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Instagram

Tech

Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into the Social Media Lives of Teens

A primer on how the smartphone generation is redefining communication.

Mary H.K. Choi Wired Aug 2016 20min Permalink

Sex Media

The Sexfluencers

Platforms like OnlyFans mean people with big followings online can earn money. Where does that leave the sex workers who were there first?

Rebecca Jennings Vox Nov 2021 25min Permalink

Puerto Rico's Loudest Whisper Network

An Instagram account called Yo Te Creo started naming alleged abusers in Puerto Rico. Did it go too far?

Andrea González-Ramírez The Cut Nov 2021 20min Permalink

Health

Brazilian Butt Lift: Behind the World's Most Dangerous Cosmetic Surgery

The BBL is the fastest growing cosmetic surgery in the world, despite the mounting number of deaths resulting from the procedure. What is driving its astonishing rise?

Sophie Elmhirst Guardian Feb 2021 25min Permalink

Crime Health

Your Body, Your Self, Your Surgeon, His Instagram

An internet-famous plastic surgeon faces hard questions, and a lawsuit, after building his brand on his patients’ bodies.

Katherine Laidlaw Wired Jan 2021 Permalink

Tech

The Risk Makers

Inside the tech industry’s decades-long failure to reckon with risk.

Catherine Buni, Soraya Chemaly One Zero Sep 2020 35min Permalink

Media

Motherhood Through The Looking 'Gram

The cost of parents sharing their lives on Instagram.

Molly Langmuir Elle May 2020 20min Permalink

Tech

My Instagram

We all die immediately of a Brazilian butt lift.

Dayna Tortorici n+1 Jan 2020 30min Permalink

Media Travel

This Maine Fish House is an Icon. But of What, Exactly?

The story behind an Instagram sensation is the story of a changing coastal Maine.

Brian Kevin Down East Dec 2019 20min Permalink

Crime

How to Sell Drugs and Influence Everyone on Instagram

The true tale of a bodybuilder turned social media influencer who built an illicit empire.

John H. Tucker Boston Magazine Oct 2019 25min Permalink

Media

Who Would I Be Without Instagram?

Tavi Gevinson talks.

Tavi Gevinson The Cut Sep 2019 30min Permalink

Best Article Media

I Was Caroline Calloway

A Instagram-caption ghostwriter speaks.

Natalie Beach The Cut Sep 2019 40min Permalink

Media

Who Was Lil Tay

The making, and marketing, of a 9-year-old meme machine.

Lauren Levy New York Jan 2019 25min Permalink

Media

My Love-Hate Relationship With Instagram

A profile of an influencer.

Sophie Elmhirst The Economist 1843 Dec 2018 20min Permalink

Tech

Instagram Has a Massive Harassment Problem

Rethinking “the internet’s kindest place.”

Taylor Lorenz The Atlantic Oct 2018 25min Permalink

Media

I Drove Myself Nuts Trying to Unravel the Mystery of Seemingly Unparented 9-Year-Old Instagram Shit-Talker Lil Tay

Who is this person?

Anna Merlan Jezebel May 2018 10min Permalink

World

Venezuela’s Most-Wanted Rebel Shared His Story, Just Before Death

A Venezuelan cop who had previously starred in an action movie stole a helicopter and fired on the Supreme Court. He became a rebel folk hero, moving amongst safe houses with a small band of followers, until he was killed in a shoot-out that he broadcast live on Instagram.

Nicholas Casey New York Times Jan 2018 10min Permalink

Business

The Strange Brands In Your Instagram Feed

A new kind of late capitalism.

Alexis C. Madrigal The Atlantic Jan 2018 10min Permalink

Tech Travel

#Vanlife, the Bohemian Social-Media Movement

How life on four wheels became a brand.

Read more

Monroe is a Longform contributing editor.

Rachel Monroe New Yorker Apr 2017 20min Permalink

Arts

Amalia Ulman Is the First Great Instagram Artist

She has convinced her followers she is a pretty-in-pink naïf, an escort, an unhinged ex, an office drone, and, most recently, an expectant mother. None of it is real.

Molly Langmuir Elle Oct 2016 15min Permalink

Tech

What It's Like to Be 13, Right Now

“She scrolls, she waits. For that little notification box to appear.”

Jessica Contrera Washington Post May 2016 Permalink

Media

Access Denied

Famous people and the media have always needed each other. It has been a long, mutually beneficial (and mutually profitable) partnership. And it’s over.

John Herrman The Awl Dec 2015 25min Permalink

Business Media

American Woman

The life of Kim Kardashian.

Vanessa Grigoriadis Rolling Stone Jul 2015 20min Permalink

Tech Media

Sexts, Hugs, and Rock 'N' Roll

Hanging out with a new celebrity class: the teen kings and queens of social media.

Ellen Cushing Buzzfeed Jul 2015 30min Permalink

Science Tech

Instagram’s Most Famous Mules

On the man who has turned the grunt work of packing into a social media phenomenon.

Carolyn Kormann New Yorker Jun 2015 10min Permalink

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