“Eu consigo modificar minha realidade ali”: usos e apropriações do Instagram por jovens comunicadores da Rede CUCA

Abstract

The present work aims to analyzing the methods of use and ownership of the Instagram' app by the group of young communicators in the Centro Urbano de Cultura, Arte e Esporte (CUCA Mondubim), located in the city of Fortaleza. It also proposes to reflect about some concepts that we brought to the research, such as youth, cyberculture, consumption society and social networks. The methodological route we drew for these objective was divided into two stages: first, we intermediated spoke two chat groups composed by young people of Cuca Mondubim on consumption, media and Instagram; in parallel, we monitored the activities of 12 profiles of this group in the aforementioned social network, with prior authorization signed by all of them. It compiles this research, the bibliographical research on the themes already mentioned, the reports collected in the two chat groups and the contents that the group of young people produced, accessed and shared during the period of our monitoring. We have seen that the application is a field of different possibilities of use, such as the opportunity to express opinions, connect with friends and be informed about the various types of content. We also identified that there are important aspects to be problematized: the representation of the female body, the esthetic pressures that permeate access and the different levels of access to technology, etc.