2.1.4. Instagram

Instagram, the social network dedicated to image and video, is one of the services that is growing the most in recent months and is in third position in the list of networks with the most users, behind Facebook and YouTube.

Some reasons to assess if the citizen participation project should have an Instagram account are:

• Citizen participation processes generate news linked to images that can be communicated on Instagram. For example, photographs of completed projects of participatory budgets, voting and counting processes, face-to-face meetings related to processes, etc.

• The Instagram Stories functionality (stories that last published 24 hours) allows you to connect with young audiences and create different narratives around participation, since full screen images are used in which you can superimpose labels, stickers, emojis, etc.

• The use of hashtags (tags) on Instagram is intensive, so you can better position the news that we offer within the niche of topics such as #participation #citizenparticipation #open government #opengov, among others.

Some guidelines for using Instagram:

• Characteristics of a suitable post: to create optimal post, first of all you must have images and / or videos of the highest quality; have a novel story to tell, also through the text that allows contextualizing the image; Geotag the photo in the place where the hashtag has been taken and used, related to the issue of the publication. In addition, Instagram has some versatility in the use of images. Apart from a flat photograph, you can create a gallery with photos or with photos and videos; a composition of several photos in the same publication or use Boomerang, an application to create short videos (as a GIF). More information about Instagram images and videos

• How many post to publish?: Sometimes, the frequency of publication is marked by having good photos or news to tell. A minimum of update can be between once or twice a week. It is convenient to observe the metrics to assess the behavior of our followers before a possible increase in the frequency of publication.

• When to publish the post?: the metrics will reveal the best times to publish and have more impact.