Strategic visibility in precarious times: Ethnoreligious content creators and algorithmic navigation on Instagram

Abstract

Content creators do not navigate social media through static decision-making; rather, their strategies respond to offline sociopolitical events that reshape their algorithmic environments. Ethnoreligious content creators navigate these precarious realms with particular care, strategically seeking visibility while protecting themselves from hate and harassment. This study situates Jewish content creators within the post–7 October 2023 social media landscape to examine how their sociopolitical communicative and identity-labor choices evolved during a time of community crisis. Drawing on 15 in-depth interviews with Jewish Instagram creators, this study employs qualitative thematic analysis to identify three interconnected transformations: shifting perceptions of social media as a space of increasingly tolerated prejudice; a hindered ability to reach and communicate with non-Jewish affective publics; and a rethinking of algorithmic visibility tactics—moving from individualistic optimization toward collective solidarity and community defense. These findings illuminate how offline sociopolitical crises reshape ethnoreligious identity labor, algorithmic imaginaries, and community solidarity within social media ecosystems.