{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]],"date-time":"2026-03-30T21:07:38Z","timestamp":1774904858688,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,11]],"date-time":"2017-09-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1505088000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["OIR"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Rising tuition fees and a growing importance on league tables has meant that university branding is becoming more of a necessity to attract prospective staff, students, and funding. Whilst university websites are an important branding tool, academic institutions are also beginning to exploit social media. Image-based social media services such as Instagram are particularly popular at the moment. It is therefore logical for universities to have a presence on popular image-based social media services such as Instagram. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the online presence of UK universities on Instagram in an initial investigation of use.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study utilizes webometric data collection, and content analysis methodology.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The results indicate that at the time of data analysis for this investigation (In the Spring of 2015), UK universities had a limited presence on Instagram for general university accounts, with only 51 out of 128 institutions having an account. The most common types of images posted were humanizing (31.0 percent), showcasing (28.8 percent), and orienting (14.3 percent). Orienting images were more likely to receive likes than other image types, and crowdsourcing images were more likely to receive comments.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This paper gives a valuable insight into the image posting practices of UK universities on Instagram. The findings are of value to heads of marketing, online content creators, social media campaign managers, and anyone who is responsible for the marketing, branding, and promoting of a university\u2019s services.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/oir-02-2016-0057","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,31]],"date-time":"2017-07-31T07:13:37Z","timestamp":1501485217000},"page":"582-597","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["An investigation of the online presence of UK universities on Instagram"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"41","author":[{"given":"Emma","family":"Stuart","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Stuart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6065-205X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mike","family":"Thelwall","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"issue":"7","key":"key2020120522190683600_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1108\/LHTN-08-2013-0047","article-title":"An Instagram is worth a thousand words: an industry panel and audience Q & A","volume":"30","year":"2013","journal-title":"Library Hi Tech News"},{"issue":"7","key":"key2020120522190683600_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1108\/LHTN-07-2015-0048","article-title":"Getting acquainted with social network apps: Tumblin\u2019 through the visual web","volume":"32","year":"2015","journal-title":"Library Hi Tech News"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120522190683600_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.1177\/0961000610384656","article-title":"Flickr\u2019s potential as an academic image resource: an exploratory study","volume":"42","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Librarianship and Information Science"},{"key":"key2020120522190683600_ref004","unstructured":"BBC News Technology (2012), \u201cFacebook buys Instagram photo sharing network for $1bn\u201d, April 10, available at: www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-17658264 (accessed July 19, 2015)."},{"issue":"6","key":"key2020120522190683600_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"411","DOI":"10.1057\/bm.2010.53","article-title":"Exploring rationales for branding a university: should we be seeking to measure branding in UK universities?","volume":"18","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Brand Management"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2020120522190683600_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"458","DOI":"10.1108\/OIR-06-2015-0176","article-title":"Does social media matter for post typology? 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