Instagram’s Like Button and Its Influence on Your Personal Network
A large number of students taking this class has some form of social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.). A simple Google search can reveal several articles about the “dangers” of social media but with very little scientific backing or accompanying research, and the very few legitimate articles only offer a broad analysis, if any, on the effects of social media. This study from PennState offers an interesting take on this field of research by observing only a single function on Instagram: the “like”. Anyone with an account on these big platforms understands its mechanics –– press the button to indicate interest or appreciation for certain content –– and this study offers to explore different elements that influence like engagement and vice versa. First, the study model’s a user’s followers as a network, and then shows how it’s connected to the that user’s like engagement on their posts.
One of the biggest influences on the like engagement is the Explore tab on Instagram. Although many users tend to view and like photos from their own following network, the Explore tab allows the user to branch out from their typical feed and like posts from accounts that they don’t follow. In fact, they found that almost 50% of the posts the average user likes are from these accounts that are outside their network. The Explore tab thus makes the network of Instagram users more connected, especially when it connects a user to an account that the user decides to follow.
The study also observed the like engagement of an account and how it influences other aspects of the user’s Instagram experience. The result showed that the more likes a user received per post, the more inclined they were to post more photos and the more likely their follower count was to increase. Additionally, if a post receives more engagement, Instagram’s algorithm for the Explore tab will notice this post and will show it on many other users explore tab, bringing in more likes for the user that posted it. This demonstrates how the Like button creates positive edges in a user’s network and how it even aids in expanding that network.
http://pike.psu.edu/publications/ht15.pdf