The Poachers of Instagram – Tattoo Artists in Poland and Their Tactics in Social Media

The rise of social media has had a huge impact on the body modification services market. This study aims to reflect on the transformation of the tattoo community, giving voice to tattoo artists themselves in order to reveal their practices within the digital spaces they operate in, and on this basis, to undertake a broader reflection on users’ expectations towards social media in their current form and in the future. In order to achieve this premise, a grounded theory methodology was applied. The results of the study suggest that forms of resistance to platform hegemony, such as alternative social media, would not necessarily address the real needs of tattoo artists and their clients. Tattoo artists, by inventing various tactics of poaching in the polymedia environment, can reap unexpected benefits from the aspects of the platforms that are often perceived as limiting and potentially harmful  – such as content selection algorithms.