Does This Selfie Make Me Look Fat?

The focus of my research project was to study the unwritten rules of the way college students in the Bay Area use Instagram. In order to complete my research project, I used surveys, interviews, and a focus group. My survey was distributed, 44 responses. For the interview process, I interviewed five people in person. Finally the focus group consisted of 8 people and followed my five categories; those categories are connectedness, motivation, self-presentation, convenience, and gratifications.

My research question was; what kinds of unwritten rules do college students follow when posting a photo to social media? My data has told me that females edit their photos more intensely than males do. Females like to fix blemishes, and whiten teeth before adding a filter and posting it to their Instagram account. Female’s work on editing their photos because they believe that an edited photo will help them to achieve more likes.

My hypothesis was; College students are primarily concerned with the amount of photos that feature themselves both alone and in a social setting in order to build their online identities. I found this hypothesis to be true. College students are likely to use photos that have meaning to the user.

From this assignment, I have learned something the way that males use the application is different from the way females use it, and the features that are important to them are different. With every new update, social media is continuing the expand and will change the way we use it and the impact it has on all of us.