How It Changed: The Evolution and Adaptation of Instagram

Instagram morphed from a basic photo-sharing application into a fruitful environment for companies and individuals to conduct business. Through Instagram, the definition of business has expanded. That expansion granted Instagram users the ability to function as extensions of established businesses and even create their own on the app. Individuals create their “personal brands” through promotion of their own products and/or services or via associating themselves with major brands sponsoring their content. Today, Instagram “influencers” create and perfect their own image for public consumption. An influencer is a type of micro celebrity who targets other specific individuals, who exert influence over a large pool of potential customers (Abiden 72).

Once establishing a strong attractive brand on the saturated platform, users can leverage their large followings for more sponsorships. Companies take note and approach more popular pages with large followings for brand deals. Thus, users with smaller followings have a much more difficult time getting noticed at this moment (Racked). Buying followers is a central ethical dilemma that many small bloggers ponder partaking in to get companies’ attention (Lieber). In addition to utilizing less-than-honest methods to gain traction on the app, users will also go to painstaking lengths to cultivate an image of perfection (Lieber). Advertising and perfectionism have gone hand-in-hand for years (Suggett) with the use of celebrities and models to endorse products and services for major brands. Therefore, it is no surprise that influencers attempt to harness the idea of perfectionism to capture brands’ attention. Instagram is an arena where the concept of desiring perfectionism is exacerbated. Images of perfection are more accessible to all users as they scroll on the app. It is no surprise that Instagram is a major culprit in the erosion of mental health in younger generations (RSPH 18).

The ability to turn oneself into a brand has heightened the expectations of how people should look and conduct themselves through the app. Influence on the platform has become a commodity. Instagram evolved from a simple interpersonal communicatory photo-sharing application into a platform on which individuals now create their own profitable public facades. Instagram now possesses the ability to transform people into businesses analogous to the rise of a corporation in the real world. This phenomenon created an environment in which people now hold an appraisal value based solely on the number of followers they may have. As a result, the platform drastically impacts the self-esteem of participating individuals in a world in which humans have become, in a manner of speaking, legal commodities. The intersection of self-esteem, pseudo-relationships, and intense idealization of influencers’ respective lives have serious implications when it comes to discerning if influencers’ opinions are both valid and trustworthy. Users of the app and society at large may be unable to identify credible sources.

History

Instagram began as the evolution of another unpublished app called Bourbn. The Stanford graduate creators, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, modeled Instagram after Bourbn, an overly-complex photo-sharing app with features such as earning points for location check in, posting content, and making future plans (Garber). After realizing the unrealistic complexity of Bourbn, Systrom, the original developer, invited Krieger to simplify the app for easier mainstream use. Through utilizing the data analytics from the Bourbn prototype testing, they discovered the most prevalently used aspect was photo-sharing (Garber). With the new information, the pair reconstructed their app solely around the idea of photo-sharing. Thus, Instagram was born.

Within a couple of hours of Instagram’s launch on October 6, 2010 (Roberts), the system crashed due to high volume traffic (1). After a night of trouble shooting, Systrom and Krieger got the app back up within 24 hours. An astounding 25,000 people signed up for an Instagram account during that time (1). Although the platform did not have a seamless start, the app has yet to see a downward trend. Within nine months of its launch, the app had 7 million users (1). The photo-sharing application’s exponential growth in the ever-evolving digital age made Facebook take notice. Two years after Instagram’s launch, the social media giant bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock (Fell). Systrom and Krieger still run the company today with 800 million users and 500 million active users each day as of 2017 (Instagram Business Team). An estimate indicates that 70. 7% in 2017 of US businesses use Instagram and 80% of users follow a business account (eMarketer, Instagram Business Team). Ten years later, Instagram now reigns as an indispensable part of digital era methods of communication and marketing. A project built from Systrom’s love of photography transformed into a communication giant utilized for not only photo-sharing but also for marketing brands, products, and services.

Ability to Transform People into Business

Today, social media has become one of the largest used techniques to create and share personal content with other people. With this being said, social media has gone far beyond staying in touch with friends and family and has become a popular source for businesses. Therefore, it is no surprise that brands have begun using social media as a marketing tool to promote and expand sales. Since its launch in 2010, Instagram has become one of the biggest social media platforms used to advertise and promote one’s business or one’s self (Coelho 1). Similarly, because of Instagram, society has become familiar with terms like “influencers” and “brand ambassadors. ” Because Instagram gives people the ability to use personal narration to capture an audience, many users have used this to their advantage by turning themselves into business commodities.

Arielle Charnas, who many Instagram users may know as @SomethingNavy, is a prime example of a person who effectively used Instagram to turn herself into a brand. Starting off as an online blogger and e-commerce specialist for retail store Singer 22, Charnas used her blog followers to create an audience for herself on Instagram (SOURCE). Given that her Instagram profile was focused on fashion, Charnas would post content such as her outfits of the day, basic lifestyle and beauty tips, and where to shop affordably. By posting daily and interacting with her audience, Charnas was able to gain the 1. 1 million followers she has today (SOURCE). As she rapidly became a “super influencer,” well- known brands such as Steve Madden, Sunglass Hut, and department store Lord & Taylor were willing to pay her $1,500-3,000 for an Instagram post (Charnas 1). As she built her clientele and sponsorships, @SomethingNavy was able to land a project, creating her own clothing line with Nordstrom. Teaming up with the famous department store and creating “Something Navy X Treasure & Bond” allowed @SomethingNavy to drive $1 million and more in sales within in less than 24 hours (Strugatz 1). Charnas credits Instagram and listening to her followers’ feedback for her first successful launch. She stated: … as an influencer, my platform has given me the resources to real-life data and feedback by listening to my followers and seeing what they got excited about on my Instagram. We felt an obligation to use this incredible knowledge to give my followers what they wanted, we are hoping to build upon this formula for success and continue to listen closely to my amazing audience. (Charnas 1)

If it were not for Instagram, @SomethingNavy would not have been aware of what her buyers would have wanted to see incorporated in her line. The use of social media, Instagram specifically, was greatly dependent on in the success of her clothing brand. Charnas’ success with @SomethingNavy is a prime example of Abidin’s statement in Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online, “Instagram has become the social media platform in which people turn their digital fame into a self-brand and eventually a business” (Abiden).

Self-Esteem

Increased Instagram use is becoming a global concern. Studies show that mental health conditions, such as body image issues linked to the use of social media, exist as a leading problem for younger generations today. Despite Instagram’s promotion as a self-expression medium through photo-sharing, a recent study published by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) cited Instagram as the most detrimental influence to the mental health of younger generations. RSPH’s survey of nearly 1500 individuals revealed that Instagram ranked as the most negative impact towards a user’s mental health (RSPH 18). The study mirrors what many critics of Instagram proclaim in that the platform’s transition from a simple photo-sharing application to a platform where one can edit their lives to seem perfect, or “insta-worthy,” created an environment where individuals must now face their inner inadequacies every time they open the app. Since Instagram features every day individuals posting carefully curated photos to showcase the best aspects of their lives, it’s no wonder that the study suggests, “Around 70% of 18-24 years olds would consider having a cosmetic surgical procedure” (RSPH 10). With Instagram used as a platform for individuals to posit perfect personas, it acts as a constant reminder of a person’s insecurities.

Self-esteem can be bolstered when one feels as though they are accepted by others. Instagram adds another dimension with the “like” button, so, in addition to wanting to feel accepted, one also may feel as though they are being endorsed. One is able to scroll through photo “likes” and see who else has endorsed (or, at times, more importantly, who has not endorsed) a photo. According to Hawi and Samaha’s study, university students who have “social media addiction,” or “the compulsive use of social media sites that manifests itself in behavioral addiction symptoms… [which] include salience, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal, relapse, and mood modification” (577) report “lower levels of self-esteem compared with students who scored low on social media addiction” and “it appears that people with lower self-esteem tend to depend on social media more” (582). Moreover, the researchers believe that students who use social media with the intention of boosting their self-image are, in fact, “at risk of not only lowering their self-esteem but also their satisfaction with life as well” (583). University of Notre Dame researcher Carmen Papaluca stated, “. . . many [female Instagram users] were saying that they want other girls’ lives and they want to be them. So it’s really gone past just wanting to look like somebody – now it’s about having their life, having what they have. That’s a whole new challenge” (Livingston). This example illustrates that not only does Instagram make us want to change how we look but also change who we are. Applications like Facetune, for example, allow Instagram users to alter their appearances – blurring acne, slimming waists, and even whitening teeth (Solon) before uploading their photos. The mere existence of these applications shows that heavy editing of appearances has become normalized. Celebrities, influencers, and even one’s own followers contribute to unrealistic standards of perfection on the platform. Comparison of one’s life to one’s peers is not a new phenomenon; however, with increased access to what those peers are doing and posting on their own accounts, fear of missing out, and jealousy all contributes to the perception that others are living happier lives than oneself.

Not only do celebrities set unrealistic beauty standards through their influence but they also contribute to the creation of viral trends that can be dangerous. Reality star turned public monstrosity, Kylie Jenner, has obtained over 110 million followers on Instagram (Robehmed). “Many of them [Jenner’s followers] are young women and girls–an audience at once massive and targeted, at least if you're selling lip products. In 2015, The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge went viral on Instagram. This “challenge” involved people swelling their lips using shot glasses to emulate the size of Kylie's lips (Moyer). This resulted in many people permanently injuring their lips with glass in the process (Moyer). This “challenge” was one of many that pressured people into risking their safety in order to keep up with celebrity trends popularized by Instagram. Instagram built an addictive empire that ingrained itself as an essential part of life for many young individuals.

The easily accessible nature results in the feeling one needs to check Instagram every few minutes. It forces people to rely on it as a source of validation that increases or decreases with each post, like, and comment. The endless pressure to only post photos that garner the highest number of likes and comments creates an unhealthy cycle of the needing to match the level of infamy as their fellow users. The pressure to be popular and perfect can lead to mental health disorders, negative self-esteem, and body image issues.

Influencers as Legal Commodities

The evolution of Instagram allowed people to transform into businesses. In doing so, these Instagram influencers become a commodity in of itself. Rather than running a business, they are the business. Therefore, they are their own products – their own commodities. Companies can now essentially “buy” a person on Instagram through a process called sponsoring. Through sponsoring an influencer, companies are buying the rights to their opinions. The influencer is now contractually obligated to support and express positive opinions about any product they are sponsoring (McMahon). This creates a system that now applies a calculable worth to each individual person. In the eyes of companies interested in sponsoring people, those with the most followers and likes per photo are considered most valuable (Lieber). This allows companies the ability to assign inherent worths to each person on Instagram. Individuals of influence on the platform are now their own companies with a worth, a product, and a price.

Instagram today represents the old adage that everyone has a price. With companies paying people to support their products on Instagram, it begs the question: Is it now legal to buy people? The idea is that these influencers are on a more personal level than celebrities and thus their opinions are more attainable and trustworthy. However, companies can now buy their seal of approval. Opinions make up people and now companies can simply buy the opinions of influencers to promote their products. This is essentially a legal way for corporations to buy people. Numbers havebecome an increasingly critical element in regard to Instagram blogging. Some influencers argue that numbers are the only component of their respective pages that will get recognition anymore (Lieber).