Instagram this! Sharing Photos on Instagram

Sharing behavior is a major element in understanding the influence of social networking services. The aim of the present study is to examine the motivations driving users to share photos on Instagram, a popular photo-sharing social networking service. This study applied the uses and gratifications a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lee, Chei Sian, Nur Alifah Binte Abu Bakar, Raudhah Binti Muhammad Dahri, Sin, Sei-Ching Joanna
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80366
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40496
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Sharing behavior is a major element in understanding the influence of social networking services. The aim of the present study is to examine the motivations driving users to share photos on Instagram, a popular photo-sharing social networking service. This study applied the uses and gratifications approach to determine Instagram members’ reasons for sharing photos. Data (N=115) were collected from an online survey. A principal component factor analysis indicated that there were four motives for sharing photos: informativeness, community support, status-seeking, and self- representation. We also conducted correlation and regression analyses. Our results indicate that age, number of followers and number of followings on Instagram are related to the gratifications users seek on Instagram. Further, we found that users’ photo sharing was mainly motivated by the need for self-representation and status-seeking. Implications of our work are also discussed.