Abstract:

As a fashionable social media, Instagram’s main content is to share photos and videos, and users can write a publicly comment and send private messages to other users, and when a certain group of people who concentrate on hobbies reaches a certain number, an online community will be formed, and finally a celebrity can through live streaming to shortens the distance with fans. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how people feel closer to each other when using different features of Instagram, and the paper will demonstrates this by analyzing image and video sharing can reduce social media loneliness, social community and group chat creation,  brand management of celebrities and  live streaming.

 

Key words: social media, Instagram, community, celebrity, live streaming.

 

Instagram, a world- popular social media, has more than 150 million registered users since its launch in October 2010. Instagram is a mobile application for sharing popular photos and videos (Hu et al., 2014). In addition, the reason why Instagram has a strong user base and lasts for a long time is that functions make users feel connected to each other and it can really realize social functions. Users are allowed to upload a series of images and videos to share instantly by using different Instagram-specific filters and add some related hashtags, which is the most basic tools of social media to increase the exposures of their post. Or maybe to mention other related users using the @ sign, effectively creating two-way links (Hu et al. al., 2014), to promote the establishment and development of social communities. The result of this kind of two-way feedback effectively narrows the distance between people, because most users are looking for attention and Instagram largely meets this demand. Thus, this article will demonstrate and explain the different ways of using Instagram to further the relationship between users in the following areas: Instagram photo or video sharing, social interaction, creating private chats or groups, marketing strategy of star brand and Instagram live streaming.

 

Ways to share and interact

Social media users experience various degrees of loneliness, which is defined as a result of social disconnection or other causes. It can be classified into two types, long-term trait loneliness and short-term state loneliness (Maclean et al., 2022).  Loneliness is a common trait or state of a person, if social contact does not meet expectations, the feeling of loneliness can become intense (Maclean et al., 2022). In modern social society, people are eager for social interaction and social relationships, Instagram provides a platform for people to crave a sense of belonging through social interaction (Maclean et al., 2022). British psychologist Pamela Qualter defines the social needs of social media users as “reaffiliation motive”, this motivation is that users will be curious about friends’ social sharing, so as to watch the social contents they have sharing (Anthony, 2021). And the way Instagram users want to get their social needs and reduce their social loneliness through visual sharing of photos and videos taken by users through selfies or with the help of others (Maclean et al., 2022). According to Maclean et al. (2022) opinion, Instagram photos and videos can be displayed directly on the user’s profile, or through snapshots and direct messages, leading to attract interaction from other users. By sharing daily photos and videos, people can build a sense of connection with others in society (Maclean et al., 2022) since users may get feedback from others such as comments. Those who feel socially isolated are likely to regain a sense of belonging through social media photo videos sharing as they interact with different people online. Thus, Instagram’s sharing function can be seen as a moderator between social connection and loneliness (Maclean et al., 2022), bringing people closer together and it largely reduced the social loneliness. What’s more, Instagram’s sharing is open to all users around the world, and anyone can see and interact with each other as long as users do not set up a private account. So, users can easily communicate with other users on Instagram, they can express likes and praises through thumb ups and comments. Compared to Instagram, users from other social media, such as WeChat, can only see those shared pictures and videos posted by people who exist in their friend Lists. At the same time, Instagram also has a feature of 24-hour limited stories, in which people usually share interesting or meaningful moments. Instagram story is called a conversation starter as well. Whether it is an old acquaintance or a new Internet friend, it is possible to start a conversation because of the posted content (Hiya & Hannah, 2021). This feature gives users the opportunity to meet different people and it promotes community generation (Hiya & Hannah, 2021) because people with the same interests and hobbies easily get together to discuss and share.  Social media has become the main platform for people to interact with their friends and spread information. Two-way interactions through the sharing of photos and videos stimulate a desire to actively form relationships with others and reflect a tendency to actively engage in dating activities (Jun, 2022).

 

 

Creating individual or group chat boxes, the relationships between communities

Instagram’s social approach enables users to open private chat boxes and create multi-person chat groups. Personally, I use Instagram most of the time to connect with my friends because Instagram is about fun, immediacy, and efficiency. The fun is reflected in the fact that the background picture of the chat box can be changed, and there are many interesting emojis can be used. And the Immediacy is when users can use emoji to express emotion for every sentence or video sent by others. For example, if users agree with each other in a chat box, they can quickly indicate how they feel about that statement by sending an approving emoji.  Efficiency is Instagram’s ability to participate and create different group chats at the same time. It can be a campus group, used to discuss school tasks. Or a group chat where a few close friends get together to share interesting moments in life. Finally, it can be a star-chasing group chat, although the group members might do not know each other in the group, but they can still participate in the topic because they have a common hobby.  In addition, on Instagram, each user can follow the accounts and content they are interested in, and if they reach a certain level number of followers, they can become a specific social network community. MacQueen et al. (2001) states a community can be defined as a group of people with different characteristics who come together through social relationships, hold common views, and participate in joint activities in the same or different locations and environments. Therefore, Instagram’s group chat function and mutual attention to a certain organization or person promote the establishment of the community and consolidate the development of the community.  Besides, Instagram direct message can promote the relationship between enterprises and customers. For instance, when a new product or event is about to be released and announced, some potential customers will be invited and tested through Instagram DM for the purpose of better making future decisions and strengthening the connection with users, which can make users feel valued (Hrishabhuwal, n.d.). If the company finds that users post pictures and descriptions relating to disappointment of the company, the company can use Instagram DM to contact users and collect various opinions then generate a best solution (Hrishabhuwal, n.d.). This will make users feel that companies are not aloof but are willing to take every customer seriously. Inside the Instagram social community, whether it is Instagram’s private group chat or the company’s group chat solution, it serves to connect users, who can facilitate communication through group chats for the purpose of shortening the distance between people.

 

 

Advertising promotion for influencers and celebrities

Among the many users of Instagram, there is no shortage of social media influencers. Their identities are outstanding social media users, who have established themselves as real online characters through different sharing and have accumulated many loyal fans (Tafesse & Wood, 2021). Influencers share their interesting lifestyle and discerning personal content through Instagram, building a deep psychological connection with their fans (Tafesse & Wood, 2021). Therefore, some brands believe that influencers are a good channel for product promotion, and they have created an influencer marketing plan through Instagram influencers. This plan is an effective way to establish a friendly relationship with customers (Tafesse & Wood, 2021). In contrast, celebrities have greater appeal than influencers as their profiles would appear at the top of the most-followed list on Instagram, facilitating the delivery of marketing messages to followers (Tafesse & Wood, 2021). Take Selena Gomez as an example. She is a musician and the founder of Rare beauty, and the number of her Instagram fans exceeded 408M in 2023.  Due to her personality, many strangers are attracted and turn to support her beauty brand. This brand has become increasingly popular, and the praise is enhanced as well. Selena Gomez also posted videos of her face without makeup, letting other people see that even as a celebrity, there will still be traces of ordinary people on her face, which makes fans feel that the distance between them and the stars is not far as they thought.  However, there is a difference between traditional celebrities and social media influencers. Instagram influencers are called “Instafamous” and generally preferred because they are perceived to be more similar to the average person and have the opportunity to be that way (Janssen et al., 2022). But it is undeniable that no matter celebrities or influencers, they are helpful in promoting products by posting posts, and most of the fans are likely to purchase these products. Compared to other ordinary marketing strategies, such as normal emails notices and websites, it is more direct and will establish a generate social connections with other Instagram users.

 

The live streaming function in Instagram

Instagram also provides a live streaming platform, and users can start live streaming freely at any time. Those who watch the live streaming can state their opinions through the comment area and those who initiate the live streaming may choose some questions to answer. Or simply share some events or just purely chat. To be more specific, live streaming brings the distance closer between celebrities and fans. For example, BlackPink is a well-known Korean girl group, and they always start live streaming on Instagram irregularly to chat and interact with their fans. This behavior provides a way for their fans to interact and communicate with their idol.  Also, fans might have a huge sense of pleasure and satisfaction in being able to see the stars in moments of relaxation, rather than performing on stage, yet Instagram provides these opportunities.  Another example of a live streaming that ordinary people can participate in is that under the circumstances of Covid-19, many artists’ activities had been canceled. However, a famous NBA star Serge Ibaka posted a live competition on Instagram called “How Talented Are You?”. This competition invited other celebrities as judges and contestants were selected from registered fans (Feder, 2020), and this campaign brought athletes and fans together in a direct way during quarantine.  This live streaming is a way to communicate on social media, and these online mutually beneficials improve users’ social relationships. Fans will start to think that their relationship with the athlete gradually becomes a two-way relationship from a one-way relationship, so it will lead to more people will rely on social media to interact with celebrities (Feder, 2020).

 

Instagram utilizes different functions, such as sharing images and videos, getting comments from new or old friends on the network, and opening multiple chat boxes for different social purposes. The way of sharing and chatting are able to decrease user’s social loneliness and reactivate a desire of social. Also, users can find suitable community groups in their interest area to participate in common activities.  While in Instagram, brands are able to take advantage of DM to build the connection to their clients, and find a suitable influencer to promote their brands, it will increase acceptability and enthusiasm. And finally, users can through Instagram’s live streaming function to set up a real-time interaction platform between fans and friends.  No matter which aspects, Instagram is demonstrating the fact that distance is become closer to each other and establish the connections.

 

References list:

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