Instagram this! Sharing Photos on Instagram

• 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: Photo-sharing; Photo social network services; Motivations
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80366; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40496
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

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.