Instagram, a mobile photo-sharing application, is quickly growing in political importance. At 400 million active users, Instagram is the second largest social media site, ahead of Twitter and behind Facebook (Alhabash & Ma, 2017). During the 2016 US presidential election, all major party candidates during the primaries and general election actively used Instagram to further their message (Duffy, 2016; Sander, 2015). Internationally, leaders in more than 70% of countries in the United Nations have an Instagram presence (Burson-Marsteller, 2017). Instagram has many features that aid in political advocacy. Instagram messages, called posts, can include photos, short-form video, and text that provide political news. Distinctive filters can be used to change the color balance or contrast on photos to express different feelings. The posts can request Instagram users to take actions, such as voting for candidates. To interact with leaders, users can "tag" a political leader in a post, which can be seen by the leader and the users' followers, or send a direct message, which is seen only by the leader. Users also can "like" a leader's post, which increases the popularity of a leader's message. Visual communication research suggests that creative images have the potential to influence public opinion because images can have greater success at grabbing viewers' attention, conveying emotions, and changing political behavior (Brader, 2005; Graber, 1996). Grabe and Bucy (2009) note that images are "central to the conduct and outcome of contemporary politics" (p. 7). With its heavy focus on visuals, Instagram may enjoy similar political influence.
