The professional practices of travel journalists on Instagram:a generic qualitative study

There is a noted lack of research regarding how journalists use Instagram. This study attempts to address this gap by investigating travel journalists' perceptions of how the emergence of Instagram as a social media platform has changed their professional journalism practices. Utilising semistructured interviews with a sample of travel journalists with professional Instagram accounts, the findings suggest that Instagram offers new opportunities for forging social and professional networks and acts as a useful tool for research, sourcing, and trend-watching. At the same time, travel journalists continue to negotiate how to construct an authentic identity on Instagram, attract wider followership, and compete with the output of amateur content producers. Study results contribute to emerging research on how journalists use Instagram and how travel journalists use social media. Organisations may need to adjust their expectations of journalists and learn how best to guide them to use social media to their personal and professional benefit.