Social networks currently take a substantial part of people’s lives and are integrated into all spheres of it: leisure, work, hobbies, and communication. Indeed, humans use online platforms for various purposes: they keep in contact with friends, relatives, and ex-classmates; unite in groups by interests, work and earn money, and educate themselves. Without online media services, it would be hard to imagine modern life. Instagram is one of the most used services on the Internet, and since the first day of implementation, it attracted an extensive number of followers. The history of Instagram is young but attractive due to its simple and smart application structure created by Kevin Systrom, a Stanford University graduate.
The application was representing an idea of photo-sharing social media from the beginning. The creator wanted to develop easy access to phone-made photos of people’s friends and family members. Before Instagram, however, there was another application made by Kevin Systrom, Burbn, that was inspired by the taste of the creator towards fine whisky and bourbons (Brezinova, 2021). The Burbn was an application where people could share pictures, tag locations they had visited, and post their plans for the day. Even though the Burbn found its users, Kevin was not a professional program maker, and the application still needed improvements. The deciding point for one of the most popular social networks was at the time when Kevin Systrom met his future partner, Mike Krieger. After two young creating men united their capacities, they decided to focus on one major feature identifying their application which was a mobile-created photo.
Partners studied thoroughly all the available phone services in the area of the mobile photo. They both identifies that a well-known application Hipstamatic was attractively structured; however, lacked features of social media. Systrom and Krieger decided to develop an app uniting Hipstamatic and a social media service to create a better product allowing people to communicate. The name of a currently popular application was made by uniting two words “instant” and “telegram”. Instagram was primarily a simple and easy to use application requiring minimum effort from the user. Such strategy indeed helped attract humans faster as simplicity is what people needed after a long working day striving with various stress factors (Acht, 2020). Instagram became a special social network for people where they could easily communicate, share photos, comment, express their reaction to pictures, and relax during its usage.
The development of the application took the partners only eight weeks, and afterward, they showed the outcome to their friends asking to identify errors in the software and possible issues to work on. Later, in October 2010, the product was ready for purchase, and after the first day on the market gathered 25,000 users. The outcomes of the application start-up were overwhelming, and it is claimed to be one of the most rapid raisings among all the social media services. With the increase of application’s popularity, the number of interested investors also raised. Several companies proposed tempting offers to Systrom and Krieger; however, they refused and preferred to keep the company of a small size. In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for approximately $1.000 billion in cash and stock value, and the popularity of Instagram keeps raising daily. Nowadays, the application has developed significantly since 2010.
Instagram has added videos upload of various lengths, stories that a short daily video existing for 24 hours, direct messages that are private between the users, and reel’s functions that are like TikTok format of videos. Staying up to date and implementing constant changes help Instagram stay a widespread product that people use for entertainment, hobbies, work, and education (McCrow-Young, 2021). Vast Instagram services unite all the possible activities for individuals in one application which is convenient, simple, and easily accessible.
Users of Instagram count millions of people currently; however, the most active and prevalent users are teenagers and young adults. The study by Huang and Su (2018) proved more than 70% of the users are people of 12 to 24 years old. As stated before, the aim of Instagram use varies widely depending on the person. Some users build a business on this platform, some people entertain themselves, and some learn or communicate with others. However, judging the age, many other factors should be considered allowing adolescents of all age periods to use Instagram. It is essential to comprehend that the psychological state of young adults is more flexible and unstable, and within constant Instagram use, they might develop deviated perceptions about various aspects of life, for instance, finance, friendship, human values (Wilkinson, 2018). Some predisposed or fragile characters teenagers and adults can develop depression because of constantly looking at pictures of positive, successful people.
Indeed, humans rarely share their bad moods and failures on social media as they want to share achievements and their strong sides. Due to that, all social media users need to understand the specialties of online platform use. With that knowledge, it is easier to fight depression symptoms, focus on the life of self but not others, and do not let Instagram or other applications control the mood (Frison & Eggermont, 2017). Still, all the identified impacts are relevant to any social service, and the majority of them cause depression, addiction, and procrastination depending on the user.
From my experience, Instagram appeared in my life since 2014. I remember the first expression from the media – I was disappointed by the structure of it as I heard many satisfied reviews from other users. The simplicity of the application did not reflect in my heart, but I quickly got used to the structure and work specialties. I am an active user of Instagram now and create personal content from time to time. It is not an expert content; I do not sell any goods. I share my life photos, communicate with friends, and prefer to have a closed account so that only your followers see your posts.
For me, it is an important issue due to which I would have become a passive user. Instagram creates a habit of using it, and I think every user should be concerned with that. Addiction and the absence of time control can lead to failure in any sphere of life. However, I mostly use this platform in the evenings after tiring working days. To be honest, it is pleasant to be a part of Instagram social media because Instagram has been developing its strategies and proposed services in an ongoing regime. This performance enhances the perceptions of users and makes them more loyal to the application because it united all the necessary functions in one place. To make Instagram usage the most efficient, it is essential to set up time limits for its use, identify why you use it, and what it gives you. Then social networks will bring necessity and help instead of stress, depression, and addiction.
References
Acht, A. (2020). Exploring Associations between different Instagram user types and the perception of stress. Doctoral dissertation, University of Applied Sciences.
Brezinova, D. (2021). Instagram channel development case study visit Espoo. Degree Programme in International Tourist Development.
Frison, E., & Eggermont, S. (2017). Browsing, posting and liking on Instagram: The reciprocal relationships between different types of Instagram use and adolescents’ depressed mood. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(10), 603-609. Web.
Huang, Y. T., & Su, S. F. (2018). Motives for Instagram use and topics of interest among young adults. Future Internet, 10(8), 77. Web.
McCrow-Young, A. (2021). Instagram: Visual social media cultures. New Media and Society, 23(9), 2854-2856. Web.
Wilkinson, J. (2018). Accessible, dynamic web content using Instagram. Information Technology and Libraries, 37(1), 19-26. Web.