ABSTRACT
This chapter offers the analysis of contemporary popular photography created and shared by millions of young mobile Instagram users. Karl Marx’s concept of “means of production” is useful here because Instagrammers can be said to own the means of “cultural production.” Since content creation skills and understanding of the digital platforms and styles of expression and communication are what matter, Instagrammers can also be thought of as “knowledge workers” in a “knowledge society”. The mobile Instagram app allows users to view photo in a few different ways. Since the time is such an important dimension of Instagram interface and user experience, many Instagrammers design their feeds accordingly as aesthetic experiences in time. The difference between pre-Instagram advertising photography and these Instagram photo types is that in the former, products or models are presented from the outside, as though looking at the shop window.
