Show me a story: narrative, image, and audience engagement on sports network Instagram accounts

Social media is a growing space for interpersonal and masspersonal communication, and the shared image that often accompanies these messages has become a factor in increasing audience engagement. This study seeks to understand what types of images generate more engagement from social media audiences. A group of communication scholars argue that narrative is the most basic form of human communication and therefore messages with strong narrative themes more easily connect the message from the communicator to the audience. This study performed a content analysis of nearly 2000 images shared by Sports Networks on Instagram. Operating under Kress and van Leeuwen’s (Kress, G. R., & van Leeuwen, L. T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge) methodology for determining a narrative in an image, the study found that images that contained narrative or metacommunicative messages (Bateson, G. (1951). Information and codification: A philosophical approach. Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry, 168–211) resulted in greater interest and engagement by audiences through the manifestation of likes and comments. The study offers a methodology for organizations seeking greater engagement from social media audiences.