Comparing TikTok and Instagram’s sociotechnical environments for cultural production

This project comparatively analyzes how TikTok and Instagram shape the conditions for cultural production through their platform-specific configurations of governance, public positioning, and design. Employing a multimethod approach that combines qualitative discourse analysis of platform communications and a systematic walkthrough of app interfaces and features, the study identifies four key themes—authenticity, creativity, community, and discovery—central to understanding the differences between the two platforms. The findings reveal that TikTok and Instagram construct and operationalize these themes in distinct ways, creating conditions that foster distinct cultures of creative production. The study proposes a novel framework for comparative platform analysis that integrates sociotechnical profiling and thematic analysis. This framework is useful for both comparative platform studies and research examining how platform-level forces may shape the characteristics of on-platform cultural production.