Refined Research Question

The refined research question of this project is: How do Instagram users post images and comments in relation to the traditionally Christian word "blessed" in a way that is personal to the individual?

Through my research, it has been made very clear that people express religious identity in various ways. It has also come to my attention that the use of a religious word does not necessarily mean the user is trying to convey a religious message. It is very possible that the word blessed has taken on a secular meaning, which I would like to explore in this project. While there have been a few references to Christianity, such as the picture of the vineyard and being a vine, a majority of the pictures have been geared towards random topics such as relationships and gratitude. If I had to answer this research question today, I would say that Instagram is a site that users have chosen to freely express their identity on. Their use of the word blessed along with their posts implies that they are suggesting a religious meaning with their post. However, I think there is a definite mix of secular meaning with religious meaning, and it is a fluid relationship that is hard to concretely identify. I am hoping that with further research on lived religion, some trends will appear in how users are expressing themselves.

#blessedsunday

This week I took my research a step further and looked at the hashtag “#blessedSunday” to specify that I wanted to look at what people posted with thought towards the most holy day of the week. The three pictures broke down as such:

1.     “#lastSunday #catholicchurch #churchgoers #blessedSunday #mybabies #coco #chanelle #Bolton#” The picture is, as attached below, of two little girls who are apparently at church. This associates the hashtag with the user going to a church service and having a religious experience.

2.     “Breakfast! #food #pancakes #HotCoco #McDo #BlessedSunday” This picture is of Mc Donald’s packaging, with the location as “Mc Donald’s La Salle”. This implies that the person feels blessed to enjoy the food that they are eating on that Sunday morning, not having much to do with a typical religious experience.

3.     “Sleepy mode si babe….nanay nya daw ako @_____ #blessedsunday #blueleafeventsplace #happiness #babe” This is a picture of what seems to be a couple. The male has his head on the females shoulder and his eyes are closed and they are both smiling a little bit. This picture implies that the user feels blessed to be with that person.

The primary message about religion in each of the examples is that there is no official way to display religion on Instagram. There are, however, many different and personal ways that users apply feeling blessed to their lives. The pattern is that users are posting the things that make them feel the most blessed in their lives at that moment and they often associate these pictures with thankfulness. Most of the posts are happy. However, there is little pattern in regards to what people write along with their posts. Sometimes it implies feeling blessed by God, and other times there is the implication that the person is thinking in a secular way. The posts often have to do with other people that the user cares about.  This is fairly similar to my previous findings, even though I changed the hash tag a little bit. While I did get one post about being at church, the other two posts did not express being at church but mainly just feeling thankful or happy as in the examples that were seen previously. The main lesson learned in every single bit of research I have done is that Instagram is a place where users post things that is unique to their lives and what makes them feel either a connection to God or makes them think for some reason of the word blessed. 

Research Question

In my research about the use of #blessed Instagram, I have identified that users post their feelings about being “blessed” in a variety of different ways. The most common theme among the posts that I have observed is that most posts involve gratitude, meaning that many of the posts talk about that user being thankful for a variety of different reasons. There is also a common theme of associating #blessed with a selfie, or a picture of oneself. Many times, when a user is posting a selfie they use it to promote themselves looking pretty or to have a chance to post a caption along with the picture. There are also differences that I have observed in my research. First of all, people post such different pictures to represent #blessed that it is hard to identify one underlying common theme of all of the pictures. Second, it is hard to determine that the users mean the same thing when they use the word blessed. While in many cases it can be assumed that the word blessed is related to Christianity, there are certain posts that make me question whether or not the user is identifying with Christianity or something else. Overall, it seems that when a post involves the word blessed, the user is implying that whatever they have posted a picture of or written a caption about is special and meaningful to them as an individual. These posts have also expressed that people feel blessed around special events such as birthdays and anniversaries. The question I pose is this, How do Instagram users post in ways that uniquely express how they feel blessed in their every day life? This study has mainly shown me that there are extremely different ways to present your religion on Instagram. I will further look at how people use #blessed on Sundays, as Sunday is the most holy day in Christianity. 

#blessed explored part two

Today, I will again be studying the six most recent pictures posted with the hashtag "blessed". This weeks’ breakdown goes like this....

1.     #blessed

a.     Two pictures of self

                                               i.     “How I feel after cleaning! Still need to wash clothes! Guess I should do what my shirt says… ‘Just Do It’ #offday #cleanhouse #tired but #blessed #napinstore” This picture was a selfie of a guy laying down.

                                              ii.     “#instasplash #instaswag #rihannafenty #rihannanavi #katyperry #katycat #animal #pet #im #blessed #ladygaga #vmas #throwback #monday #weekend” This picture is of a girl posing outdoors, all dressed up. There seem to be a lot of references to celebrities, which I can’t discern from the picture what all of the hashtags have to do with eachother.

b.     Two quotes

                                               i.     “Made with (heart emoji) by #instaeffects iOS app #love #trust #igers #instagood #smile #cool #awesome #summer #amazing #swag #instalove #family #fun #happy #repost #beautiful #cute #life #funny #like #mooi #pray #dordrecht #believe #amsterdam #tagsforlike #blessed #eindhoven #netherlands” The picture is of a character in a cloak that looks like a cloak from fantasy literature with the quote, “Remember when you leave this Earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received only have given: A heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. St. Francis of Assisi” The user seemed to create this picture with an app on their phone.

                                              ii.     “#blessed #blessings #believe #life #live #love #dreams #hope #happy #faith #feelings #staystrong #smile #peace #trust #time #heart #heartbreak #done #hurt #pain #heart #laugh #smile #truth #youandme #alwaysandforever #iloveyou #imissyou #behappy #beyourself #quotes”

This is a picture of the words “be your own hero” written on four fingers of a hand. The user seems to maybe be going through a break up or a loss of some sort and is using the message to console themselves.

c.      One picture of a few objects

                                               i.     “My #Beautiful #Roses from #MyLove @_____ for our #7Month #Anniversary #Blessed #SoInLove #HappyHappyHappy #Starbucks #CheckerBoardChick” This is a picture of yellow roses, a Starbucks drink and a picture frame of, I’m assuming, the couple that is celebrating their anniversary. The user seems to be implying that she is blessed to be in such a happy relationship.

d.     One picture of scenery

                                               i.     “He is the vine. #blessed” This is a pretty picture of a vineyard. It seems to be referring to Jesus, as often Jesus is referred to as the vine.

Individuals seem to use Instagram as a platform to express their beliefs in ways that are very unique to their lives. The users that I have analyzed both this week and last week have used Instagram posts to show what makes them feel blessed. This is unique from the way other users use Instagram because many people post pictures of various other things that could have no spiritual value to them. These things could be pictures of a party, of a homework assignment, of a pet, of a meal, etc. The use of visual elements is helpful in this study because I am seeing what people put value in and where they feel the most blessed. Of course, by using the word blessed I must assume that they mean blessed by God. This may not be the case for everyone whose pictures I have studied. The central goal of this study is shaping into how I can make sense of what makes people seem to feel blessed. Through the use of their commentary as well as what all they choose to include in the photograph, I am starting to be able to categorize the kinds of things that people post with association to blessings. Issues with this process are that people may associate blessed with something other than the blessings of God, they may not be Christian, and I am only able to categorize a few pictures. In the future, I could try to perform this same experiment on a Sunday. I would do this because Sunday is the holiest day of the week for Christians and it may provide me with pictures from users who are more likely to be Christians and more likely to post photos with spiritual value on the holiest day of the week.

#blessed explored

My case study is about the different ways in which people communicate about their relationship with Christianity through the use of “hashtags” on Instagram. I have researched the use of #blessed.  I have changed my proposal to focus on fewer pictures due to the challenging nature of finding a way to categorize 50 pictures. I will be focusing on the six most recent pictures per response and finding a way to categorize them. I also plan on sticking with the word #blessed because it is the most consistent way to find the results that I am seeking.

1.     #blessed- I looked at the 6 most recent pictures

a.     There were 3 selfies

                                               i.     “I’m so happy. I love @_____. He’s a blessing in my life. I didn’t think I could be this happy. #happy #bliss #blessed #smile #boyfriend

                                              ii.     “You are where God wants you to be at this very moment. Every experience is part of his divine plane. Have a good day ahead” #igers (emojis) #goodmorning

                                            iii.     “Browwwn” #me #selfie #autumn #falltime #favoriteseason #love #hair #amazing #happy #blessed #smile

b.     1 Sunset picture

                                               i.     #nyc #sunset #home #blessed #neywork

c.      1 picstich/video celebrating a 30^th birthday

                                               i.     “Happy 30^th babe!! (emojis) #Celebration #30thbirthday #Myhunny #Family @_____ you’re the BEST for this dinner!! SEAFOOD! (emojis) #GreatTime #Seafood & #RedVelvetCake #Family #Love #Celebration #Blessed #Thankful #Live #Life (emoji)

d.     1 picture of a girl

                                               i.     “#nammyohorengueko #budismo #god #eguilibrio #faith #blessed thankful #makeadifference #challenge #santos #brazil #sampa #madeinsampa #parents #family #powerandgrace #tattoedgirls #gypsy

The use of the #blessed is unique because people get to choose a picture that they want to portray as what makes them feel blessed. Religion can be communicated in numerous ways with this project, which may become a limitation due to so many possible interpretations of a picture and what the user writes about that picture. The primary use of #blessed seems to come from seflies so far. People seem very interested in posting pictures of themselves with an explanation of why they are so blessed. People also seem to feel blessed in the presence of a sunset and around loved ones. So far, it is obvious that people feel blessed throughout very different circumstances in their lives and individuals portray their faith through Instagram in various different ways.

#blessed

Over the past two years, I have watched Instagram rise in popularity, surpassing both Facebook and Twitter use in my social circles. As of lately, a lot of my friends have been using Instagram to share their religious beliefs. Often they will post a picture of a sunset or of the bible and share a bit of encouragement with their followers. This recent use of Instagram has been opened my eyes to the fact that you can portray meaningful parts of your life through social media.

 In order to see the way people all around the world make different associations with Christian words, I have chosen to conduct my research on the use of “hashtags” through Instagram. I will be creating a list of words that are often used in the Christian faith and will then research the different pictures and captions people post along with these “hashtags”. For example, #blessed is often used in Instagram posts. I want to see the way different people would ascribe a word such as, but not limited to, #blessed with their life and try to understand the many different ways that people can experience Christianity in their day to day life.

I will conduct a close analysis of what words truly resonate with Christianity, select a reasonable amount of “hashtags” to study, and then select a number of posts to analyze, such as the 50 most recent posts. My study will not be limited to only the users that I am personally following on Instagram, but will expand to every single user that has their profile settings on public. I will not be able to see what private users are posting, so my research will only be on the users who wish to share their post with all of Instagram and not just their friends. I look forward to understanding the various ways that people share about their Christian faiths through the use of Instagram.