When is a Poet an Instapoet? : The effect of platformization on the practice of being a poet, and instapoets as examples of poetry content creators in the Social Media Entertainment ecosystem

Abstract

Through professional social media accounts, poets can become actors in the ecosystem of Social Media Entertainment (SME). In this article, using an ecological perspective, the accounts of five poets are treated as exhibits of processes they take part in, both platform-specific practices related to content creation in the SME, and practices showing the interlocking and overlapping of the SME with other ecosystems of cultural production. By doing this, the article aims to show how platformization as a socio-technological process is shaping the practice of being a poet. The article identifies the platform-specific practices the poets partake in that make it possible to say when they are being instapoets on Instagram. For the concept of “instapoet” to be fruitful when referring to poets, it is not enough for them to merely be on social media. A poet is an instapoet when they take on the platform-specific tasks of a social media creator, which is more than just producing content. Often, poets are not only instapoets. Rather, how much of an instapoet you are depends on how platform-dependent you are.