Instagram has come a long way; from being the excited selfie-hashtag-obsessed child to now the mature versatile adult. Brands and users can’t seem to get enough of this app, which is being explored in several different ways. We take a look at how changing role of Instagram is here to impact us.
Users and brands have realised that a platform agnostic approach to Instagram is seeing its end, while tailor made content takes precedence. But what is fascinating than creating exclusive content for Instagram is the way this app has been applied at several instances, to serve different purposes.
Instagram, the news reporter
Recently, NASA shared the first surface shot of Pluto on its Instagram account, even before it was updated on NASA's official website. The image gathered at least 3 lakh likes and about 13,000 comments. Popularity on Instagram was not a problem for NASA with 4M followers. However, the idea of choosing Instagram for Pluto’s debut brought in a new perspective for this photo-sharing app. It had actually donned on the role of a news portal for that particular day.
The dwarf planet sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach, which was at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday - about 7,750 miles above the surface -- roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India - making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth.
This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Images from the closest approach are expected to be released on Wednesday, July 15.
This summer, Zee Khana Khazana created a digital cook book on Instagram in the form of 15-second videos. Each of these videos gave away tips and recipes to refresh oneself during the summer season. This digital cook book gave it that extra nudge and introduced a unique concept on board.
A video posted by Zee Khana Khazana (@zeekhanakhazana) on
Once upon a time on Instagram
Wolfgang2242, an account on Instagram was started by a man called Steve who talks about his life with 8 dogs and a Pig, bikini. He resorts to Instagram to talk about everyday stuff, narrating stories and funny incidences related to his canine friends.
Wolfgang2242 boasts of at least of 3 lakh followers, and for every post, he receives a minimum10k likes, if not more. Wolfgang2242 is actually storytelling in the new age where users look forward to short anecdotes that save on their time and is accessible as well. (The fact that Wolfgang2242 is extremely humorous doesn’t hurt either.)
Make room for an Instalogue
When IKEA had to launch its latest PS 2014 34 piece designer collection, the brand created a website within Instagram. Each if the images represented different categories. On tapping the images, the tagging feature was put to use to direct the user to different types within the category; each of these types had separate accounts for themselves. IKEA PS 2014 gathered at least 23k followers on its account. Who would’ve thought of integrating a website into Instagram to create an Instalogue? Digital meets digital to create this novel concept.
Seeking adventure on Instagram
Biskrem, a biscuit brand in Turkey decided to give its Instagram users an upper hand by giving them the chance to be the inventor of Biskrem. All they had to do was play an adventure game on Instagram that capitalised on all the photo app’s features (photo, video, tagging, maps, direct message, and search) and also on the user’s knowledge on Biskrem. The players were asked tricky questions and had several alternate endings to choose from. They had to collect clues, look for secret routes and guess answers to complete the mission in the game.
After the game, the followers on the Biskrem account increased by 850% and received 9000 reactions.
A game on Instagram? How much more fun can it get?!
All these examples help understand how Instagram can be used different ways, but there’s the obvious question, why is Instagram suddenly the talk of the town?
Attention span and mobile dependency
According to a Microsoft study, the human attention span has reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, which is less than that of a goldfish. This change has been observed in all age groups, according to the study.
On Instagram, the longest form of content will be about 15 seconds. It thus keeps the user engaged before distraction can come by.
Also, the dependence on the mobile has increased considerably, especially among youngsters. The study mentioned that 77% of the people in the age group 18-24 reached out to their phone when they had nothing to do. People are feeding off digital content when they are bored, waiting for someone, travelling, taking a break at work. In other words - at all times. Instagram being a mobile app makes it accessible, thus resulting in long logged in hours on Instagram
Along with this, visual content plays its own power tricks. It’s influential, creates better recall and absorption is known to be higher when it comes to an image/video. That’s what defines Instagram. Without its images/videos, what is Instagram anyway? It’s like Wolverine without any adamantium.
But the disadvantage of this digital world is its constant change in loyalties. After brands/users have exhausted off Instagram. Will it see a gradual decline or is it one those platforms that will maintain itself consistently?
After all, there are always exceptions to a game, Instagram might just be that in this digital era.
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