Can Instagram serve as a history textbook? What images of the past capture the attention of young social media users? Finally, might ‘likes’ influence how we perceive history? These questions were attempted to be answered by students from the AMU Faculty of History - Maciej Stachura, Zuzanna Szymczak, Nell Sypniewska, Adam Stryjakowski and Borys Staszak - as part of a project funded by IDUB in the 8th edition of the Study@Research programme.
During their work, they analysed the most common accounts and posts published between 2020 and 2023 - a period of dynamic growth for this platform. Instagram in Poland now has more than 12 million users, and the content published there regularly reaches younger generations. Based on the assumption that social media are increasingly shaping historical knowledge and awareness - on a par with traditional media - the team investigated what historical content is being published, which eras, figures and events are receiving the most attention, and how gender representation, the use of historical reconstruction elements or the presence of material culture artefacts are represented.
The young researchers highlighted two particularly interesting phenomena: ‘the ‘tiktoisation’ of Instagram - i.e. a simplified, dynamic form of media based on short materials combining education and entertainment - and the increasing egocentricity of narratives. Historical content is often filtered through the personal experiences and emotions of the creators, potentially influencing the way young people view the past. The question arises: is social media today competing with school as a source of historical knowledge?
After analysing several thousand posts, the authors emphasise that a clear answer to this question is neither easy nor obvious. Undoubtedly, however, this research should attract the attention of historians and didacticians in Poland.
The project is part of a broader strand of research into digital memory and history on the internet, developed by young researchers over the past few years as part of the Digital History Centre of the Faculty of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Previous results of their work have been published, among others, in the prestigious journal Historian. Methodological Studies (https://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/147380/edition/130283/content)
The project's scientific supervisor is Adrian Trzoss, PhD
