Is Snapchat Just as Addictive?

SOURCE: Cooking Channel

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices.”
My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How does the social media site Instagram influence users to buy specific products?” 

The article published in LiveMint titled “Why is Snapchat so addictive?” demonstrates this economic principle by showing how the social media site Snapchat hooks users into using their app.

According to the article, snapchat may be the best form of communication for the new generation today, mostly because of its”brevity”. Because of the decreased attention spans amoung youth, the way snapchat is structered allows people to communicate quickly while still being entertained. J.J. Delacruz, a graduate student at Texas Tech University in the US, stated that, “People use Snapchat a lot because of its entertainment and functional needs." Another reason why snapchat’s “brevity” is appealing is because since the content disappears quickly, users are able to share their lives and “do not feel the pressure to present themselves in any extraordinary form—they can just be their normal, real self.” 

Speaking from my experience, I would have to agree with the information that I gathered above. Snapchat for me is my main form of communication with my friends. It’s quick, it’s more entertaining than texts, and it helps that most people now a days are on snapchat over any other social media anyways. Another thing that I think hooks people is being able to share and watch snapchat stories, which are quick, one minute videos or pictures that just show a glimpse of a moment that you have experienced. Again, I think because it’s only a quick snapshot and it does disappear after 24 hours, people stay entertained with it and don’t lose focus.

In my next blog post I will summarize my findings.

Summary

SOURCE: IntelligentHQ

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices.”
My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How does the social media site instagram influence users to buy specific products?”

In my last 5 blog posts, I learned a lot about this topic. I learned how instagram uses ads to promote products, how they use celebrity endorsements, and how people like to stay on instagram to feel “in the loop” and connected to their friends.

In my first blog post, I learned how Instagram tailors their ads specifically to each user. According to the article in business.com, instagram targets its ads based on certain traits which include gender, age group, and interests. Additionally, since Instagram is owned by facebook, if you have a facebook and link it to your instagram, it will have more information on your likes and dislikes.

In my second blog post, I learned that instagram tries to tailor their ads to not only the specific person, but the younger generation in general because they are the highest users of instagram. In order to tailer to youth, they get celebrities to endorse products using their platform.

In my third blog post, I learned why instagram is so addictive to people. According to an article published in Business Insider titled “The Psychology of Why Instagram is so Addictive”, Baer states that “capturing images has been habit-forming for over a century”, and it stems from the anxiety that “if we don’t capture this moment it will disappear forever”.

In my last blog post, I explored Snapchat, and why it is also one of the leading forms of social media. I learned from J.J. Delacruz, a graduate student at Texas Tech University in the US, that “People use Snapchat a lot because of its entertainment and functional needs."

In conclusion, I learned a lot about social media, specifically Instagram, and how it is so successful.

Why Do We Love Instagram So Much?

SOURCE: business insider

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices.”  
My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How does the social media site Instagram influence users to buy specific products?” 

The article published in Business Insider titled “The Psychology of Why Instagram is so Addictive” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that the way Instagram is structured makes people stay on the app for longer.

First, the author, Drake Baer, talks about the culture of taking pictures, and why people feel the need to capture every moment that they think is “instagram worthy”. Baer states that “capturing images has been habit-forming for over a century”, and it stems from the anxiety that “if we don’t capture this moment it will disappear forever”. I have felt this myself, especially when on vacation or when I go to a special event or celebrate a birthday. I feel like if I don’t capture the moment, I will have nothing to remember and look back on in the future. When it comes to Instagram, I feel like I have to post something, whether it be on my story or an actual post, just so people know what i’m doing and so that I will stay in that “relevant media” circle. As Baer says, the “fear of missing out” drives people to post on Instagram, and scroll through their feed to see what others are doing as well.

Second, Baer states that the “immediate reward” of posting a picture and getting likes on it induces the endorphin “dopamine” in the brain that makes us feel happy and pleased. In turn, it makes users want to keep checking their post to see how many people liked it after an hour, or two hours, etc. This keeps the cycle of Instagram running; post, get likes, scroll, post, get likes, scroll, and it keeps on going. From personal experience, I check my Instagram the most often right after I post a picture because I continue to refresh the page to check how many likes I have gotten. It is honestly unhealthy when you think about it; it promotes the idea that we need validation in order to be happy with ourselves and our lifestyle.

Additionally, I would like to add my own theory to what keeps people on Instagram for longer, which is the explore page. The explore page on Instagram is filled with content from different comedians, makeup artists, fashion bloggers, travelers, etc. Each page is tailored to what the Instagram user likes, and it puts videos that would keep the user hooked. I know me and my friends can stay on the Instagram explore page for hours watching minute long comedy clips that we find entertaining. I think this was 100% invented so that people would stay on Instagram for the most amount of time they can. 

In my next blog post I will research the question: How does the social media site Snapchat hook users into using their app?

How Instagram Uses Celebrity Endorsements

SOURCE: Smart Insights

The economic principle I’m exploring is institutions are the “rules of the game” that influence choices. 

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How does the social media site Instagram influence its users to buy specific products?” 

The article published in investopedia.com titled “How Instagram Makes Money” written by Ellen Smith demonstrates this economic principle by showing why Instagram gains its main income from advertisments and how it uses celebrities to endorse products.

First, Smith writes about why Instagram is the leading social media site and how it gains all of its revenue. Of course, as we established from last blog post, Instagram gains almost all of its revenue from advertisements. Instagram has a feature that “...allows advertisers to show slideshows and link to sites outside Instagram.”. This feature is called carousel ads which “bring the potential of multi-page print campaigns to mobile phones – with the added benefit of taking people to a website to learn more,” according to Instagram’s business blog. This easy feature allows for brands that are “easily recognizable”, like Nike, to campaign for their products on yet another platform.

Secondly, Smith talks about the “growth of mobile”. Basically what this means is that the use of social media is at an all time high because most people have iphones, or some type of cellular device that keeps them connected to the online world. However, most people that are on social media are in the younger generations. Knowing this, companies try to tailor their ads to a younger audience, which brings us to the point of celebrity endorsement. Being an avid user of instagram myself, I have seen a handful of celebrities promoting products. It ranges from skin care, to waist trainers, to hair vitamins. According to pncdigital.com, celebrity endorsements are used because “Their face, names and even look alikes have millions of people following them blindly”, which in turn makes the people following them want to buy the product. I think this is an effective tactic because it has worked on me before. I have have bought makeup from the brand Glossier because a lot of the social media influencers I follow were promoting it. So clearly, this tactic works, and it’s why so many companies have been using instagram to advertise their brands.

In my next blog post, I will be researching the question, “How does instagram purposefully use tactics that makes people stay on the app for longer?”

Instagram and Its Powerful Influence Through Ads

SOURCE: AdvertiseMint

The economic principle I´m exploring is Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices. 

My research question to help me study this economic principle is ¨How does the social media site Instagram influence users to buy specific products?¨. 

The article published in business.com titled, ¨Is Advertising on Instagram Worth it?¨ demonstrates this economic principle by showing exactly how Instagram uses advertising to influence users to buy the products featured, and how they determine their target audience.

First, the author of the article, Hsiao, writes about how ads on Instagram work. She explains that images that show up on your feed will be labeled with the word ¨Sponsored¨ at the top of the image if they are advertisements. Sponsored images will show up multiple times on your feed and are ¨ clearly visible and are targeted based on your interests¨. This leads into the next point of the article, how Instagram targets their ads.

Second, Hsiao explains how Instagram targets their ads. According to the article, Instagram targets its ads based on certain traits which include gender, age group, and interests. Additionally, since Instagram is owned by Facebook, if you have a Facebook and link it to your Instagram, it will have more information on your likes and dislikes.

To further prove how effective advertising on Instagram is to influence users into buying products, Hsiao sites a campaign launched by clothing retailer John Lewis who targeted women from the age of 25 to 34 for six weeks. The results? According to the article, Instagram reported that ¨John Lewis increased the number of followers it had by 10,000…[and] also saw 14 times the amount of purchasing intent for women within their chosen age range.¨

In my next blog post I will research the question: How does Instagram use celebrities to endorse products?

What Influence Does Instagram Have On Its Users?

SOURCE: Dezeen

• Research Topic: The influence Instagram has on its users.

• Key Economic Principle I´m Addressing: Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices.    

• Overall Research Question that Connects my Topic to the Economic Principle: How does the social media site Instagram influence users to buy specific products? 

• Sub Questions/ Topics that Help Address the Overall Research Question: 

1. Are ads the main source of income on Instagram? 

      2. How does Instagram use celebrities to endorse products?

      3. Does Instagram purposefully use tactics that makes people stay on the app for longer? 

• Reliable Sources to Use:

Business.com

Investopedia

Business Insider