In today’s world, us millennials revolve around our cell phones and the digital world. And within that digital world, we are addicted to social media. One of those social media platforms being Instagram, something I personally have been using since my freshman year of high school.
A lot has changed with Instagram over the years including new designs, features, layouts and more. According to business.com, millennials are using Instagram more than any other platform. Recent research shows that 60 percent of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 18 and 29, with 42 percent of those users visiting the site at least once per day [1]. Although this social media app has a reputation of being somewhat “basic”, people are still obsessing over it. On Instagram people share a variety of different photos, whether it be of food, clothes, vacations, selfies, and more. Being able to follow and connect with your favorite movie star, or singer, as well as following that girl you met at camp last year.
Instagram is a great way to stay connected to people. The platform has noticeably fleshed out in the last year, introducing a “more immersive” shopping experience, direct messaging, live video, albums (multiple images per post) and “stories” (public-facing temporary feeds) [2]. All these new features have continued to draw millennials in. However, Instagram is owned by Facebook, and Facebook is trying to take over Snapchat. One of the ways Facebook is attempting to do this is by replicating Snapchat stories. By adopting all of Snapchat’s features in different parts of its empire, Facebook and Instagram could slow Snapchat’s growth [3]. In my own experience, I use both Snapchat and Instagram, but in different ways. When comparing Instagram and Snapchat stories, I think of them as formal and informal. I would categorize Instagram stories as more formal, meaning the photos and videos being posted are more put together or edited. Compared to Snapchat stories being more informal. By this I mean when posting on snapchat stories you don’t really put any thought into what your posting. For example, I wouldn’t post a funny selfie of me and my friends on Instagram, but I would on my Snapchat.
Looking into the future, I can see Instagram only improving, and gaining new features that other apps can offer but Instagram will make unique and their own. Millennials will continue to use this app as well as other social networking apps in many ways we have not discovered before.
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