Users share photos on Instagram aware that the audience that they reach is formed by a variety of people, mainly strangers, who share the same passion for photography. Considering the visibility afforded by the platform, users generally aim to share images that everybody can appreciate. This common idea follows the intent of reaching a high number of followers. The intent of sharing photos on Instagram might involve the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that generally guide behaviours in photosharing communities. The intrinsic motivation is the satisfaction that participants achieve from the activity of photosharing itself. Meanwhile, the extrinsic motivation is the rewards that users expect to gain from photographic selfdevelopment, which is useful to build a reputation in the community. Although motivations for photosharing are different according to different users, gaining a high number of followers is seen as a way to testify self-development, and it is considered the most common strong motivation.
To do so, users are aware that they need to share photographs that a wide number of users might appreciate through likes, positive comments and feedback. Reciprocity and positive social interaction seem to be a common expectation for the majority of users because they represent an incentive to share more photographs. A Swedish University student in his 20s, for instance, believes that giving and receiving positive comments fosters users’ engagement with other users and increases their visibility on the platform. The more users receive positive comments, the more they are motivated to share images and, potentially, receive additional positive comments.
A general interest and expectation of positivity emerges by the use of Instagram. The majority of users connect the increased use of the platform with the positivity received from the comments of other users and, also, from the positivity of their personal mood. Fabio, an Italian web designer living in London, confirmed it saying that when he is in a good mood he is more motivated to share images on Instagram. This is connected to his intent to entertain his followers. Photosharing, in fact, seems be motivated by the presence of a positive mood or particular emotions that come with images.
Indeed, several users show interest in positive visual messages. Konnor definitely sees this happening. Konnor is an American guy in his early 20s, living in Germany and working as a pastor for a Bible school. He can look at peoples’ posts on positivity and walk away feeling good. He feels he can look at the world more positively through Instagram. As a foreigner, he finds Instagram a potential means to create community and gather people in his new German residence. For him, the main aim of using the platform is to share positive messages through images that mainly capture landscape, nature and other people, as can be seen in Figure 2.1.
Visibly, users recognise in their photosharing the intent in sharing experiences and emotions through images following the principle of sharing ‘shareable moments’. Regarding this, for example, Gianpiero on Instagram often tries to share his emotions. Gianpiero is an Italian man working as an electronic engineer and with a passion for apps. He started using Instagram by chance, and following his passion for algorithms and informatics, he decided to enhance his visibility on the platform. Since he succeeded in the enterprise, his passion and the use of Instagram has increased dramatically. His photosharing is formed by various scenarios, mainly landscapes, characterised by intense colorations and deep perspectives. Regarding sharing emotions and experiences, he was once in the middle of the Norwegian fiords.
The air soaked in humidity was wet on his face. He had 360° vision. He experienced absence of sound in the middle of those fiords. In this situation, he thought of how he could convey that experience in a square photo of 612 pixels. In that moment, with the emotions he was feeling, he said he was seeing the light differently, and so he used a filter that was changing the image accordingly. From Gianpiero’s experience, what emerges is how the interest in communicating visually the touching emotions that the Norwegian scenario produced on him testifies to the capability of technologies to convey and produce sensations. There is interest in sharing personal emotions and experiences with who is not physically present. Users, in this way, show that images convey additional messages to the mere subject of the photo. To achieve these conditions, it has been observed that many Instagram users carefully plan their photosharing in all its stages (e.g. shot, editing, caption, time of photosharing, etc.). In combination with the intent of reaching a high number of followers, as illustrated earlier, the practice of photosharing lead towards a careful organisation of the sharing of emotions and experiences which other users can appreciate and engage with.
It follows that the practice of photosharing on Instagram does not really follow the basic principle of the platform, which is the instantaneity of sharing. Considering the name of the platform Instagram (a combination of Insta-, instantaneity and -gram, for photogram) the principle of immediacy should represent its basic identity. However, the emphasised principle of instantaneity of sharing seems to be losing its core position. Indeed, when observing users’ behaviour, a particular effort in the planning for photosharing emerges. The most common strategies can be summed up as a good quality of photography, particularity and unconventionality of scenarios, creativity of the visual composition and images able to convey emotions and feeling. There is interest in sharing visual information even if disconnected by the principle of ‘here and now’. In relation to the planning, Instagram users tend to adhere to the regularity of photosharing and to the definition of a precise photographic style.
Photosharing on INSTAGRAM: Motivations, Organization and New Practices
