Social Network Analysis

I plan on focusing on just one of my social media accounts for this blog post, Instagram.  I pay most of my attention to this app, mostly because of my interest in photography and videography.  When I look back and reflect on how information is shared, I realize there are actually many ways.  The main way is the obvious posting of a photograph or video.  This type of information sharing is all I was originally thinking there was, until I really dug into how far I could analyze it.  A caption for a photo or video is a huge component of information sharing.  It could relate to one person on the highest level of comedy, romance, friendship, etc., all the while having zero impact whatsoever on another.  When I really sit back and think about that, its really fascinating.  Another way information is shared is through tagging people in pictures.  I do this a lot, and not only when I am showing a person a picture that they are in.  My roommate and I are on the wrestling team, which means we have a strict diet from November through March.  We are constantly tagging each other on Instagram of pictures of local foods, drinks, and restaurants that we want to visit once our season is over.  It is such a quick way to visualize and share something we are both interested in.  On the flip side, it is the means of free advertisement for the company or business that is uploading the content.  Okay, I feel like I’m losing people by now, but one more way of sharing information is by using a geotag to show your location.  Many people do this in places of high traffic, such as a stadium or arena, allowing others to view content from that same area very conveniently.

My groups are mostly separated into three categories:  high school friends, college friends, and family.  Sometimes they do intersect based on common interests, however for the most part they stay relatively separated.  As far as variety goes, I believe having these separate groups really adds to the diversity and variety of my social media feeds.

I notice that most posts I am drawn to fall into one of five subjects.  Those being:  multiple friends in a picture, a pretty girl in a picture, the quality of the photo is high, it involves family members, or is something I want to share with a specific person.  I believe I am influenced by friends on social media by replication.  If I see one of my friends post in a certain style, I find that I am more likely to adopt a similar style.

When I post, the people who react are usually college aged individuals, whether I know them or not.  I imagine this is because they see my photos on the “Explore” page Instagram has to offer, and I have also noticed that the number of likes I have from people who do not follow me increases whenever a photo has numerous colors.  My theory behind this is that when a person is scrolling on the “Explore” page, my photo is more likely to stand out from others.