Informal Digital History? On Historical Research, Social Media, and Platforms

This article aims to discuss the challenges of doing history research on social media platforms. To this end, it begins with a self-reflection on a research experience with digital archives built on Instagram profiles, weighting on a mismatch between choices arising from research needs and historiographical practices established at the university. Initially, the article dialogues with a historiographical tradition of self-reflection on historical practice, especially regarding the so-called digital history. Next, it discusses the multiple conceptual and practical challenges of approaching social media platforms in historical studies, emphasizing the research experience with Latin American profiles that set out to archive the COVID-19 pandemic on Instagram. Finally, the notion of “informal digital history” is proposed as a provocation based on concrete research situations and the dialogue between history and archives, looking at the specificities of social media platforms.

Keywords:
Digital History; Social Media; Platforms; Instagram; Digital Archives