Instagram!

 

                                                

Instagram.... .The app where 99.9% of us aren't telling the truth about our lives. The app where we idolize celebrities. The app where we post about the cool dinner we ate, the awesome concert we went too.. Wait? Let me start over. Instagram! The app is " a photo and video sharing social media application".  The app where you can make a profile, post pictures and videos on your feed, direct message people, view stories, show filter... OH MY. 

                                                                  

If "around one billion people... [actively] use Instagram" shouldn't we get to know the creator of it? The creator of instagram is Kevin Systrom - picture up above. Kevin is a Stanford Alumni. The reason he got into making apps is because of his work at Google. He wasn't familiar with anything within computer science so he "learned to code" every chance he could.  

If you were going to create an app? Would you name it after something that you like? Instagram was formally called...

                                                                

That's right - bourbon. The name was named after Kevin's favorite drink. Burbn was a website that became a simple photo sharing app based off of checking into locations, earning points for hanging out with friends, and posting pictures of the meet ups. The website soon developed into the app Instagram. 

                                                            

Instagram launched in 2010. When looking at the logo, you'll see that it starts in 2010 looking like a polaroid. This was intentional because Kevin wanted a name that combined Instant Camera and Telegram which leads you with that combination. This is ironic because Kevin studied photography during his junior year. The photo above shows how technology changes so drastically and so does branding. 

Instagram, as well as many other social media apps in this day in age, allow for the sense of connectedness. This makes it easier for friends, families, and mutual friends to be aware of your well-being. However, while doing research on the pros and the cons. It has been evident that social media develops liars. According to one of the Stanford magazines, it states that [we] tend to tell on average one to two lies per day. The easiest example that I came to connect with psychology on lying on social media is the following: many people, whether you believe it or not, tend to want to make other people happy or even want people to like them on social media. For example, many people make their instagram seem like they have a perfect life however, on the contrary, around 71% of people will edit their photos and take time to edit them.

By understanding the pros and cons to social media, it's great to understand how we fit within them. Yes, social media is a great way of connected yet it can also be a toll on your mental and physical help. In the end.. is instagram really as beneficial as they say it is? Are we really connected if we are lying from post to post? Isn't this giving us a fake reality of people? Yet.. we still use it.