What Does #Freedom Look Like? Instagram and the Visual Imagination of Values

Abstract Instagram is the place for visualization of everything, from travel and food to abstract concepts such as freedom. Over past decade, platform has introduced a bottom-up process where users co-produce image repertoires that shape boundaries imaginable. Drawing on an epistemology social constructionism, we ask which visual are associated with value-related terms Instagram. We studied 20 widely used value hashtags, sampling top 100 posts each (N = 2,000). A combined qualitative–quantitative content analysis revealed 19 hashtags possess distinct footprints, typically reflecting orientation toward self emphasis consumption. conclude by discussing three implications our findings: role images in construction meaning values, distinction between internalized externalized depictions, aestheticized consumption organizing principle Instagram’s mainstream.