- Instagram has morphed from a place to share photos to a brand marketing behemoth over the past ten years.
- It’s given us Boomerang, the infamous “Egg,” and Beyoncé’s pregnancy announcement, among many other things.
- Marie Mostad, the COO and cofounder of the brand-influencer matching company inzpire.me, told Insider what a decade of Instagram has given us, and what we should expect in 2020.
- The company has also opened up conversations about body image and mental health, she said, and “helped people to explore issues that were previously taboo to discuss.”
- But there is some way to go in the new year to tackle problems like the promotion of unrealistic body standards, fake followers, and cyberbullying, she added.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The year 2020 will mark a decade of many people’s favorite social media platform — Instagram. In the last ten years, Instagram has morphed from a place where everyone could share professional-looking photos with friends, to an influencer and brand marketing behemoth.
While it was once somewhere to catalog the memories from your latest holiday, it’s now a tool for the most famous people in the world to “break the internet” or send a cryptic message to their fans by wiping their online history clean and replacing it with an ominous gif of a snake.
Just some of the standout moments from the 2010s include the invention of Boomerang allowing every Instagram bruncher to capture a never-ending circular video of clinking drinks, the infamous “Egg,” and Beyoncé announcing her pregnancy in front of a flower wall.
According to Marie Mostad, the COO and co-founder of the brand-influencer matching company inzpire.me, there have been many successes for Instagram over the last decade. She told Insider it has become a place for self-expression and empowerment, because it allows you to “forge your own identity, often in a creative way.”
Instagram’s biggest trend of the decade is probably #tbt
Instagram’s longest-lasting trend of the last 10 years could be “throwback Thursday” or #tbt, she said, which is tagged in over 500 million posts.
“I think it’s so popular because people love to share photos from their past,” she said. “Another recent success story in this format has been the ten-year challenge, where people share contrasting pictures of themselves.
“Nostalgia is everywhere at the moment — in fashion, music, and television — and I think these challenges reflect that.”
Instagram has also opened up conversations about body image and mental health, Mostad said, and “helped people to explore issues that were previously taboo to discuss.”
For example, the company has been taking steps to tackle problems that may be harmful to users, such as banning plastic surgery filters, and restricting posts that promote weight loss products or cosmetic procedures to under-18s.
Michael Tullberg / Getty Images
However, there is still a way to go in terms of tackling the purchase of fake followers and likes, the promotion of unrealistic body standards and lifestyles, and dangerous accounts that partake in trolling, cyberbullying, and catfishing, Mostad said.
The company has been taking steps to combat some of these issues, such as its decision to remove likes, which could stop the relentless competition for sheer numbers. But with a community of over a billion active users, not everything can be tackled at once.
2020 will see bigger, smarter brand collaborations
Mostad said there will probably be more brand ambassadorships and longer-term collaborations between influencers and brands in 2020, as people are becoming more skeptical about what influencers are advertising to them.
“Brands are becoming stricter and more targeted when picking influencers to work with, as they want to avoid controversies and work with people who are completely aligned with their brand,” she said. “This could mean they work with fewer profiles, but end up creating content with a higher level of authenticity.”
Amy Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images
This shift towards quality over quantity should mean more influencers partnering with brands that match up well with their image, she said.
“We also believe that content creators and influencers will be shifting their strategies and moving towards video-based content,” she added. “This will help creators to build the authenticity and ‘realness’ which feeds into a wider trend from consumers who want more genuine and relatable content.”
2020 will also see more gaming influencers partnering with companies, Mostad said.
“Profiles that focus on gaming have huge followings and high engagement rates, making them incredibly appealing for all types of brands,” she said.
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