InstaClone

Part of the Reboot Social Media Lab
While social media offers great opportunities for information gathering and networking on a global scale, it also has alarming effects on health and well-being, especially amongst teenagers. To counter these trends, the project team develops a tool called InstaClone that mimics the functionality and appearance of Instagram but is fully controllable. The clone aims at helping both students and teachers understand the mechanisms behind the social media feed, increasing digital and algorithmic literacy skills.

Developing a lifelike social media education tool

InstaClone is a fully controllable lifelike social media tool developed to tackle the negative implications of social media usage by providing students with digital and algorithmic literacy skills. Doris Holzberger, Tilman Michaeli, and Jürgen Pfeffer, together with Anna Hartl, Angelina Mooseder, and Elena Starke, designed the tool, serving educational and scientific purposes.

Topics, activities & formats

InstaClone is embedded in learning and teaching research and is compatible with computer science teaching at the secondary level. Teacher and student workshops ensure that InstaClone meets the needs of its target groups and is easily useable. The tool will be freely available to teachers and can be used without further IT experience.