@Ssclippers, Portsmouth High School’s official Instagram account which has nearly 2,000 followers, is known for being the one of the most informative PHS social media accounts. Yet, the account seems to have a certain, specific influence in what they post that does not account for all of the PHS’s School community.

The account is run by multiple PHS students. Additionally, Richard Hugener, a Science teacher at PHS, and Joe DeNuzzio, a physical education teacher, are the adult advisors for the account. 

Over the course of my four years at PHS, there have been many cases where bias was prevalent in what the account posts on their page and on their stories. I absolutely believe there should be more regulation in what is posted on the social media account, as well as how much, and if the account is being equitable to all Portsmouth High School resources. 

Over the last 50 posts @ssclippers posted, 37 were sports related events. That is 74% of the last 50 posts. Within those 37 posts, 51% of it was lacrosse related, Baseball accounted for 35% of the posts, while tennis accounted for 5% of the posts each, and softball, track, and  volleyball accounting for 3% of the posts each. It is important to note that volleyball is not even in season for girls at this time, and the post was made about a singular volleyball commit. 

Clubs, events, and other information fall at 26% of the last 50 posts, which included the gun violence walk-out, important information about student government, invitation to the Fine Arts Night, invitation to the Senior Cabaret, showing for the school spring musical, Math team, Student Government, and a brief congratulations to Eco Club when they visited UNH to present a project for the UNH Sustainability Institute’s Changemaker Challenge. 

Earlier this year, when asked to re-post about upcoming swim meets, or results from previous swim meets from the swim team account (@portsmouthswimteam), messages were often left neglected or unread, while multiple posts were accounted for from the instagram pages of Portsmouth High School Lacrosse, Baseball, Field Hockey, and others. 

Eco-club, a High School Environmentalism club that is widely popular throughout all grades, having one of the largest groups members of any club at PHS, had multiple events and announcements throughout the past year. Yet, even their content was not posted nearly as much as sporting events, and individual sport recognition. Eco Club promotes community wide events such as the Spring Market, or Winter Fest from this past year. Having @ssclippers be able to post that is critical in getting more audience attention to these issues.

The Model organization at Portsmouth High School were denied to be posted about their  fundraiser by @ssclippers, who claimed that club fundraisers are not allowed to be posted on the instagram account.

While questioning bias within @ssclippers, it is also important to look at how the account is run, and what the function or system of posting content is. Is the bias originating from account managers themselves, or is simply student managers feeling overwhelmed? 

If the Instagram account is focused on Portsmouth’s dominant sports such as Lacrosse, Baseball, and Field Hockey over Swimming and Diving, Mountain Biking, Ice Hockey, and important club information, are the students running the account just posting or re-porting what they like or are affiliated with the most?

I understand that this is a huge responsibility for the teachers and students running the account; it is almost like a full-time job to post everything that is happening with the high school community. 

New policies, such as scheduled posts, and allowing certain clubs to have access to the account (with limitations as well) could help the account receive information equally from all PHS clubs and teams. Similarly to how a newspaper needs balance, perhaps there should be a balance of posts and stories in @ssclippers.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ High School, a co-educational catholic high school located in Dover, New Hampshire, Instagram account (@stalux) posts were filled with more school events, with athletics and sports highlighting only about 11 of their last 50 posts. The 39 other posts include senior college acceptances, community involvement, club recognition, student academic achievement awards, fun events like spirit week and prom, and graduation preparation. To an outsider, this account exemplifies true St. Thomas spirit and community through their variety of posts.

The PHS @ssclippers Instagram account should be posting a multitude of different clubs, sports, and events to make sure the PHS community is well represented on social media.