By Marina Favacchia
Since the birth of the Internet, people have been competing relentlessly to create a popular social media platform that can attract people all across the world. There have been many successful contenders, but the one that triumphs over them all is Instagram. Created back in 2010, the photo sharing app has been doing all it can to become the main communications center of the Internet.
The Facebook owned company has made a lot of modifications to its app since it debuted a decade ago. With over one billion users, the company must go above and beyond to keep its users entertained. Over the years, the company has implemented new features that have drawn in users from other popular apps to its own. Instagram has implemented programs like Instagram Stories and Reels, so the app now offers more than just photo sharing. The inspiration? It may be that they copied their competitors in order keep users more engaged with Instagram than Snapchat and TikTok.
Social media companies rely heavily on an attention economy. If they can’t keep their users interested, then that could mean many negative things like no revenue or a possible removal of the whole app. The Attention Economy by Frank Ross explains perfectly why social media apps thrive off attention, “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” Considering Instagram had only one defining feature, the company feared that users would start to rapidly lose interest with the other new apps and what they have to offer. They knew that they needed to adapt their platform to keep user attention.
Instagram introduced its first round of attention-grabbing technology with its introduction of Instagram Stories. This feature allows users to take a photo and share it for 24 hours through their profile picture rather than make a whole post. There were many accusations that Instagram was copying Snapchat because Snapchat’s whole app is all about sharing photos for a limited amount of time. Not only that, but Instagram has also adopted the same types of graphics and photo filters that Snapchat uses to make the photos more appealing for their short lifespan. Despite these claims, Instagram’s Story Feature proved to be successful in its attempt to draw more attention because many people gravitated towards the new idea of an Instagram story and moved away from posting Snapchat stories.
Instagram didn’t stop at Stories either. Snapchat is also known for its disappearing messages and photos. The concept is simple: You send a message or photo and then it’ll vanish when the user swipes away from the chat section or taps away from the photo. Instagram decided to copy this from Snapchat as well. Instagram users can also send messages and photos for a limited number of seconds before it disappears from the users’ phone.
In late July to early August of 2020, it was announced that the Trump Administration was planning on banning the popular TikTok, a short-form video platform, in the U.S. The news was met with expected backlash as users feared that TikTok would bite the entertainment dust just as its predecessor Vine had. Instagram was quick to respond with a possible solution. Even though the news had only just come out, they didn’t hesitate to quickly offer a new update that would allow users to have a mini alternative to TikTok on Instagram.
Instagram Reels was announced August 5, 2020 with many creative effects that would spice up a simple one-minute video. It operates under the same premise as TikTok: Post a video, but you only have under one minute to entertain the world. Of course, the news of Reels definitely caught the public’s attention. And it couldn’t have come at a better time since the U.S. is still uncertain about the TikTok ban as of now.
It’s extremely evident that Instagram is pulling out all the stops to become the center of communication for social media. Beginning with introduction of Stories in 2017, Instagram is slowly dethroning two of the most popular social media apps in the world. Not only are they attracting more people to their app, they are also improving concepts from other platforms so that their app becomes superior to its competitors. It’s clear that Instagram is fighting rigorously for user’s attention, and it seems to be working.
Instagram is no stranger to the attention economy, and they aren’t afraid to copy the successful ideas of Snapchat and TikTok to keep their share of the attention in that economy. The company has a very cunning strategy: Take what makes the competition popular, make it their own, but make it better. It makes sense why Instagram is one of the top ten most used social media platforms in the world; they have devised a full proof plan that ensures that they will not fail in the attention economy.
