This is a short piece focussing on my Instagram fumbles. As part of the project I established an Instagram account (@breakingpoint_mmp) for which the idea was to post short, snappy and accessible infographics highlighting the data behind the documentary.
At the time I started to post I only had about 20 followers so wasn't expecting much of an audience. I had set it up as a 'professional account' so that I could view analytics around reach and audience demographics. A couple days into posting content I uploaded a post showcasing the 'five worst performing universities' in terms of five year increase in students accessing mental health services: unexpectedly this very quickly took off with over 130,000 accounts seeing the post and the content being shared over 500 times.
Naturally this caused issues as, despite offering universities the opportunity, many universities didn't respond to requests for comment. When their students shared the content and tagged them into it, I subsequently refused some angrily-composed emails from universities who took issue both with my wording of the post, and the fact I hadn't included a response.
As a precautionary measure I made the account private, archived the posts and extended the deadline for universities to provide a response (extending it to December 3rd). Of the 10 universities featured in the post, I only received a response from one.
A disappointing experience BUT it meant the account had built up a following, and gained extra exposure, ready for when the account was able to post new and improved infographics and continue to hold university services to account and promote greater transparency.
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