Instagram cashes in on sharing fad
Back in pre-digital times (anyone remember those?) one of the most exquisite forms of social torture was the invitation to see a family’s holiday photos or movies.
August 2019 : Iphone XR close up with icons of popular Social Media app or applications on screen for smartphone use lifestyle | Image: iStock
There are few things more boring that seeing someone else’s “happy snaps” of times and places they enjoyed while you were absent.
Yet that basic human truth hasn’t seemed to stop the image-sharing internet platform Instagram from not only surviving for a decade, but growing and thriving. In the process, it has been more than a social media outlet; it has become a news channel in its own right and because of that, is attracting advertising and is used by more and more brands to market themselves and their products.
The ease of sharing (or maybe we should say inflicting) your images with far more than just your family and friends has meant an unprecedented explosion in people documenting their lives – both exciting and downright mundane.
Instagram has helped power the “selfie generation”, where cellphone cameras, mostly, are used to take the sort of pictures which previously would have required someone else pressing the shutter.
A selfie is meant to show an outgoing adventurer, but sadly often just shows a lonely soul smiling for the camera…
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