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This page explores key findings from a literature review containing contemporary and preceding research regarding the overlap between social media and photography. The review also identifies an area for further exploration regarding the comparison between brands' usage of the snapshot aesthetic versus Canva templates on social media.
How do social media and photography overlap?
With the rising popularity of social media and accessibility to smartphone cameras, the overlap of photography and social media has become intensely present in contemporary society. Smartphones follow us everywhere we go, and the convenience of the phone camera allows for real-time image sharing on various social platforms. Photography was once considered a learned practice for artists who knew how to use the elaborate equipment required to take photos, but due to the great developments of technology, non-professional photographers can gain just as much recognition when sharing their images due to the viral nature of social media.
The masses of images available to the public eye on social media contribute to an assembly of data to be analyzed. For instance, users upload over 95 million photos a day to Instagram, which does not include other social platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and more (Lister, 2022). Because of the accumulation of photographs and communication on social media, these platforms serve as a digital archive and reveal cultural patterns that have the potential to tell our story in the future (Jensen, 2019).
Photo by Michael Sala on Unsplash
Visual literacy can transform the way we perceive the world around us, and social media allows us to create a digital archive that will serve as a visual for our era that is defined by our access to technology.
Photo by Vlad Hilitanu on Unsplash
Visual literacy is the ability to make meaning from images and is currently not a required component of education after elementary school (Alberto et. al., 2007). As a result of this lack of education, most people take their sight for granted and utilize it to navigate through the day, but do not reach their full potential of visual literacy (Ryan & Conover, 2004). Without visual literacy, many individuals lack knowledge of the subject’s vocabulary, history, composition, and meaning.
Accessibility has played a major role in the development of personal photography, and as technology advanced, photography became a part of human identity and how we process the world (Serafinelli, 2018). With smartphones being the new ‘man’s best friend’ in the 21st century, smartphone photography has offered a new generation of personal photography (Latiff & Safiee, 2015). Scholars define personal photography as utilizing devices as personal assistants, capturing everyday life even as an amateur photographer (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013; Latiff & Safiee, 2015).
Instagram was built on a foundation of nostalgia and wanted to harness past photography practices, such as polaroid photography, that prioritized capturing the moment (Zappavigna, 2016). Instagram has several features that allow for image manipulation including retro filters that pay tribute to the aged aesthetic of past photography.
Photography has an impact on our identity: we process the world by seeing it imaged, or by ourselves being photographed (Serafinelli, 2018). The development of accessibility to photography is a statement of our history and how we have progressed over time, and social media and personal photography have the potential to serve as digital archives in museums (Vivienne and Burgess, 2013; Jensen, 2019).
Social media users look to photography as a means of self-expression, maintaining relationships, and as an opportunity to join a community of like-minded individuals.
Photography is an inward-looking community, a place that is unintentionally exclusive to its members. Outsiders of this photographer’s universe are unknowledgeable or critical of the activities and visuals that derive from this group (Tifentale, 2017). In the mid–twentieth century, photographers valued peer recognition over education as many photographers were entirely self–taught, and even famous photographers were only recognized by other photographers (Tifentale, 2017).
As a contemporary example, many photographers use Instagram as a platform to showcase their work but do not branch out to other publications. These users limit their exposure solely to other Instagram users who can view and appreciate their work in the same way photographers relied on other photographers to attend galleries in the 1950s (Tifentale, 2017).
Photo by Klaudia Piaskowska on Unsplash
Photo by Good Faces on Unsplash
When users share their images on social media, they may be seeking memory, narrative, and identity, creating and maintaining relationships, self-representation, and self-expression (Jensen, 2019). Not only do social media users find connections through relationship building on the platforms through posting and engagement, but they also seek memory building through image sharing, as well as the development of one's identity as social media serves as a creative outlet for users to explore their self-expression. These key motivations explain why many people are turning to personal photography and sharing their images on social media. People are seeking relationships on social media, but the social platform itself automatically sets up relationships between the creator, viewer, and thing represented in the image shared (Zappavigna, 2016).
As brands shift away from traditional advertising and move toward social media advertising, it is critical that these companies understand the importance of visual impressions.
The transition away from traditional advertisements such as billboards, newspaper ads, and TV commercials to a more modern approach of digital advertising on social media occurred due to social media’s affordability, insight tracking, rising popularity, ability to target new, younger audiences, vast electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and editing tools such as filters (Latiff and Safiee, 2015; Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2014).
Branded social media relies on visual perception as the product or service being advertised cannot be perceived using other senses, such as touch or smell, so the photograph must change the consumer’s intention to buy (Dávila-Ruiz and Vazquez, 2021). Thelander and Cassinger (2017) also emphasized the importance of strong imagery by explaining that Instagram and smartphone photography are key tools for branding campaigns.
Photo by Mattias Diesel on Unsplash
Source: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock
Consumer perception plays a key role in effective social media marketing. In a study that looked at user motivation to purchase from a brand and user responses to social media marketing, it was observed that social media users crave connection with friends, but when faced with branded content, their intentions are disrupted (Chi, 2011). When met with branded content, consumers prefer more authentic and realistic imagery which parallels the types of brands consumers look to buy from: brands that showcase authenticity, reliability, and truthfulness (Dávila-Ruiz and Vazquez, 2021; Yang et al., 2021).
Consumers prefer brands to use the snapshot aesthetic, also known as casual photography or the social photograph, when advertising on social media.
Contemporary consumers express a preference for authentic imagery, transparency, and truthfulness in branding (Dávila-Ruiz and Vazquez, 2021). Fashion brands, for instance, are encouraged by consumers to move away from photo manipulation and studio backdrops and focus more on realistic body types in natural environments.
As a result of this fondness for authenticity, the snapshot aesthetic has become a popular trend for brands to show off their genuineness. The snapshot aesthetic is defined by Yang et al. (2021) as a type of photography focused on relatability as images look as if they have been captured by the average consumer. The snapshot is explained in various studies, many explaining this form of photography using a different title. Serafinelli (2018) refers to this aesthetic as casual and unintentional photography, while Zappavigna (2016) referred to the snapshot aesthetic as a social photograph and defined it as images taken by a smartphone that reflect the photographer’s everyday point of view and experience.
When brands take advantage of consumers’ desire for authenticity, advertising photography can attain more depth as consumers can see themselves in the advertisements (Dávila-Ruiz & Vazquez, 2021). Additionally, brands that utilize the snapshot aesthetic are providing consumers with what they are looking for when juggling purchase decisions, and the brand will resonate more with target audiences.
Do consumers indicate preference towards brands' usage of the snapshot aesthetic or Canva templates?
Scholars have explored the subjects of social media and photography in conjunction as well as separately, however, this area of analysis has not yet covered the newly popularized design tool, Canva, and its effect on branded social media accounts. Canva is a graphic design tool founded in 2012 with the mission of “empowering the world to design” (Canva, 2022). In 2021, the platform has grown exponentially, with over 75 million people using the platform, and with its vast selection of templates, the creation of 3.5 billion designs (Andrews, 2021). Businesses across the globe have adopted Canva as a design tool due to its affordability and streamlined process of creating designs of any size, and the look of Canva advertisements has become recognizable to consumers. Many critics have been vocal about the cookie-cutter aesthetic of Canva, and how brands’ usage of the platform has led to the overuse of designs.
As previously mentioned, consumers prefer the snapshot aesthetic of branded photos as they feel more relatable and less disruptive, but there is no exploration of consumer perception of Canva advertisements. By addressing this gap, branded accounts will be able to understand consumer desire for Canva advertisements and make data-driven decisions on how to utilize Canva as a tool to reach their targeted audience.
Given that there is a gap in the literature about the contemporary use of Canva, this project will seek to answer the following research questions:
RQ1: How do participants describe their affinity for brands that use the snapshot aesthetic?
RQ2: How do participants describe their affinity for brands that use posts created using Canva?
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