therefore logical for universities to have a presence on popular image-based social media services such as Instagram. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the online presence of UK universities on Instagram in an initial investigation of use. Design/methodology/approach - This study utilizes webometric data collection, and content analysis methodology. Findings - The results indicate that at the time of data analysis for this investigation (In the Spring of 2015), UK universities had a limited presence on Instagram for general university accounts, with only 51 out of 128 institutions having an account. The most common types of images posted were humanizing (31.0 percent), showcasing (28.8 percent), and orienting (14.3 percent). Orienting images were more likely to receive likes than other image types, and crowdsourcing images were more likely to receive comments. Originality/value - This paper gives a valuable insight into the image posting practices of UK universities on Instagram. The findings are of value to heads of marketing, online content creators, social media campaign managers, and anyone who is responsible for the marketing, branding, and promoting of a university's services.
AB - Purpose - Rising tuition fees and a growing importance on league tables has meant that university branding is becoming more of a necessity to attract prospective staff, students, and funding. Whilst university websites are an important branding tool, academic institutions are also beginning to exploit social media. Image-based social media services such as Instagram are particularly popular at the moment. It is therefore logical for universities to have a presence on popular image-based social media services such as Instagram. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the online presence of UK universities on Instagram in an initial investigation of use. Design/methodology/approach - This study utilizes webometric data collection, and content analysis methodology. Findings - The results indicate that at the time of data analysis for this investigation (In the Spring of 2015), UK universities had a limited presence on Instagram for general university accounts, with only 51 out of 128 institutions having an account. The most common types of images posted were humanizing (31.0 percent), showcasing (28.8 percent), and orienting (14.3 percent). Orienting images were more likely to receive likes than other image types, and crowdsourcing images were more likely to receive comments. Originality/value - This paper gives a valuable insight into the image posting practices of UK universities on Instagram. The findings are of value to heads of marketing, online content creators, social media campaign managers, and anyone who is responsible for the marketing, branding, and promoting of a university's services.
KW - Content analysis
KW - Images
KW - Instagram
KW - Social media
KW - Universities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028760083&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/OIR-02-2016-0057
DO - 10.1108/OIR-02-2016-0057
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85028760083
SN - 1468-4527
VL - 41
SP - 582
EP - 597
JO - ONLINE INFORMATION REVIEW
JF - ONLINE INFORMATION REVIEW
IS - 5
ER -