Instagram Is Becoming The Top Social Media Outlet For African Creatives

As one of the largest social media outlets in the world, Instagram is becoming the top social media outlet for Africans that love and breath art. Instagram began to take off in 2010, first only exclusively on iPhones and then eventually opening up their platform to Androids. Instagram created the ability for everyday, regular people to take photos and post videos (which came later on) on the app. And with that, came this new wave of making actual income from your Instagram page.

For example, in the article, “From Stay-At-Home, to full-time Instagrammer, Ali talks about starting an Instagram page solely for the purpose of keeping in touch with her sister. Ali was able to build a steady following from posting frequently. Eventually, she was getting paid (very well!) to work with companies like Dos Equis and Best Buy, to promote their products. Now, Ali has over 400,000 followers on Instagram with over 2000 posts.

Another individual who has changed their life through Instagram is Nigerian painter, Ayogu Kingsley.  He has built a strong following and is making a living off of his art.  He has over 70k followers (and counting) on Instagram after starting his account in 2016. The fascinating part is that Kinglsey isn’t the only African Artist who has found Instagram as an outlet to showcase their talent. We are seeing a surplus of artists and creative innovations taking place all over the continent of Africa. A lot of the exposure we see is because of Instagram. Now many people will say that Instagram is not that significant because of other sites like YouTube and Facebook, that serve the same purpose.

I, however, would have to disagree because Facebook saw the potential impact of Instagram, which is why they bought them out. But more importantly, it’s just something about the portrait structure and format of Instagram that works. There is no other app that functions the way Instagram does.

In order to get a better idea about the direct influence that social media and technology has in Africa, I reached out to a couple of individuals who have direct experience and insight on how Africans are using social media and technology to bridge the so called “technological gap.” I reached out to Mamina Wakoma-Norman, and Olaloye Bunmi, both millennials in Nigerian. Mamina is a recent college graduate from Allegheny College, who moved back to Nigeria upon graduating. Olaloye is a self-taught artist, whose passion is to create an online community of African Creatives. I asked them a few questions regarding the influence Instagram has made in Nigeria:

Mamina

• How do you think IG has and is impacting Nigeria?
  • I think it is impacting Nigeria in interesting ways but not necessarily in any a way that’s different from the impact it has had in other countries. What I have seen Instagram do in Nigeria is give millennials a platform. Nigeria has become increasingly more interactive with the Internet and general online interactions [and] you know, [a] burst in general. For example, a surplus of young people, teenagers, early 20s, 30s, using the platforms to advertise the skills that they are acquiring as young people; which for Nigerians from my personal perspective has been a lot of photography, digital work, a lot of people seem to sell food online now. I’ve noticed a lot of people opening up thrift stores online, make up is very major, event planning, and general young budding businesses. And it is truly serving it’s purpose of allowing people to reach out to large audiences, be able to exchange and collaborate with those audiences and vice versa. I feel like Instagram has operated as another online platform for people of the internet age to express themselves. I also feel that given Instagram is a visual app, creative’s are being given an opportunity to showcase their “world” as valid, living, and breathing HARD WORK; [using the] platform to talk about why art is important. In Nigeria, a heavy priority is placed on professionally pursuing to be your classic doctor, engineer, but a lot of people are trying to make room for a creative space to showcase their genius and be validated; and I definitely think that Instagram has provided a space for doing just that.

• Does IG have the ability to bridge the technological gaps in African countries?
  • I feel as though I would want to better know what *exactly* the technological gaps are and I would like to believe that they would vary from African country to African country. But from my layman’s perspective, I do not believe that Instagram in particular is doing the bridging of the technological gap in Nigeria. Because for it to be bridging the technological gap it would somehow need to be inciting the producing and buying of technology for the sake of tech development, and I don’t think it necessarily does that, at least not primarily. I mean IG allows customers to register businesses as well, so I guess it can be said that tech businesses showcase themselves on IG, which can promote their sales and therefore help tech advancement I guess, but I feel that is too long a chain explanation for me to consider IG as bridging the technological gap.

• How important and impactful is art in Nigeria? Instagram is a visual app and there are artists who are literally changing their lives by posting their artwork. How big is that culture in Nigeria?
  • I feel art is important and impactful to Nigeria because at the end of the day many Nigerian tribes are incredibly elaborate, artful and have at some point-, or have and continue to be- inclined to storytelling in some form. So I feel like historically art holds its relevance to the culture. However, professionally in Nigeria there still exist the remnants of the archaic push to be your classic doctor, lawyer, engineer and somewhat disregard for the creative arts as a professional path. I feel like Instagram as a visual app gives an opportunity to validate art professionally as well as further validate it to the Nigerian eye. I think that Instagram has created another floor for exposure for Nigerian creatives, particularly young Nigerian creatives. I definitely think that they are having a moment right now and Instagram is a very active space for them. I also feel as though the once considered ‘awkward’, ‘weird’ kids are having their time right now because the same things that are called awkward are being made fashionable and the people once called weird are being made internet stars, (This particular statement I mean as a global observation). So we have creatives who’s work might be-, or has been- considered strange or uncomfortable, are working this IG platform they’ve been given and taking up their space.

Olaloye @gangwolf36

• I’m noticing this artistic millennial generation, especially in Nigeria. Why is art so powerful for and to Africans but specifically young Nigerians?
  • I feel art is important to young Nigerians, cause it gives a voice to the voiceless. For example, my friend Ken Nwasiogbu (@ken_nwadiogbu), he uses his art to talk to society. One of his famous drawings was inspired by the #MeToo movement which he showcased on @CNNAfrica.
• What inspired your Instagram page?
  • I feel African and Black artists should be appreciated more. The amount of undiscovered talent from my country (Nigeria) has been an inspiration to me and I want to use my page to give them a voice and a platform to be discovered.

After getting a better understanding of the role that Instagram is playing in Africa, I realized African artists are creating communities with the intent to influence the continent in ways that tackle and address so many things that can make the continent better. I also believe this is a great thing that is happening. The next step I hope to see is African creatives, investing and creating opportunities for tech advancement to occur. I hope these artist see that this app is not the “end-all-be-all and Africans can dominate in the world of app development.

There’s no question that many of us want to increase the technological advancement within our respective African countries. But in an effort to do that, I hope we don’t ignore that magic that are underneath our fingertips.