吃貨人生: 探索在香港Instagram上的食物影像分享 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 立. 治政碩士論文大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Master’s Thesis. n. er. io. al. Foodie’s Life:. sit. y. Nat. 吃貨人生: 探索在香港 Instagram 上的食物影像分享. iv. C hSharing on Instagram Exploring Food Captures in Hong Kong Un engchi. Student: Leung Yue-chiu, Bonni 梁譽昭 Advisor: Professor Yi-Chieh Lin 林怡潔教授. 中華民國 106 年 12 月 December 2017.

(2) 吃貨人生: 探索在香港 Instagram 上的食物影像分享 Foodie’s Life: Exploring Food Captures Sharing on Instagram in Hong Kong. Student: Leung Yue-chiu, Bonni 梁譽昭 Advisor: Professor Yi-Chieh Lin 林怡潔教授. 立. 政治大. 國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 國際傳播英語碩士學位學程碩士論文. ‧ sit. y. Nat. io. er. A Thesis. Submitted to International Master’s Program in. n. a. v. l C Communication Studies International ni. h. U. i e n g c hUniversity National Chengchi. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the degree of Master of Arts. 中華民國 106 年 12 月 December 2017.

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(4) Acknowledge I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Yi-Chieh Lin, for her invaluable comments and expertise that helped me get through the entire study. Without her persistent help, this thesis would not have been possible. Thanks for her unconditional engagement that enabled this present work. I would also like to credit and thank Professor Kuo Cheng, Professor Wen-Ying Liu, Professor Hong-Chi Shiau and Professor Se-Wen Sun for serving as the committee members. Their critical remarks and constructive advice during the defense have substantially refined the quality of the study. I owe my. 政治大. intellectual debt to all of the professors mentioned above, for guiding me, correcting me and. 立. encouraging me to move on.. ‧ 國. 學. I would certainly like to thank those who have offered their precious time for having an. ‧. interview with me. I have been told that the recruitment procedure could be very tough, but thankfully mine was so smooth that I could hardly believe. Thanks all of my informants for their. sit. y. Nat. io. er. input which greatly benefited the study. Thank you!. Last but not least, thanks to my parents, my brother and friends in Hong Kong for feeding. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. me with love. It was never easy to start a life in a new place but their love and patience helped. engchi. me through to who I am today. Thanks for trusting me and being a reason for me to work hard and fight. This accomplishment would not have happened without any one of you, so I give you APPLAUSE and THANK YOU!. Bonni, December 2017.

(5) Abstract The “camera eats first” phenomenon has become a worldwide popular culture which affects our everyday life. The study is committed to look at the foodie behavior on Instagram in Hong Kong, a renowned gourmet paradise. Through a qualitative study of five Instagram foodies, it aims to explore and add an academic dimension of understanding of the culture from the foodie’s perspective and their online behaviors of running a public profile about daily food consumption on Instagram. The results suggested that some foodies see their profiles as the extension of themselves, a space to showcase their works and preferences; but they do not see their profile as a future business opportunity. Even though the foodies on Instagram are mostly amateur instead of professionally trained food photographers, they keep enhancing their skills by learning from their peers and constant practices, for the sake of producing attractive photos. Flat-lay is one of the most popular styles of photography on Instagram which is appreciated by the foodies, as well as the audience. Attractive food visual content and skillful labeling hashtags have made Instagram a platform to satisfy intense desire for food consumption. A foodie’s interaction with audience further enhances the consumer’s desire by offering personal comments. The findings imply that there is a wide scale of foodies with different attitudes towards their practice of posting food images on Instagram. It is crucial for food marketers to understand their attitudes and preferences for better communication. Future research can be conducted on a broader scale of foodies to examine foodies and their influence on social class, giving marketers more ideas of effective positioning and segmentation.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Keywords: Social Media, Food photography, Foodie, Opinion Leader, Digital Economy, Networking. Ch. engchi. i. i Un. v.

(6) Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... i Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................. 2 1.1.1 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Background ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.1 New Media Trending in Hong Kong............................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Food Photography on Social Media ............................................................................... 6 1.2.3 Hong Kong as a Gourmet Paradise and Self-professed Foodies ................................... 8 1.3 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................... 9. 政治大. 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 10. 立. 2.1 Individual and Group Identity Incorporated with Food ...................................................... 10. ‧ 國. 學. 2.3 Digital Economy and Free Labor ........................................................................................ 12 2.4 Visual Consumption and Aesthetics of Food Photography ................................................ 14. ‧. 2.5 Networks of Desire on Social Media .................................................................................. 15. Nat. sit. y. 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 17. io. er. 3.1 Qualitative Approach .......................................................................................................... 17. al. iv n C 3.2 Method of Analysis ............................................................................................................. 20 hengchi U n. 3.2 Sampling.............................................................................................................................. 18. 4. Analysis and Discussion.......................................................................................................... 24 4.1 Showcase of Personality and Characteristics ...................................................................... 24 4.2 Autonomy over Incentives .................................................................................................. 26 4.3 Food Photography in Foodie’s Way ................................................................................... 28 4.4 A Platform to Satisfy Food Craving.................................................................................... 32 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 35 5.1 Implications and Limitations............................................................................................... 36 6. References ................................................................................................................................ 37 7. Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 43. ii.

(7) Introduction Food photograph has become an everyday fashion on social media in Hong Kong. People take a snapshot of their meal from early in the morning, for instance a British all-day breakfast, late night comfort food, perhaps chips with beer. The photographs are mostly modified and filtered by using well-adjusted color and tone to show the best aspect of the food subjects. The utmost important point of the photograph is to present different features of the food, including: how fresh the lettuce salad is, how creamy the mushroom soup is, how juicy the grilled rib eye. 政治大. is, and last but not least the lava cake dessert with some melted chocolate inside. In the end, what. 立. appears in the photograph may end up looking better than it actually is. With advanced mobile. ‧ 國. 學. application technology, even people who do not have knowledge of photography are “equipped” with tools on smartphones to furnish images; therefore, smartphone users are getting more. Nat. y. ‧. interested in taking food images and sharing them on social media.. io. sit. In Hong Kong, the ubiquity of smartphones makes it difficult for citizens to keep their. n. al. er. eyes off their phones, no matter where they are—e.g. in transportation vehicles, in restaurants, or. Ch. i Un. v. on the streets—it is not challenging to find people staring at a smartphone. Social media is one of. engchi. the top reasons they have such a heavy dosage of smartphone in their daily life. For the last few years, Facebook was ranked the most favored digital platform in the city (Lam, 2014). However, recently, Instagram users have increased drastically as it has become a common social media platform among young adults. Its popularity among this age group is due to the fact that Instagram consists completely of visuals, images and videos. It is an attractive entertainment option for individuals who want to take a short break from texting and enjoy appealing visuals. The common use of smartphones and Instagram in Hong Kong encourages the users to take pictures of their daily food consumption, furnishing them with filters embedded in the mobile 1.

(8) application and posting them to share directly, in a convenient way. As of June 29th 2017, there are more than 1,322,000 images on Instagram carrying hashtags #hkfoodie.. 1.1 Research Objectives On Instagram or any other social media platforms, not only celebrity users work hard to maintain their account by sharing every bit of their lives, ordinary users also try every way to take attractive pictures and furnish them with the built-in filters to create eye-catching. 政治大. photographs. There have been a large percentage of images on Instagram about landscapes,. 立. products and food, which are related to lifestyle and leisure. Since Hong Kong is described as a. ‧ 國. 學. “Food Paradise,” the competition among restaurants is very keen and every restaurant tries to. ‧. stand out from the rest. Being featured on social media, especially going viral among the foodies in Hong Kong, has become one of the techniques to get to everyone’s to-eat list. Thus, posting. y. Nat. er. io. sit. food images online has become a trendy habit for diners who are also on Instagram, as well as a marketing strategy for restaurants to increase exposure. This study aims to examine the culture of. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. taking food photography and sharing it on social media in the Hong Kong context. It attempts to. engchi. add an academic understanding of the culture of “camera eats first” from the foodies’ perspective and their notion of running a public food channel on Instagram. Against the backdrop of the stated objectives, the study’s questions focus on the notion of foodies posting daily food consumption on Instagram and their attitudes towards this practice, as well as the enthusiasm about taking food photography and sharing it with their networks on Instagram. This investigation also concerns itself with the common features and characteristics of the most engaging food images on Instagram. An Instagram user could read up to a hundred images when they scroll through the Instagram app every day. It would be an advantage for food 2.

(9) image lovers and producers to understand the common features of attractive food photographs which were worth their audience’s “likes” and successfully lured them to food consumption. Food images are believed to contribute to consumerism because through Instagram they are capable of triggering users’ food consumption—there is scientific proof of physical reactions aroused by food imagery (Spence, 2017). In this study, the discussion explores foodies on Instagram in Hong Kong in terms of their attitudes, practices and interactions with their networks on Instagram. This phenomenon has received little attention from academics in Hong Kong. Hence, by. 政治大. conducting this research, I hope to expand the knowledge in this neglected area—the popular. 立. culture of sharing food captures on Instagram in Hong Kong among the group of foodies. While. ‧ 國. 學. social media has provided a platform for user-generated content, it has attracted users to take. culture.. ‧. images of food and share with the public and this act has taken an active role in the popular. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat 1.1.1 Research Questions. Ch. i Un. v. To explore the areas dedicated in this study, it was important to first understand the. engchi. behavior of food imagery postings on Instagram in Hong Kong and the reasons why a foodie account is created. Thus, the first research question is: how do the foodies recognize themselves through their social media profile, and what the goals they aim to achieve are. It was also worth looking at the aesthetics of food images on Instagram by comparing the most engaging food images on the platform with professional food photographs. Moreover, this study is committed to revealing the notion of foodies about their postings of food images. As a part of the digital economy, Instagram users might or might not be aware of themselves promoting certain food products or restaurants at a free cost. Therefore, my second research question probes beyond the 3.

(10) posts and explores what they are expecting from their posts on Instagram. Since social media is a networking sphere where the users influence each other with consumption desire, suggested in the networks of desire (Kozinets, Patterson & Ashman, 2017), the interaction between foodies and audience can give clues to how it takes place.. 1.2 Background. 政治大 The current generation has grown up having social media as a part of their daily life, even 立. 1.2.1 New Media Trending in Hong Kong. ‧ 國. 學. though social media first appeared a bit over a decade ago. Since then social media has become an important means of communication for people of all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, to. ‧. seek connection and entertainment and to catch up with the world. In recent years, by being a. sit. y. Nat. digital media, instead of traditional media, social media becomes a platform for easier. n. al. er. io. communication and interaction among individuals (Correa et al., 2009). Social media is also. i Un. v. regarded as a group of online applications which were designed based on the foundations of Web. Ch. engchi. 2.0 and allowed the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (UGC) (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) at the early age of its development. Today, social media keeps advancing and evolving. Besides connecting individuals with family and friends, social media platforms have also developed their own algorithms in order to guide the users to their specific areas of interest in regards to content, knowledge, news, or people, guiding them to their reading preference with simply an input of hashtags. Instagram was launched in 2010, providing a social media platform dedicated to image sharing. Furthermore, it allows users to tag people, locations (geotag), and add hashtags for. 4.

(11) labeling and identification. For instance, a user can add a location to an image uploaded on Instagram and later the user can read other images sharing the same location by tapping the tag. The hashtags work in a similar way by helping users identify images with particular text descriptions. Contrary to Facebook, Instagram requires users to post only visual content including still images and motion pictures, while text-only posts are not facilitated. Users are indeed attracted to Instagram with this “restriction” because sometimes it is difficult to express with only words. Visual materials are able to put persuasive impact on viewers by highlighting issues of emotion and identification. For instance, recently the mass media has increasingly. 政治大. shifted to the use of visual material (Joffe, 2008, p.92) in order to help the audience with better. 立. understanding of the news stories. Young adults within the age of 18-34 were the biggest group. ‧ 國. 學. of Instagram users, taking up more than 70% of the total. Surprisingly, the senior age group. ‧. (aged 55-65) of the Internet users was increasingly active on this platform, known to them as “Insta-Gran” (Trew, 2016). The study made a point that living with a smartphone and being. sit. y. Nat. io. er. “digitally savvy” is more of a millennial behavior than connected with a certain age group. Society nowadays pays more attention to and places more efforts on storytelling with visuals. A. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. Facebook-commissioned study researcher, Vicki Molina-Estolano (2016), revealed what users. engchi. were looking for on Instagram. While Internet users log in to their social media accounts to fulfil their needs to a different extent, they use Instagram to satisfy their needs of “desire for fun, relaxation and discovery” (cited in Cohen 2016). Compared to Facebook, users on Instagram do not only look for connections with family and friends, but also “follow” people they do not know in real life, including celebrities and guides to travel destinations or beauty and DIY instructors. Users on both platforms rated contents on Instagram as “behind-the-scenes,” whilst posts on Facebook were more “opinionated” (Molina-Estolano, 2016). It has been commonly assumed. 5.

(12) that since the content on social media is created, shared and consumed by the users, it is perceived as trustworthy and credible and it has the power to influence consumers’ opinions and consumption (Mudambi & Schuff, 2010). Hong Kong has seen a rising trend for print media to go online and have their platforms on social media. Yeung (2015) wrote an article discussing Hong Kong’s print media industry and the challenges it is facing, which is leading to the industry’s countdown to oblivion. Due to the fact that smartphones and mobile devices are increasingly commonplace, it has changed the habits of readership. Readers no longer need to pay to read the news, as there are news stories. 政治大. from local and international media available online for free. As a result, print media like the Sun. 立. Newspaper (太陽報) with 17 years’ history halted print edition in 2016 and Hong Kong Daily. ‧ 國. 學. News (新報) ceased publication in 2015 after 56 years in print.. ‧. According to the latest study conducted by Connected Life (Trew, 2016), the number of. sit. y. Nat. smartphone users across the Asia Pacific region has reached over a billion, half of them were. io. al. er. from Hong Kong. Across the region, Hong Kong has the second highest penetration figures for. v. n. Instagram in the region after Malaysia, with 70% of the Internet users on the platform.. Ch. engchi. i Un. 1.2.2 Food Photography on Social Media The combination of food and photography has a long history. Cookbooks, cooking shows, food commercials and appealing paintings of food were found as early as the Renaissance period (Yood, 1992). According to Ibrahim (2015), once food is transformed as images or commodities, its perishable and vulnerable qualities are defied and its permanence is signified, transcending time and space. With a simple click of the shutter, food will never rot or decay and. 6.

(13) it can be shared with people no matter where they are or what time they are going to check out the image. An example of a successful collaboration between chef and photographer: the worldwide renowned British celebrity chef and restaurateur, Jamie Oliver has been working with David Loftus on his food photography and their collaboration has brought David to be one of the world's leading food photographers and the 65th most influential photographer of all time by Professional Photographer Magazine in 2010. However, not all chefs appreciate their food being photographed. In 2014, a group of leading restaurateurs in France made outspoken comments regarding food images taken by their patrons, suggesting an end to this culture and a ban of. 政治大. smartphone photography of food in their restaurants. They have criticized not only the quality of. 立. the photos taken, but the fact that by the time customers were done with photo taking, the food. ‧ 國. 學. was no longer at the best condition for consumption. Even though posting food images on social. ‧. media could contribute to free publicity of the restaurant, dining experience never drops out of the chefs’ consideration (Alexander, 2014).. sit. y. Nat. io. er. Though a number of chefs were concerned over patrons taking pictures of food in restaurant, chefs in Hong Kong do not seem to be aversive towards this behavior. Moselle. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. (2014), a news reporter from a local newspaper called South China Morning Post (SCMP),. engchi. talked to some of the famous chefs in Hong Kong and concluded that “chefs in Hong Kong love their porn” — referring to food images which “elicits an invitation to gaze and vicariously consume, and to tag images of food through digital platforms” (Ibrahim, 2015, p.2). Generally, chefs in Hong Kong appreciate more the comments provided along with the images and the publicity effect by social media postings. She also mentioned that even chefs of high-end restaurants have become fans of food photography and celebrate the culture of “camera eats first.”. 7.

(14) 1.2.3 Hong Kong as a Gourmet Paradise and Self-professed Foodies From British colony to China’s special administrative region, an east-meets-west culture has been created in Hong Kong, which is reflected in various aspects including its food culture. According to the government statistics (Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, 2017), there are over 14,500 licensed restaurants currently in Hong Kong, serving a wide variety of food from all over the world, from Japanese to French and from Thai to Spanish. In 2017, 61 restaurants in Hong Kong made the list of Michelin-starred restaurants (Tiu, 2016), which further. 治政 competition for food and restaurants, there are a number 大 of individuals who are particularly 立 consolidated the city as one of the world’s great gourmet cities. In the battlefield of fierce. interested in food and exploring fascinating dining experiences. Instead of just storing their. ‧ 國. 學. experiences as a memory, they record their dining experiences with pictures or videos and share. ‧. them on social media. Self-professed foodie has become a phenomenon and an informal term to. sit. y. Nat. describe “a person who loves food and is very interested in different types of food,” according to. io. er. Cambridge Dictionary. Cairns et al. (2010, p.597) explains further that a foodie has “a strong. al. interest in or a passion for learning about and eating good food,” factors like gender, age, social. n. iv n C class and having professional knowledge are not significant when identifying as a h eabout n gfood chi U foodie. Therefore the group of foodies possibly includes people from all walks of life, sharing the same interest in fine and tasty cuisine. Nonetheless, Mohsen (2017) suggested that foodie is a typology in different levels. Some of the individuals who tagged themselves as foodies enjoyed the self-pleasing experience of dining, while others found it as a way to reach out and connect. A study across Europe (Euromonitor, cited in Mohsen 2017) stated that a rise in blogging about food enhanced interest and participation in foodie culture and encouraged individuals to be a part of the “networks of production and exchange” about food and dining experience (Yue, 2003, pp.. 8.

(15) 159).. 1.3 Significance of the Study The purpose of the study is to explore the popular culture of sharing food images on Instagram from the foodie’s perspective. While there is a large group of Instagram users in Hong Kong, their food consumption might be affected by what they read on the platform, or they intentionally look for recommendations for future consumption. Understanding how and why. 政治大. people are committed to sharing food images on Instagram can contribute to academic and. 立. practical communications and marketing on social media. The study does not only look at how. ‧ 國. 學. foodies perceive their identity and work shared online; it also gives the marketers a better. ‧. understanding about the foodie phenomenon for communication enhancement and future marketing strategy development, as advertising could be transparent to the savvy consumers who. y. Nat. er. io. sit. have a high level of visual literacy (Schroeder, 2004). This study focuses on behaviors and thoughts of popular Instagram users in Hong Kong in order to understand how users are. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. motivated to create and post food photographs on the platform and thus to help marketers. engchi. develop tactics to utilize the social media channel in an effective way.. 9.

(16) 2. Literature Review In the realm of consumer capitalism, food imagery has been denoting the construction of desire with its circulation in the media. In the age of Web 2.0, UGC has been engaging in different social networking platforms on new media and as a result has triggered public users to capture their daily life on photos or videos to share them online. The act of capturing and uploading food images to social media has become a new habit and has gradually integrated as a UGC economy. Food has become a popular and designated object to share on social media. 政治大 activity (Marshall, 2005). Dining can be a private gathering activity limited to a small group of 立 because the sensual joy of consuming food can be individualized, as well as a highly social. ‧ 國. 學. two to three individuals or it can constitute a large group of friends; thus the experience becomes a type of desirable content to share among people with different social bonds, from close friends. ‧. to acquaintances or even strangers.. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat 2.1 Individual and Group Identity Incorporated with Food. n. iv n C Food acts as a method to fulfillha basic physicalU e n g c h i need of human beings for survival;. however, through history, food has come to convey a sense of personal as well as cultural identity to consumers (Yue, 2003). Food is essential to construct individual identity biologically, psychologically and socially. By incorporating with the food consumed, we have become what we eat, in both reality and imaginary terms (Fischler, 1988). Food constructs meanings to human, likewise, human defines food. Culture or social circumstances have been indicators to classify what is appropriate to eat. There is a lack of one kind of food could be considered as appropriate for all human beings, at all time and for all occasions. In Chinese societies, it can be odd not to. 10.

(17) find any kinds of tea in a household and it can probably be irritating if a British is served a bowl of white rice for breakfast. Food and cuisine are also able to reflect social occasions. For instance, turkey is regarded as festive cuisine for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Therefore, food is classified with the “rules of propriety and context” (Fischler, 1988, pp. 285). On a basis of social value, food and cuisine are one of the components of the sense of collective identity. Calvo (cited in Fischler 1988) found that sometimes certain characteristics of food and cuisine could be retained even when the original language of a minority culture was lost. Therefore, group membership could be developed with specified features of food, and. 政治大. definition of outsiders and the difference of others are also asserted.. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 2.2 Opinion Leaders on Social Media. ‧. With a great desire of consumption, people proactively look for information for future consumption on social media platforms, which are highly accessible due to the promising. sit. y. Nat. io. er. Internet service in Hong Kong. Yet, while information on social media can be abundant and unorganized, opinion leadership has played a role as a consultant. It helps the audience to. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. understand what is trending and recommended because it highlights the up-to-date controversial matters in the market.. engchi. The concept of opinion leader emerged from the 70s. From the perspective of consumer behavior, opinion leader involves interpersonal word-of-mouth communication, expertise or knowledge, influence and innovative behavior (Feick & Price, 1987; Myers & Robertson, 1972). Opinion leaders are regarded as having long-term involvement with a class of products and the involvement is able to evoke themselves to seek and share information with others (Bloch & Richins, 1983; Corey, 1971). Differing from ordinary users, they take note of information more. 11.

(18) than just for their personal reference, they care about what others might want to know as well (Venkatraman, 1989). Not to say that the opinion leaders would only become the source of information for their followers and consumers; however, there is a huge amount of information sharing among opinion leaders and their followers. Thus the process is more of a multiple-way communication than a one-way flow (Venkatraman, 1989). The followers are simultaneously being influenced by the leaders and influencing the leaders with their comments and questions. Opinion leadership reflects the degree to which an individual is frequently capable of informally influencing attitudes or apparent behaviors of the others in a desired way (Rogers, 2010).. 政治大. Opinion leaders usually have a higher social class and status as well as educational level; they. 立. also have more connected networks of relations, which allows them to exert their influential. ‧ 國. 學. power on their followers (Venkatraman, 1989). Therefore, food images posted by opinion. ‧. leaders are more influential to the audience not only because they are believed to have better knowledge on particular fields, but also because they share comprehensive product knowledge. sit. y. Nat. io. er. concerning average consumers. Opinion leaders have been a credible source of information because consumers have increasingly become more tech-savvy and have a higher literacy on. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. marketing strategies. They are more cautious about advertising content; therefore the. engchi. effectiveness of commercials might be weakened (Brown & Hayes, 2008). With the established networks of opinion leaders, their information could be able to catch attention of a number of individuals and gain consumer trust with their knowledge and experience.. 2.3 Digital Economy and Free Labor The term “Digital Economy” refers to “a formation that intersects on the one hand with the postmodern cultural economy (the media, the university, and the arts) and on the other hand 12.

(19) with the information industry (the information and communication complex)” (Terranova, 2000, p. 35). The intersection of two different sectors of production has developed a group of “free labor” as a fundamental provision in creation of value. However, the free labor group is described as having enjoyable, rewarding and not-feel-like-working experience of social production (Kuehn & Corrigan, 2013). Since they are unpaid, they are free from the total control of capitalists who might still want to retain control over the autonomy of production processes. Especially in the developed countries, the old working class is gradually becoming obsolete and the new generations are cultivated as active consumers of value-added commodities. Free labor. 政治大. exists when this knowledgeable consumption of culture is misinterpreted as appreciation and. 立. exploitation of productive activities (Terranova, 2000). Furthermore, the capitalist logic of. ‧ 國. 學. production has explicitly accelerated the rate of product obsolescence. Even though there is a. ‧. huge demand of creative and innovative production on the Internet, the quality of labor seems to be heavily undermined under the age of digital economy.. sit. y. Nat. io. er. However, Kuehn & Corrigan (2013) introduced a concept of “hope labor” as a neutralized and normalized term adopting perspectives from neo-liberalism. They argue that. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. hope laborers are motivated to produce contents on social platforms, which means they are. engchi. involved with “un- or under-compensated work carried out in the present, often for experience or exposure, in the hope that future employment opportunities may follow” (Kuehn & Corrigan, 2013, p.10). They differentiate hope labor from free labor as the former one bares the costs and risks of conversion from present work to future careers from the temporal point of view. They argue that hope labor is a meritocratic investment that possibly pays off the individuals who are talented and hard-working enough with a chance of employment in the desired industry. Thus, the idea of hope labor assumes those who create free content on social media embrace a hope to. 13.

(20) be rewarded for their work in the future.. 2.4 Visual Consumption and Aesthetics of Food Photography Today, photographic technology has been advanced enough that every smartphone has at least one camera lens. Therefore, almost everyone can capture anything on an image or a film. We might not be aware that we are indeed creating tons of photography or movies every day and at the same time digesting many visuals by ourselves or the others (Coleman, 1998). Technology has allowed photography to dominate daily communication and influence the way we perceive. 政治大. and act. The commonplace and inevitable practice of photography facilitates communication. 立. through visuals and contributes to a cornerstone for visual consumption (Schroeder, 2014),. ‧ 國. 學. which is key to understand consumer behavior. Although Schroeder argues that visual. ‧. consumption plays an important role in economy, the message carried by advertising imagery can be unintentionally misinterpreted or ignored at consumer’s will. There are four main. y. Nat. er. io. sit. propositions: (1) advertising images are receiving less attention because there is too much marketing imagery for consumers to process; (2) consumers who know well about the selling. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. purpose of advertising imagery choose to resist the message; (3) unaware consumers fail to. engchi. understand the meaning of the images; and lastly, (4) consumers are given more options to obtain particular marketing information, so they are less affected by advertisements (Schroeder, 2014). Thus, it is believed that consumers would acquire and access information available on the new media, which is not commercialized. The failure of advertisement is a reason for corporations to develop influencing marketing strategies on social media because consumers tend to search for product reviews at their will and filter direct marketing information. Within cultural discourses, imagery is capable of arousing realistic and noticeable simulations with convincing power, which produces semiotic meaning beyond the object itself 14.

(21) (Schroeder, 2014). As we look at a food photograph, we may find the food object itself “materially evoke somewhat pornographic imagery” (McDonnell, 2016, pp. 249) by perceiving the symbolic understanding of sensuality, which is constructed by the food object and the cultural schema of human sensuality. Different from utilitarian food images, aesthetic food photography is meant to be seductive and cultivates obsession. Mcdonnell (2016) discussed the embodiment of aesthetic food photography from the perspectives of the food object itself and the skillful photographic production. With regard to food object, sexualized materiality, presentation and types of food items play a role in attracting the audience’s attention and gaining their. 政治大. affection. First, the appeal from the sexualized interpretation by the material form of the food. 立. item. The interpretation is usually not an apparent visual metaphor, but a more subtle similarity. ‧ 國. 學. so as to cultivate sensuality about certain food. Second, presentation of the food item or ‘plating’. ‧. strategies can enhance its pornographic sense and construct a suggestive scene, for instance, making use of dressings or vegetables to add extra colors or textures. Lastly, the role carried out. sit. y. Nat. io. er. by the food photography creates fantasy and intimacy with the viewer. They are roughly divided into familiar as “the girl next door” and exotic as “femme fatale.” The former refers to food from. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. every day diet and the latter relates to unconventional food of one’s own culture. The sensuality. engchi. of food photograph could also be enhanced by well-adjusted zooming, framing, orientation and depth of field. Mcdonnell (2016) advocates that aesthetic food photography production should be aiming for the viewer’s desire, obsession and addiction.. 2.5 Networks of Desire on Social Media Past research suggested that technology may weaken consumer’s desire on consumption. As Winner (1978, p.190) proposed, technological advancement would increase the sense of 15.

(22) “rationality, instrumentality and logic,” resulting in replacing consumer’s consumption desire with functional and task-oriented practices. Yet, views contrary to the rationalizing effect started to rise at a later stage. Denegri-Knott & Molesworth (2010, p. 113) emphasized there is an increase in the lasting desire of consumer through the emerging dematerialization or virtualization of consumption under the “economic imperatives of contemporary capitalism.” Through market colonization of virtual spaces, consumer desires are freed from the need for material actualization, while complex and unlimited wants are developed and sustained. In an article about sharing food images online, the authors Kozinets, Patterson & Ashman (2017). 政治大. developed a concept of networks of desire taking into account the complex and open systems of. 立. technologies, consumers, energized passion and objects. They interact with each other as an. ‧ 國. 學. “inter-connected desiring machine” that triggers consumption interests under a broader social. ‧. system among interrelated actors. Networks of desire do not only trigger private network participation, which involves the surrounding existing networks, but also extended networks of. sit. y. Nat. io. er. the mainstream with distance and even anonymity. In public and professional network participation, which usually happens in open social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. Twitter, the content is shared with extensive networks with unfamiliar connections from various. engchi. degrees of amateurs and professionals. Therefore, the Internet is a sphere where consumers’ practices interact with technological interfaces and user networks to bridge, behave and release desire (Kozinets, Patterson & Ashman, 2017). In the context of food images online sharing, the source of the food image interacts with the viewers, unleashing their desire to consume certain food products. The viewers who make consumption and share their experience on social media with their networks eventually keep expanding the network of sharing.. 16.

(23) 3. Methodology. 3.1 Qualitative Approach The methodology of this study was based on a qualitative approach because the focus of the study was about human behavior and interaction. Compared to quantitative research, qualitative research was a better method to employ for this study because it was able to focus on the process of data collection and analysis of text content (Bryman & Bell, 2005). Qualitative methodology is usually used to study human behavior through interviews and content analysis.. 政治大. As the purpose of this study was to understand the popular user behavior and preference about. 立. food images on Instagram, detailed and rich answers from the user's perspective were acquired. ‧ 國. 學. by conducting semi-structured or unstructured interviews, which were the main interview forms. ‧. of this qualitative study (Bryman & Bell, 2005). A bottom-up reasoning approach was applied, in an attempt to contribute to an in-depth analysis and understanding of the notion of food image. y. Nat. er. io. sit. sharing from popular users, if not to generate a new theory.. Data was obtained by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews, in which the. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. interviewees were given open-ended questions and required to elaborate their response to the. engchi. questions (see also Appendix D). The number of respondents of this study were five individuals and they were recruited from a media recommendation list of “20 Hong Kong foodies to follow on Instagram” by Lifestyle Asia (Chan, 2016). Popular users on Instagram were targeted because they are able to share their journey from the beginning to becoming an influential Instagram foodie. Not only did they speak of their experience and observation as opinion leaders, but they were capable of sharing their attitudes as influential users on Instagram. There was a 2-step approach: first, interviews were conducted to understand the culture and phenomenon of posting food photographs on Instagram. The informants were invited to speak of the most influential 17.

(24) images which were chosen by them—in terms of earning the most likes, comments or contributing to a measurable marketing outcome. The interviews were conducted in Cantonese and English and the duration was controlled within 45-60 minutes, the conversations were recorded by audio for later transcription in English (see also Appendix E).. 3.2 Sampling The informants of this study were recruited through a non-probabilistic method.. 政治大. According to Barbie (1989), it calls for non-probability sampling when a social research is. 立. conducted under situations which probability samples are not allowed to be used, for instance. ‧ 國. 學. when it is not possible to obtain the full list of potential participants. In this study, purposive. ‧. sampling was chosen because the study is aiming at a small subset of a larger population in which most members of the subset can be easily recognized. There were a huge group of. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Instagram users in Hong Kong and this study was targeting the foodies among them. However, sampling an exclusive list of Instagram foodies in Hong Kong was not feasible. This sampling. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. method was thus justified with its feasibility to select representative units on the basis of. engchi. researcher’s judgment (Barbie, 1989). A recommendation list from media “20 Hong Kong foodies to follow on Instagram” by Lifestyle Asia (Chan, 2016) was adopted as a gateway to approach popular Instagram users specializing in food experience. Lifestyle Asia is an experienced digital media in Hong Kong, committed to deliver the current luxury lifestyle news in the region since founded in 2006. Reaching up to a readership of 1.5 million in four markets in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Lifestyle Asia has become the market leader of online luxury lifestyle marketing (Lifestyle Asia, 2017). It has been recognized as a credible source of information about lifestyle, therefore the article was chosen on 18.

(25) Lifesyle Asia as a reference to representative Instagram foodies in Hong Kong. As a result, five female informants were recruited with their profiles setup the earliest from February 2011 to the latest in May 2016—creating a range of a number of posts from 690 to 4432. Their popularity was indicated by the number of followers, which was from 8900 to 84800 (see also Appendix A). Brief backgrounds of the five informants and their style of food blogging are as follow: Informant 1 is an expat and a full-time banker. She enjoys good food and restaurants in Hong Kong, but she is also a traveler wandering around in different countries. From her posts, it is not hard to tell she craves a wide variety of food in her diets; she strikes a balance between. 政治大. delicious but unhealthy food like burgers and fries and detox juice, which helps cleanse the. 立. organs. Her profile was the newest among all informants.. ‧ 國. 學. Informant 2 is a former food stylist and reporter for a local leisure magazine, but now she. ‧. works as a freelancer in the same industry. She has a relatively strong stance on her food consumption, for instance fast food is rarely found on her channel. The images she shared on the. sit. y. Nat. io. er. channel are classy and highlight the details of each cuisine or food item. The tone and color have also been tuned in the same tone for high consistency. She started her profile since early 2011. n. al. Ch. which was the earliest initiated profile in the group.. engchi. i Un. v. Informant 3 is also a food writer who has a habit of recording and documenting her diets. She started taking pictures of food to trigger her memory of the dining experiences over a decade ago, during a time where people were barely fans of “camera-eats-first.” She has been sharing about food in Hong Kong and quite often from foreign countries. She also co-organizes a local farmers’ market to promote responsible eating, so some event posters and pictures were featured on the channel. Informant 4 is a recent graduate in law discipline and is now running her profile on. 19.

(26) Instagram together with her friends. They featured affordable cheap eats as well as fine dining steaks. Apart from trying their best to show the best side of different food, they also put texts like “Hello weekend” and “But first, coffee” to add more fun to their postings and interact with the audience. Informant 5’s channel is maintained by a group of five. They used to have a private group to share about food for a long time, but one day they decided to bring their opinions and recommendations to the public resulting in the creation of their profile. Just like other informants, they are fond of food and traveling. The food subjects featured were culturally. 政治大. diverse and skillfully presented in the images.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 3.2 Method of Analysis. ‧. The grounded theory approach was adapted to analyze the data collected. As defined by. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Strauss and Corbin (1990, p.275), grounded theory is ‘a way of thinking about and conceptualizing data,’ so it is generally applicable to qualitative studies. This approach. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. emphasizes a close link among data collection, analysis and the theory generated at last (Strauss. engchi. & Corbin, 1990). The grounded theory approach focuses on the qualitative data collection process, yet it allows some space for the researcher to obtain quantitative figures to support the qualitative findings (Strauss & Corbin, 1990), which enhances the flexibility of the data collection methodology. To find a pattern of the respondent’s behavior and attitude towards food porn on Instagram, an interview with open-ended questions, as well as questions indicating their frequency data, were carried out for data collection. After data collection, coding is an important step of grounded theory. It can be considered as the analytical process to label, differentiate, conclude and organize the collected data 20.

(27) (Charmaz, 1983). All transcriptions from the interviews underwent the three basic types of coding suggested in grounded theory by Corbin and Strauss (1990). (1) Open coding, an interpretive process to break down the data, was applied. The data was then labelled and categorized whilst errors were located in this process. (2) Axial coding followed, it was used to develop connections between main categories and their sub-categories. Lastly, (3) selective coding was applied, which involved integration of all categories developed with descriptive details and formation of the initial theoretical framework. The core category from coding reflects the central phenomenon of the study, which contributed to the findings and analysis of the study (See also Appendix B).. 立. 政治大. Images were also a part of the data in this study. Respondents were required to select five. ‧ 國. 學. images which had earned high level of attention from viewers, in terms of the number of likes,. ‧. views and comments. On this stage, the production of pornographic gaze framework from McDonnell (2016) was adopted for food image analysis looking at conditions to make appealing. sit. y. Nat. io. er. food photography (See also Appendix C).. Zooming, framing, orientation and depth of field were keys to optimize audience. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. experience of the food captured. Firstly, zooming draws attention from the audience to the. engchi. highlighted food object and imposes emotional intimacy with the viewer by visual closeness. While zooming out photography creates a sense of distance, zooming in to the details makes the audience identify with the food object, thus conveys intimacy. Extreme close-up is probably the most representative among pornographic aesthetic food visuals. Mcdonnell used Figure 1-1 to demonstrate the extreme close-up of raspberries. The forced intimacy personified the food object by giving the audience a clear view of raspberries, even the hairs standing up in the lights.. 21.

(28) Figure 1-1: Demonstration of Zooming (Mcdonnell, 2016, p. 258). 立. Figure 1-2: Demonstration of Framing (Mcdonnell, 2016, p. 260). 政治大. Secondly, framing refers to the photographer’s skillful choice of what to put in the. ‧ 國. 學. photograph. The composition may involve the meaning of the food object or come along with a. ‧. table setting in order to help the audience to wander in their imagination about the dining. sit. y. Nat. experience. Mcdonnell took Figure1-2 as an example. The refined table setting as a background. io. er. in the photograph evoked the viewers of the scene of fine dining, besides the well plated dish. Third, orientation of food allows the audience to view the food item from an unfamiliar aspect. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. and to give food a new perspective. A small twist of food orientation could bring a brand-new. engchi. perception to what used to be familiar to viewers and “evoke the same longing as the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe’s skirt, tempting the breeze” (McDonnell, 2016, p. 261). Mcdonnell suggested Lara Ferroni’s skillful orientation of a frittata has induced a visual metaphor of a reclining human body with legs extended (see Figure 1-3). It gives a somewhat flirty message to the audience. Lastly, the depth of field requires a lens focus on the food object so that the audience can read all the details on the food image. The key is to let "the blurred background reminds us that there is a world out there beyond this food, but the focus holds our gaze". 22.

(29) (McDonnell, 2016, p. 262). Using the short depth of field to show the details invited the viewers to see clearly what was on the plate, and to give attention and affection. In Figure 1-4, all the ingredients of the blood orange salsa were showing off their best side in the picture, voicing out they need the viewers to stay.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 1-3: Demonstration of Orientation (Mcdonnell, 2016, p. 261). Figure 1-4: Demonstration of Depth of Field (Mcdonnell, 2016, p. 262). er. io. sit. y. Nat. After analyzing the images from foodies on Instagram, it was apparent that McDonnell’s. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. framework was applicable to food images trending on social media. While foodies on Instagram. engchi. come from various backgrounds, as so do their followers, understanding their characteristics of popular food pictures gives insights that can be potentially useful to marketers on an international scale.. 23.

(30) 4. Analysis and Discussion. 4.1 Showcase of Personality and Characteristics Some of the informants expressed the idea of making a portfolio with setting up their profile on Instagram. Almost every one of them stressed that the food consumed and displayed on the channel was according to their personal preference of food. Therefore, the profile on Instagram has become an outlet for foodies to demonstrate their personalities and characteristics, in terms of selection of food and cuisine, style of photo taking and the writing style of image. 政治大 Instagram as showcase of their 立 work or photography, where the audience is able to learn about. captions. Two of the informants from food-related industries have seen their profiles on. ‧ 國. 學. their interest in types of food and presentation preferences, such as taste and photo taking approach, in a short period of time.. ‧. “It’s according to my personal preference, like local food, Japanese food and desserts…. Nat. sit. y. I just follow my own taste.” (Informant 4). al. n. work.” (Informant 3). er. io. “I take a lot of food pictures for work, so Instagram is a channel for me to share my. Ch. engchi. 24. i Un. v.

(31) Diet and food photo taking preference of a foodie could be briefly perceived by taking a glance of the channel with thumbnail images.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 2: Retrieved from Informant 2’s channel. Figure 3: Retrieved from Informant 4’s channel. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Figure 2 was retrieved from the channel of Informant 3. Her images depicted a slightly. i Un. v. high level of contrast to tune up the colors. The focus of each image was to the point which. Ch. engchi. prevented the audience from being distracted by other details. The pictures also indicated the foodie might have a preference of quality food, as foodstuffs on the pictures were carefully arranged without trying to emphasize the portion. Figure 3 was captured on the channel of Informant 4. The images also had the colors tuned up for colorful visuals; and they were with higher brightness in average. Instead of framing food within a context, this informant often took close-up food images, showing details on the outside or even the content inside such as stuffing of a dumpling. The food selection in the collage varied and included both local and non-local food, as well as foodstuffs for different meals in a day, such as salad, snacks and frozen yogurt. 25.

(32) dessert. From the pictures here, the informant could be found with high enthusiasm in sharing about food in a detailed way, which a wide variety of foodstuffs were included and presented with closeness with the audience. The bright-colored images might also indicate that the informant found food and dining experience pleasant to share. Consistency was one of the concerns shared by most of the informants. They were trying to preserve their autonomy in terms of how they take pictures and the way they caption them. For instance, one of the informants rarely mentioned the address of the places she has been sharing on the channel, so it would be odd if an address was indicated in one of her posts. An informant. 政治大. from the media industry clearly stated that setting up a profile on Instagram is a way of self-. 立. branding, rather than solely becoming an influencer. Marketers are able to understand the. ‧ 國. 學. characteristics of a channel and decide if it is able to help them reach their target audience.. ‧. “I believe the marketer should agree on the soft selling techniques with bloggers by blending in with the channel.” (Informant 2). sit. y. Nat. io. er. Manipulating the content is unnecessary because followers are adapted to the style of a certain channel. Even though it is hard to find a formula of content which works perfectly in. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. attracting audience, the followers have their own tastes in food and cuisine, as well as the writing. engchi. style of foodies. Substantial change would result in a decrease of authenticity and weaken the credibility of the posted content.. 4.2 Autonomy over Incentives When it comes to collaborating with restaurants or commercial brands, especially those that come with monetary incentives, the bloggers are highly aware of the content involved—where the marketing message takes place. On one hand, they maintain the same style and tone with the 26.

(33) rest of their posts, trying not to make the content different from those without invitation; on the other hand, they usually clarify those posts and label them with hashtags such as #byinvitation or #ad, hoping to preserve their credibility by being truthful through the hashtags. Three of them discussed their concern over becoming irrelevant on their food channels because they understood their followers have been acquiring practical information from their channel, such as description and commentary on food, service and price. Moreover, earning from their posts might risk their credibility, their followers could question the objectivity of their comments. Those who had experience of being invited to non-food related product promotion. 政治大. either refused or tried hard to make it relevant to the channel, for instance framing the product. 立. next to some appealing food to attract audience.. ‧ 國. 學. “Many of my followers are here to learn about where and what to eat, if I post too much. ‧. irrelevant content, I will turn them off.” (Informant 3). The informants were also asked if they hoped for paid collaboration so that they could. sit. y. Nat. io. er. make some money from their channels, but surprisingly most of them hesitated. Few of them mentioned about the complexity of signing terms and conditions for the sake of preserving their. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. autonomy when they received monetary incentives from marketers; however, this procedure was. engchi. crucial regardless of the amount of money they received. Despite the fact that working with brands could bring some extra income to the bloggers, they preferred to create content voluntarily without committing to PR agency or restaurant owner. Instead of commercializing their channels, they enjoy the process of tasting food and sharing their experiences with others. They also expressed their support to local food stores. They would rather visit the stores by themselves—if they are worthwhile—and give them more generous comments. One of the informants had a plan to further explore the financial potential of. 27.

(34) generating traffic by creating a website. The others were satisfied with the current status of their Instagram channels, documenting and sharing their daily diet plus attending tasting events occasionally, but given one condition that their blogging about the food connoisseurship is voluntary and they have the entire discretion on what to blog about eventually. As a result, the informants were able to be categorized as free labor in accordance with Kuehn & Corrigan’s definition. However, most of them did not see their effort on the channel a stepping stone in career.. 立. 政治大. 4.3 Food Photography in Foodie’s Way. ‧ 國. 學. Smartphones have been a handy tool for Instagram users to capture moments in their life.. ‧. While two of the informants from the media industry preferred using a photography camera for better quality, most of them simply took out their smartphones from their pockets and took an. y. Nat. er. io. sit. image of the food placed in front of them. Crediting technology, there are mobile applications available for them to edit or fine-tune the pictures. Typically takes them longer to pick an image. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. from the pile than to edit, because they usually take a few pictures for selection. In some. engchi. occasions, the food did not come in the perfect shape, so they had to work out how to present it in the best way. “We prefer to show the actual presentation. However, there are tricks that we do to bring out the best of it, for example, a nice background, rearrang[ing] the plate’s position for a nice flat-lay.” (Informant 5) Informants do not have food studies-related backgrounds nor are they professionally trained in photography; however, they have been learning from their own experience and observing other foodies on social media. They have also developed their 28.

(35) own style in food photography throughout their posts. Flat-lay is one of the most popular image styles on Instagram. Waldron described flay-lay as top shot photography that showcase an object in a nature setting without a distracting background (cited in Manovich 2017) (see Figure 4):. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Figure 4: Flat-lay food image (by Informant 3). al. iv n C h ewith handy as well. While I take pictures h i Uand phone, top-shot picture is the n gmyccamera n. “People on Instagram are quite interested in “flat-lay” pictures. This approach is kind of. easiest way to handle... The pictures can be rich if you manage to place the dishes well, basically you don’t have any other concerns.” (Informant 2). Attractive food images are not only being “liked” on Instagram, but are also changing the way restaurants compete in the market. These days, being capable of cooking delicious food is not enough to win customers and make a restaurant popular, but being photogenic would be helpful. There are plenty of restaurants in Hong Kong that have been devoted in decorating their. 29.

(36) interiors and creating a spot for customers to take stunning pictures and share them on social media. However, audience favored photogenic food has created a disadvantage to “not-goodlooking-food.” Two of the informants expressed it was a shame that people were starting to forget tasty food without gorgeous appearance: “Recently I have read an article talking about people these days have forgotten about “brown food” because it is not eye-catching in the world of Instagram. For example, like red braised pork, it is very tasty to me but it does not look good on picture as it is not colorful and looks oily...There’s a quote…it said ‘Instagram indeed has destroyed our. 政治大. enjoyment of eating.” (Informant 3). 立. It shows that visual attractiveness is a priority to the Instagram audience. Even though. ‧ 國. 學. some of the foodies tried not to be too concerned about the appearance of food, visually. ‧. attractive food has in fact earned more likes. There is also a tendency that the foodies post less attractive food images to the Instagram Stories, which is temporary and will disappear after 24. er. io. sit. y. Nat. hours, so that they can leave the best displays for permanent posts.. From the images provided by the informants with most audience engagement, 64 per cent. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. of the images adopted skills of the production of pornographic gaze suggested by McDonnell. engchi. (2016), with framing, orientation and depth of field as more frequent techniques (Figure 5-7 show examples of food images adopting framing, orientation and depth of field techniques). In Figure 5, Informant 5 was framing a number of cakes instead of only one; however the audience was still able to look at the appearance of the cake without being distracted. It was also interesting to show the cake while it was still undergoing the production process for some behind-the-scenes shots. Informant 4 expressed that sometimes it could be boring to have a picture of a bowl of noodles without seeing the noodles, therefore it was more interesting to. 30.

(37) show the noodles in the picture (see Figure 6). Apart from that, sometimes she also cut open a burger when she was taking pictures of it, trying to give the audience a new point of view and more details visually at the same time with a twisted orientation. It was a cocktail bun (雞尾包) in Figure 7 which is a traditional bun in Hong Kong. One of the reasons Informant 3 thought the image was highly engaged on the channel was that cocktail bun is a part of the collective memory in Hong Kong, so the viewers might get nostalgia for their old days. Nonetheless, the use of depth of field in this image ––clear focus on the bun with a blurred bakery signage at the. 政治大. back––helps the viewers to imagine the scene when they used to buy a bun from a local bakery.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. Figure 5: Framing (taken by Informant 5). i Un. v. Figure 6: Orientation (taken by Informant 1). 31.

(38) Figure 7: Depth of field (taken by Informant 3). 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. ‧. Exotic types of food—consisting of a wide variety of cuisine including Taiwanese desserts and drinks, Japanese pancakes, Vietnamese sandwiches and Mexican Tacos—have. y. Nat. er. io. sit. taken 60 per cent of the selection. However, 24 per cent of the images were not related to food items, but a view of scenery or a restaurant’s storefront. This indicated that followers of a food. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. channel might not be only interested in food posts, but any eye-catching images. One of the. engchi. informants suggested that a reason could be that those images of storefronts have made the viewer imagine themselves as if they went to that location and enjoyed the same scene (see also Appendix C).. 4.4 A Platform to Satisfy Food Craving Social media, as a platform for information exchange, not only allows the users to create a personal profile connecting with familiar networks, but also to manage a public channel to 32.

(39) share content with an audience across the platform. Every informant has an experience of looking up a food or dining locale on Instagram. One of them explained that apart from the luring images uploaded to Instagram, reviews and other informative contents are also available: “When I want to figure out what I want to eat for lunch...(I) generally look at Instagram and just try to get an idea from there...Even before I go to a restaurant, I generally check on Instagram as well to check what they have on menu, ‘cause sometimes you don’t see pictures on their menu, but then I go on Instagram and search by their location and see what looks good or what people say on their captions, if they taste good or how much it is.” (Informant 1). 立. 政治大. Even though the foodies are usually kept on the list of marketers, which they can get. ‧ 國. 學. first-hand information about new menus or restaurants, they see Instagram as a source of. ‧. information for personal daily food consumption or new ideas for dining experience, just like ordinary users do. Instead of solely browsing through foodies’ channels, some viewers. sit. y. Nat. io. er. proactively seek information from them. Most of the informants received comments or direct messages from their followers, especially tourists, asking for opinions or recommendations for. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. their future food journey in Hong Kong. They have been engaging in public network. engchi. participation (Kozinets, Patterson & Ashman, 2017), playing the role of an amateur or semiprofessional to share attention worthy dining experience and information. Since they have produced a fair amount of content on their channels, they have their own particular way to hashtag and categorize the content. For instance, whether it was by invitation or where the restaurant was located, to give their audience a convenient way to seek particular information or to increase visibility to new networks sharing same interest of content. Even though it is difficult to identify how influential a foodie is on Instagram, inviting a group of foodies at once to share. 33.

(40) their experience with a restaurant can generally increase its popularity and attract customers for a period of time. The impact of foodies also depends on the marketing resources of the restaurant since it might be undermined if there are other marketing campaigns launched in the market at the same time.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 34. i Un. v.

(41) 5. Conclusion The results reflect the attitude and perceptions of foodies in Hong Kong. Some of the informants stressed about their personal preference and blogging style, indicating that a profile setup on Instagram is an extension of oneself. They insist on maintaining their own way to select which, how and when to post an image, so that they can have full control of what is coming up on the channel and preserve credibility. Instead of making extra profit from their channel, some of the informants prefer posting voluntarily because they admire good food and will not hesitate. 政治大 foodie on Instagram; thus, they tend to make use of every post for self-introduction. 立. if the food is worthwhile to share. At some level, they are doing self-branding through being a. ‧ 國. 學. Even though foodies on Instagram rarely attended a professional food photography class, they keep on learning and improving. Flat-lay was one of the favorite styles on Instagram, which. ‧. was appreciated by foodies as being easy to manage and rich in content. Audience in favor of. sit. y. Nat. eye-catching food images has drastically changed the marketing tactics of running a restaurant. io. er. business. As a result, many restaurants in Hong Kong are passionate in creating a spot for photo. al. iv n C h e(Kozinets, channel, has become a network of desire i U & Ashman, 2017) where public n g c hPatterson n. capture, for example, a colorful painted wall in the store. Furthermore, Instagram, as a public. network participation takes place. Various levels of amateur foodies open their profile to the public, sharing their dining experience and opinions towards food consumption. They seek information on the platform and at the same time contribute as a source of information, creating an information exchange loop on the platform.. 35.

(42) 5.1 Implications and Limitations The study discussed the attitudes and perceptions of the Hong Kong foodies, which gives a better understanding of Instagram foodies as a popular culture. It poses insights for food and beverage marketers in Hong Kong. For instance, different tactics of communications would be required to recruit foodies who are enthusiastic to try different things and have a strong stance on personal preference. For instance, pitching the ones who love trying different food with young and innovative food brands or stores might have a higher chance to reach the target audience. 政治大. while the ones who present a stronger sense of tone and style might work better with brands that. 立. match their profiles.. ‧ 國. 學. However, this study is limited to a small sample as an exploratory research thus the results are applicable only to the studied subjects without any intention of generalizing to a. ‧. greater population. While discussing with the informants, some identified themselves as food. sit. y. Nat. lovers rather than “professional” Instagrammers because they stressed on the experience with. io. er. food than the outcome of sharing a post. There is a wide variety of Instagram foodies across the. al. iv n C h ebetter size across different levels of foodie for n gobjectivity. c h i U For instance, investigating foodie n. platform with different orientations. Future research is encouraged to expand to a larger sample. perception of their social status and how they influence and affiliate with different social classes. It can also enhance marketer’s knowledge towards influencer marketing with more effective positioning and segmentation.. 36.

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