Making Sense of Glitches? Exploring Cultural Producers' Understandings of and Interactions with the Instagram Algorithm

Following calls for researchers to explore user-centric perspectives on platform algorithms, we investigate platform users’ experiences and interactions with algorithms when glitches, i.e., platform errors, occur. Glitches prompt reflection and trigger responses among users, thus providing insights into user experiences with algorithms. Drawing on rich qualitative data collected between January and August 2022, including ethnographic observations of cultural producers’ activities on Instagram and six accompanying interviews, we explore users’ experiences and responses to glitches in the Instagram algorithm. Our findings show that users perceive glitches as disruptions and negative platform incidents, and draw on knowledge exchanges to develop algorithmic routines that help them circumvent some of their negative effects. Our study makes three primary contributions. First, we contribute to (critical) social media research investigating platform user experiences with algorithmic management by providing unique insights into knowledge production processes in algorithmically mediated settings. Second, our study contributes to research on platformized cultural production by illustrating the multiplicity of algorithmic routines and understandings among cultural producers and their perceived working conditions on Instagram. Third, we demonstrate the potential of glitches as a starting point for researchers to study and analyze practices in algorithmically mediated settings.