I think Instagram is great for discovering artists I like. It's extremely quick, has clean interface and and just one quick glance at their Instagram page tells me immediately if I like their style or not.

I just wish it wasn't owned by Facebook now.

Googling is great for finding answers to complex questions but not so much for discovering visual stuff I like. So many times I find a piece of art I like only to conclude it was just an exception when I visit artist's blog. Or their blog is swamped with ads, or too complex to navigate, etc. It takes a lot of time and effort with very little payback.

There is also the question of language barrier. If I am googling, it's in English. I can't discover artists speaking other languages. Recently I discovered a Korean artist on Instagram whose style I adore. After a while I decided I like her work so much that I visited her blog to see progress pics even though I can't understand anything.

I even use automatic translator on her blog now when I'm interested in more details.

Because I like her work amount of effort I am willing to spend on her work increased. But it had to start as low-effort activity because there are so many artists and only a small percentage are going to be relevant to my tastes.

Without social media I would have never found her. Google doesn't return results in Korean to me since I don't speak it.