Instagram is one of the most popular social networks today. They know about it in almost all corners of the globe. Even people who don’t use apps or support online communication have heard the name. Instagram was born in 2010. Since then, the application has been constantly evolving and improving. This process continues to this day. What Instagram trends are observed in 2020 is described in the article. Find the Best Hashtags for your Instagram with Task Ant.

The history of the appearance of “Instagram”

In the spring of 2012, it became known that Facebook bought the popular Instagram application, which allows users to share photos and videos. The amount of the deal was not classified. Facebook paid $ 300 million in cash and 23 million shares in the company. The total purchase amount reached $ 1 billion.

But in fact, the first meeting between Mark Zuckerberg and future Instagram creator Kevin Systrom took place not in 2012, but much earlier – in 2005. Then Kevin was still studying at Stanford University. Zuckerberg suggested that he drop out and start developing a photo service for his social network Facebook. Systrom refused, deciding to finish his studies at the university.

Systrom received the first funding for the project in March 2010. The amount of investment reached $ 500,000. The application developed rapidly, and already in early October 2010 it appeared in the Apple AppStore. The developers did not expect the product to become so popular since its inception. A month after being placed in the AppStore, the application had about a million downloads, and a year later – 10 million. Today, Instagram is the most popular service for sharing photos from mobile devices.

Although there are several creators of the application, Kevin Systrom is considered the main inspirer of the project. The story of Instagram begins in San Francisco. It was in this city that Kevin and his friend Michael Krieger decided to devote themselves to mobile photography. Immediately after the publication of the application, Josh Ridl joined the developers as the community manager. In November 2010, engineer Shane Sweeney joined the team, and in August 2011, IT evangelist Jessica Zollman.

The developers tried to give their product a non-trivial appearance and provide it with useful functions. One of the main features of the application is the square shape of the photos. If we talk about the functional content, it is worth noting the presence of digital filters that allow you to easily and very quickly process images. The idea of ​​their placement was presented to Systrom by his girlfriend. She said she would love to use the application if it allows her to make photos more vivid and beautiful.

For a long time, Instagram was only installed on iOS devices. Only in April 2012 a version for the Android operating system appeared, and in November 2013 – for WindowsPhone. The application is distributed free of charge. Users can rate photos posted on Instagram and comment on them. Mark Zuckerberg has revealed some statistics. According to him, 570 photos are evaluated every second and about 80 comments are written.

A sharp decline in the popularity of the application occurred after the company announced at the end of 2012 a change in the user agreement. The new rules have a clause that Instagram has the right to use the posted photos for its own purposes, including advertising. The announcement of the innovation caused a flurry of criticism and harsh statements. Many users simply deleted their accounts, as a result of which the audience of the application decreased by 25%.

Faced with protests and condemnation, the company’s management said the intentions were misunderstood. The controversial point was changed taking into account the interests of users.

9 reasons why Instagram has become the most popular social network

The main trend of Instagram is the transformation of a social network into a platform for business development and promotion. Initially, the app was only used to share photos, but now it allows companies to create business accounts and connect with potential consumers. The service has repeatedly received various awards, including Best Mobile Application.Digital Marketing experts say that in 2020, Instagram will become the leader in traffic among all world social networks. There are several reasons for this popularity. Let’s consider them in more detail.

• Instagram format.
• The application allows you to visualize information. Serving is the most beneficial when it comes to selling goods. After all, 90% of information comes to a person through the visual channel.
  According to research, more than 70% of shoppers believe that bright and interesting product images motivate them to make a purchase better than detailed descriptions of properties or even positive reviews. Plus, photographs make the audience more active. Images are more likely to be commented on, liked and shared than text messages.Possibilities of “Instagram”.
• By its appearance, we can assume that the interface of “Instagram” is quite simple, but this is not so. In fact, the service is equipped with complex mechanisms that allow users to effectively interact with the application. In addition, the capabilities of Instagram allow you to find the target audience according to the specified parameters, analyze its behavior and influence with the help of targeted advertising.Content features.

Once upon a time, social networks such as VK, Twitter and Facebook were a wonder, and people actively communicated and searched for information in them. Now interest in long posts requiring careful and long reading has passed. Online communication has moved to instant messengers. The ability to send and view short messages, vivid photos and small entertaining videos are the needs of today’s audience. Based on them, messengers will develop. Companies that did not recognize the prospects of this direction in time and did not get involved in it will gradually lose their audience.

• User psychology.

All Instagram trends are based on the psychology of users: understanding of behavioral mechanisms and the ability to influence people’s emotional reactions. Initially, the application was conceived as a social network for sharing photos, but now it has turned into a powerful marketing tool and platform for doing business. In addition, many people have appeared who simply cannot imagine their life without Instagram. They are constantly posting photos and waiting for likes. If there are no “likes”, panic starts and there is a desire to upload a new image. This emotional dependence on the social network does not benefit the psychological health of users, but does not in any way reduce the popularity of the application.If you are an Instagram user, do a simple experiment. Count how many times a day you logged into the app to post a new photo, leave a comment, or like. It turned out about twenty – this is a manifestation of symptoms of addiction.Attention to Instagram from brands.

• Instagram has become a trading platform. The app has a ton of services for entrepreneurs. This is the ability to open a business account, tracking statistics of conversions and the number of new members of the community, demonstration of photos in the carousel format, targeted advertising and the Stories function.
  The emergence of Stories can be called a revolution in the world of social networks. About 200 million people use this service every day. The function helps entrepreneurs build communication with potential clients, but at the same time remain unobtrusive, since messages are automatically deleted by the system 24 hours after placement. “Stories” allows you to show what is most often hidden from the eyes of consumers: the process of training new employees, production of goods, corporate events, meetings with customers and partners, etc. innovative technologies, conduct open testing. Another important trend of Instagram is that more and more online store owners create virtual storefronts in the application,Using hashtags as beacons.
• This tool, actively used on the Internet, allows you to find content and not drown in the endless ocean of information. The function is useful for business because it helps to find the target audience. Most users search for information using hashtags. It is believed that posts with seven or more hashtags have greater reach than posts without them.Content quality.
• On Instagram, people share the best moments of their lives, so the quality of the content is much higher than on other sites. For example, on the VKontakte social network it is easy to create a long list of subscriptions, which will include the pages of friends, partners and just unfamiliar people who were ashamed to refuse. Instagram has a different approach. There, the user decides for himself whose publications will get to him in the feed.Attitude towards spam.

One of the most significant trends on Instagram is the strengthening of the fight against spam. The audience of the application notes that its number has significantly decreased over the past year.

• Annoying advertising does not cause anything but irritation to users, so Instagram specialists pay a lot of attention to combating website cheating and mass mailing of advertising messages. To date, the amount of spam has decreased by three times.The emotional component.

“Instagram”, perhaps, more than other social networks affects the emotions of the audience. This is one of the reasons for the popularity of the application. It is known from the course of psychology that it is much easier for a person to control actions than experiences. Having seen a photo of a freshly baked cake, the user can refrain from ordering food at home, but still feel hungry and want to eat pastries. All companies use this feature of the human psyche. They color the goods with certain emotions. After all, a person often buys products not to solve an urgent problem, but to satisfy some desire. Emotion is the most powerful tool in branding. Manufacturers seek to advertise not just products, but someone’s dream and secret desires.
Summing up, we conclude: if an entrepreneur still does not have an account on Instagram, he is not in trend and in the coming years may lose a significant part of his audience.