Why Instagram is Here to Stay
Social media and technology are ever changing, so it is normal to question what might be next and what is here to stay.
Instagram was first established in 2010 and is still popular 10 years later. This social media not only keeps gaining popularity, but it will also continue to be a good place for journalists to showcase their work.
According to Business Insider, a survey was done on Gen Z, specifically 18–25-year olds, showing that their choice of social media is Instagram. This is important for journalists to remember as they should now be appealing to younger people.
Younger people favor easy engagement and visuals. According to an article written by Nico Gendron, “news is a product,” and by mirroring the appeal through social media apps, journalists can reach Gen Z better.
Instagram offers stories where people can post videos and pictures. A video on a story can be up to 15 seconds, and any post will stay for 24 hours, unless deleted.
Stories have been found to be perfect for the younger generation — specifically those with shorter attention spans — and are also engaging and addictive. According to a report done by Influencer Marketing Hub, Instagram stories will continue to be a trend into 2020.
This means that journalists can use these stories to reach Gen Z by posting snippets of their stories, interesting them on what they have either written or created, or journalists can use the stories for crowdsourcing and newsgathering.
However, the only fear with using Instagram this year is if they choose to implement the trend of removing likes. Many think that this will hurt brands that use the likes as a way to measure the direct impact of their campaigns.
If this trend comes to fruition, then journalists will not be able to determine audience engagement as well and will have to solely rely on comments for a measurement of engagement.
At the moment, Instagram dominates the world of social media, and it seems that it is here to stay. If this happens, then I expect journalists to benefit from the app through the use of a strong account and engaging stories.
