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 The SAGE Encyclopedia of
Economics and Society
Instagram

Contributors: Inês Amaral

Edited by: Frederick F. Wherry & Juliet B. Schor
Book Title: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society
Chapter Title: "Instagram"
Pub. Date: 2015
Access Date: May 18, 2016
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks,
Print ISBN: 9781452226439
Online ISBN: 9781452206905
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452206905.n373
Print pages: 943-944
©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the
pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.
SAGE SAGE Reference
Contact SAGE Publications at http://www.sagepub.com.[Page iv]

Instagram is a location-based social network mobile application for sharing photos and
videos. This service allows users to apply digital filters and share their photos and
videos on other social networks and social media platforms. The service was founded
by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in San Francisco, California, and officially launched
exclusively for the iPhone on October 6, 2010. The original name of the application was
Burbn, which aimed to combine several characteristics of popular social media
services like Foursquare. When Krieger joined the project, the two programmers
decided to focus exclusively on photo sharing.

Instagram is a combination of “instant camera” and “telegram.” Systrom and Krieger

wanted to relive the nostalgia of snapshots popularized by Polaroid and Kodak
Instamatic, in a digital format. The photos uploaded to the mobile application are
converted to a square shape, different from the 4:3 aspect ratio used by mobile device
cameras. In addition to this distinctive feature, users can apply different manipulation
tools to alter images. Instagram offers 20 filters that transform the lighting and tone of
the photographs.

Users can follow other users’ feeds, “like” and comment on images, and connect their
Instagram account to other social networking sites and share photos. Instagram has an
embedded feature that is location based, which enables users to add geo-located data
to their content. Adding geographical identification metadata on Instagram attaches
economic and social value to the content because it makes it more searchable. In
January 2011, the service added hashtags as a new feature, following the trend of
Twitter. Instagram encourages users to use specific and relevant tags in order to
discover photos and other users on the platform. Hashtags also contributed to the
creation of several communities of interest, and to the large-scale dissemination of
photographs. Web profiles were created in 2012, allowing users to use their account
like a social network Web site. Instagram has gone from a location-based social photo-
sharing application to a location-based social network application. In June 2013,
Instagram added a new feature for sharing 15-second videos. In August 2014,
Instagram released Hyperlapse. This new application enables users to create time-
lapse videos.

The platform reached 1 million users in December 2010. In June 2011, Instagram’s
users were already 5 million, and that number doubled in September of that year. The
company revealed that 150 million photographs had been uploaded to its service as of
August 2011. Facebook acquired the service in April 2012 and announced that more
than 30 million accounts have been set up on Instagram. In the summer of 2014, the
statistics of the platform revealed 200 million active users (65 percent from outside the
United States), 20 billion photos shared, 1.6 billion “likes” per day, and an average of
60 million photos uploaded daily. The statistics also show that 68 percent of
Instagram’s users are women and that the accounts are equally divided, with 50-
percent iPhone owners and 50-percent Android owners.

Instagram updated its terms of service on December 17, 2012, and granted itself the
right to sell user’s photos without any notification or compensation. Instagram was
prompted to issue a statement retracting the controversial terms by millions of users,
among them the National Geographic Society. Following the announcement, users
switched to other photo-sharing services, like Pheed and Flickr. Consequently,
Instagram has changed its terms of use, correcting the issue of authorship and

Page 1 of 3 The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society

SAGE SAGE Reference
Contact SAGE Publications at http://www.sagepub.com.[Page iv]
ownership of photographs.

Content contribution and collaboration by the members is critical to the viability of

Instagram. Several studies argue that users’ motivations to cocreate can be individual
and related to the network structure. Users who are structurally embedded have a high
number of ties to others in a network and are likely to have a greater level of sharing.
Commitment, self-development, and reputation are individual motivations correlated to
photo sharing.

The economics of sharing photos is based on the collective intelligence of consumers

and the idea that the consumer is a cocreator of value, an active agent and a resource.
Instagram promotes mass collaboration through user-generated content. As cocreation
is a social process based on collaboration and interaction between people, sharing
photos involves users in the creation of value through thematic communities and
network ties.

Companies use Instagram not only to encourage users to share photos but also to
create engagement with brands, generate traffic to Web sites, establish a visual image
for products and services, index content via hashtags, create interactive campaigns
with hashtags, and promote competition. The MTV television channel uses Instagram to
present the backstage of its programs. Nike uses Instagram to show pictures of people
exercising with its brand products. The profile of Starbucks publishes pictures tagged
by fans through hashtags.

Politicians use Instagram to reach out to voters in a more personal way through photos
and videos. President Barack Obama has 4 million followers and a “Thank you” photo
on election night with 294 thousand likes. Many celebrities share photos and videos of
their personal and professional lives with fans. The media use Instagram to promote
closer ties with their audiences and to disseminate visual content. Photographers,
anonymous citizens, and civic organizations also use Instagram to publicize photos,
communicate with friends, and promote causes. Gramforacause and Gramming for
Good are startups that use Instagram to connect photographers with nonprofits and
help spread social and environmental causes through photography.

In some countries, Instagram is already showing ads in the feeds of users. The
advertising on the platform will be gradual and will present sponsored publications.

See alsoFacebook; User-Produced Content

Inês Amaral
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452206905.n373
10.4135/9781452206905.n373
Further Readings
Al-Bahrani, Abdullah A. and Darshak Patel. “Incorporating Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook in Economics Classrooms.” Journal of Economic Education, v.66/1 (June 1,
2014). http://ssrn.com/abstract=2483255 (Accessed August 2014).
Bernstein, Harry. “Photographers on Instagram” (April 24, 2012).
http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-04-23/photographers-on-
instagram#slide7 (Accessed August 2014).
Hochman, Nadav and Lev Manovich. “Zooming Into an Instagram City: Reading the
Local Through Social Media.” First Monday, v.18/7 (2013).
Wasko, Molly McLure and Samer Faraj. “Why Should I Share? Examining Social

Page 2 of 3 The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society

 SAGE SAGE Reference
Contact SAGE Publications at http://www.sagepub.com.[Page iv]
Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice.” MIS Quarterly,
v.29/1 (2005).
Zwass, Vladimir. “Co-Creation: Toward a Taxonomy and an Integrated Research
Perspective.” International Journal of Electronic Commerce, v.15/1 (2010).

Page 3 of 3 The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society

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