Let's Talk About Instagram

Instagram is a social media networking platform built around sharing photos and videos. It is a visual platform, so when you post, you must have a picture or video included. It launched in October 2010 and was purchased by Facebook in April 2012.

Instagram lets you follow people and their posts. When you follow people, it creates feeds for your homepage, showing recent content from those who are on it as followers or "followees". You can like what they post; comment with feedback (or not); and/or share with others.

In addition to posting photos and videos on Instagram (which stay permanently on your page), you can also post stories, which only appear for 24 hours. Stories allow you to post many different photos or videos in a series or to highlight time-sensitive content. In the past couple of years, Instagram rolled out Reels. Reels are short entertaining video clips and it's a great way to create fun, entertaining videos, to attract new and different peeps into your audience. By posting a reel, people can choose to follow you after viewing!

Through Instagram, you also have a direct messaging feature so you can message connections.

The goal for businesses using Instagram is to build brand awareness and showcase their products, values, and voice, through high-quality visual images and shoppable features. It is best for businesses that have strong visual content to share and want to appeal to younger generations. According to research done by Facebook, they found that 91% of people polled say they use Instagram to follow an interest.

Typical users of Instagram are:

• 1.074+ billion monthly active users
• 49% male, 51% female
• Women use Instagram 56.5% more than men in the U.S.
• Age breakdown (Hootesuite):
• 33% are between the ages 25-24
• 71% of U.S. adults ages 18-29 use Instagram
• 73% of teens use Instagram
• 25% of U.S. teenagers say Instagram is their preferred social media platform
• 8% of users in the U.S. are ages 65+
• Location (Omnicore):
• U.S.- 140 million users
• 87% of users are outside the U.S.
• India- 140 million users
• Brazil- 99 million users
• Indonesia- 85 million users
• Russia- 56 million users
• 43% of U.S. adults are college graduates

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