How to cite an Instagram post or reel (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard)

When to use this format

Use this format for a single public Instagram post, photograph, carousel, or reel that carries your evidence. The account display name and handle both matter because display names change while the handle identifies the account. Keep the caption close to the original, including hashtags and capitalisation, because the caption usually acts as the title.

Do not cite the whole profile when one post is your source, and do not cite a private post your reader cannot access unless your assignment allows personal communication. If the post may be deleted, save an archived copy and an access date, because social posts are routinely edited or removed after publication.

What you need before you start

Collect these details from the Instagram post itself, not from a search result or a reposted copy. Getting the fields right once makes every style format below fall into place.

• Account display name and handle.
• Date the post was published.
• The first part of the caption used as the title, or a short description if there is no caption.
• A format label such as [Photograph], [Carousel], or [Video].
• Instagram as the platform.
• The direct post URL and, for most styles, an access date.

Worked examples in four styles

The same facts appear in every style, but they move around and change punctuation. Match the reference-list entry and the in-text citation to the style your assignment requires.

NASA [@nasa]. (2024, October 14). A new view of the Pillars of Creation from Webb [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/...

NASA [@nasa]. "A new view of the Pillars of Creation from Webb." Instagram, 14 Oct. 2024, www.instagram.com/p/...

NASA (@nasa). 2024. “A new view of the Pillars of Creation from Webb.” Instagram photograph, October 14, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/...

NASA [@nasa] (2024) A new view of the Pillars of Creation from Webb [Instagram]. 14 October. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/ (Accessed: 15 January 2026).

Judgement calls and edge cases

Reels and carousels need a clear format label so the reader knows what they are looking for. A reel is closer to a short video; a carousel is several images under one caption. If your evidence is one slide of a carousel, say which slide in your prose, because the URL points to the whole post and a marker should not have to guess which image you mean.

Captions can be very long or completely absent. When a caption runs to several paragraphs, use the first meaningful phrase as the title and let your prose carry the rest. When there is no caption at all, write a short factual description in place of a title, in square brackets where your style expects it, so the entry still names what the post shows.

Instagram posts disappear, get edited, and move behind privacy walls, so an access date and, ideally, an archived copy are not optional extras for a high-stakes citation. If you are building an argument on a public statement that the account might later delete, archive the post and cite the archived URL alongside the original so your evidence survives.

Watch the difference between the account and the credited creator. A magazine or museum account may post a photograph someone else made, and a brand account may repost a creator's reel. The account that published the post is the author for retrieval purposes, but if the image or video credits a separate photographer, designer, or original creator, name them in your prose so authorship is honest even when the citation entry leads with the posting account. This matters most when the visual itself, rather than the account's commentary, is your evidence.

Common mistakes

• Citing the profile instead of the specific post.
• Dropping the handle and leaving only a display name that can change.
• Rewriting the caption into a cleaner title.
• Citing a screenshot with no URL or archived copy.
• Forgetting the access date for a post that may be deleted.