Communicating craft: Builders on Instagram

This article presents an exploratory study of the communication practices of professional tradespeople on Instagram, a topic that has received little scholarly attention so far. The research is based on mediatization theory and maps the communicative practices of “ordinary” Danish carpenters and woodworkers in the building industry through an emergent coding scheme quantitative content analysis. The study analyzes the content that these tradespeople share as well as the textual characteristics of their posts and the engagement they receive from their audience. The findings indicate that both groups primarily use Instagram for marketing and promoting their work, showcasing images of ongoing or completed projects. While woodworkers receive more engagement than carpenters in terms of likes and comments, overall interaction from the audience is relatively low. The study also explores other types of communication, such as professional discussions, personal reflections, and engagement with societal/political issues, which are limited in both groups. This baseline study contributes to our understanding of the mediatization of craft as reflected in the communication practices of tradespeople on Instagram. Further research is needed to explore the motivations and experiences of tradespeople on social media platforms in more depth.