DALMI-SEM-S2017-02

#Art: Artists’ Instagram Presence and Professional Success

by Akshat Podar, Vincent Bivona, Megan Gutter & Laura Knebel (2017)

Abstract:

This study explores the relationship between levels of user engagement and overall Instagram presence for artists’ Instagram accounts and artists’ sales performance at auction. This relationship is assessed through comparing total number of Instagram posts, total number of followers, total number of likes, total number of comments, and total number of #hashtags containing or associated with artists’ names, in years after their emergence on Instagram with the sales price of works (USD) and the number of sales at auction. All Instagram data was scraped programmatically from Websta.com and all sales data on artist’s work included in the study was scraped from ArtNet. This study investigates the degree to which the aforementioned factors related to Instagram presence and engagement can be and are currently being used as a tool to promote and drive sales of art works. Through this analysis, we aim to provide key insights into how the relationship between artists and buyers is transforming with technological advances and the degree to which new platforms on the web such as Instagram are being successfully leveraged by artists and potentially coming to shape the future of the art market by shifting the channels by which art is sold.

Keywords 
Art Markets, Social Media, Instagram

JEL Classification:
Z1 

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