Typology of the Instagram audiences and users in Iran

Soleimani Sasani, Majid; Akbari, Elham

doi:10.22059/jcss.2026.408315.1214

Typology of the Instagram audiences and users in Iran

Document Type : Original article

Authors

¹ Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² Department of Educational Tecnologhy, Faculty of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jcss.2026.408315.1214

Abstract

Background: With the advent of online social networks, some new form of life was developed in a virtual environment and the relationship among people became different from its traditional form.
Aims: The present study examines the status quo of the use of one of the most popular social networks in Iran, namely Instagram, and the typology of its users.
Methodology: The data was collected using a questionnaire and almost 1000 Instagram users answered the questions. In order to understand the use of Instagram and the typology of its users, the theoretical concepts of "uses and gratifications", "transition from audience orientation to user orientation", "online identity", "networked individualism" and "cyberloafing" were examined.
Findings: The daily use of social networks by users is an average of 139 min, of which approximately 104 min are dedicated to Instagram, and that there was a significant relationship between the use of Instagram and the age group, marital status, and social classes.
Conclusion: Instagram users comprise a spectrum from passive consumer actors to active producer actors. Different user types based on the use motives are: instrumental/commercial users (consumer or passive and productive or active), interactive users (social communicator and relationship builder), information seeking users (wide scope information seeking and local scope information seeking), disclosing users (aesthetic and lifestyle), loafing users (tourists and celebrities) and specialty-oriented users.

Keywords

Main Subjects

media

References

Akbari, E. (2021). “Examining the effectiveness of peer feedback in the context of learning English in a Web2.0 environment. (peer feedback2.0)”. Journal of Foreign Language Research. 11(3): 556-570. https://doi.org/10.22059/jflr.2021.330903.895.

---------------. (2019). “Extensive use of online social networks: a qualitative analysis of Iranian students' perspectives”. International Journal of Web Based Communities. 15(2): 196-207. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2019.101043.

Akbari, E.; Eghtesad, S. & Simons, R.J. (2012). “Students’ attitudes towards the use of social networks for learning the English language”. International Conference of ICT for Language Learning. 5^th Edition. https://conference.pixel-online.net/conferences/ICT4LL2012/common/download/Paper_pdf/357-IBT70-FP-Akbari-ICT2012.pdf.

Alarcón-del-Amo, M.D.C.; Lorenzo-Romero, C. & Gómez-Borja, M.Á. (2011). “Classifying and profiling social networking site users: A latent segmentation approach”. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 14(9): 547-553. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0346.

Amichai-Hamburger, Y. & Vinitzky, G. (2010). “Social network use and personality”. Computers in Human Behavior. 26(6): 1289-1295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.018.

Auxier, B. & Anderson, M. (2021). “Social media use in 2021”. Pew Research Center. 1: 1-4. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22378837192&gbraid=0AAAAA-ddO9HSulbnCr63zLreDvFnSvCJO&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4pvMBhDYARIsAGfgwvyEnjQ4OkcCYoZBT2KxcRcIR3F9-hCm8ylnCs08IC4mpIT5MVNE5IsaAssSEALw_wcB.

Belanger, F. & van Slyke, C. (2002). “Abuse or learning?”. Communications of the ACM. 45(1): 64-65. https://doi.org/10.1145/502269.502299.

Bezzubtseva, A. & Ignatov, D.I. (2013). “A typology of collaboration platform users”. ArXiv preprint. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1312.0162.

Blaikie, N. & Priest, J. (2019). Designing Social Research: The Logic of Anticipation. John Wiley & Sons.

Blanchard, A.L. & Henle, C.A. (2008). “Correlates of different forms of cyberloafing: The role of norms and external locus of control”. Computers in Human Behavior. 24(3): 1067-1084. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2007.03.008.

Boyd, D.M. (2008). Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics. University of California, Berkeley.

Brandtzaeg, P.B. & Heim, J. (2011). “A typology of social networking sites users”. International Journal of Web Based Communities. 7(1): 28-51. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2011.038124.

Carpenter, J.P.; Morrison, S.A.; Craft, M. & Lee, M. (2020). “How and why are educators using Instagram?”. Teaching and Teacher Education. 96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103149.

Elwell, J.S. (2014). “The transmediated self: Life between the digital and the analog”. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technology. 20(2): 233-249. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856513501423.

Fiske, J. (1992). “Audiencing: A cultural studies approach to watching television”. Poetics. 21(4): 345-359. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-422X(92)90013-S.

Giddens, A. (2003). Runaway World: How Globalization Is Reshaping Our Lives. Taylor & Francis.

Hall, S. (1980). “Cultural studies: Two paradigms”. Media, Culture & Society. 2(1): 57-72. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/016344378000200106.

Hamman, R. (1995). The Role of Fantasy in the Construction of the On-line Other. Harvard University Press.

Hassouneh, D. & Brengman, M. (2013). “A motivation-based typology of social virtual world users”. Computers in Human Behavior. 33: 330-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.08.012.

Hootsuite, W.A.S. (2021). “Digital 2021: Global overview report”. DataReportal–Global Digital Insights. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-global-overview-report.

Huang, Y.T. & Su, S.F. (2018). “Motives for Instagram use and topics of interest among young adults”. Future Internet. 10(8): 77. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10080077.

Al-Kandari, A.; Melkote, S.R. & Sharif, A. (2016). “Needs and motives of Instagram users that predict self-disclosure use: A case study of young adults in Kuwait”. Journal of Creative Communication. 11(2): 85–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973258616644808.

Kaplan, A.M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media”. Business Horizons. 53(1): 59-68.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.

Katz, E. & Blumler, J.G. (1974). The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research. Sage Annual Reviews of Communication Research. Volume III.

Katz, E.; Haas, H. & Gurevitch, M. (1973). “On the use of the mass media for important things”. American Sociological Review. 164-181. https://repository.upenn.edu/bitstreams/9b8e3b85-b218-4ffc-a5d5-cc1d7291eb26/download.

Kemp, S. (2020). “Digital: April 2020 global statshot report”. DATAREPORTAL. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-april-global-statshot.

Krairit, D. (2018). “The new face of internet user typology: The case of Thailand”. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research. 13(2): 58-79. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-18762018000200106.

Latifi, M.; Riahinia, N.; Ghaedi, Y. & Babaie, M. (2018). “Identify the motivations of students’ using social networks sach as Facebook, Instagram and Telegram”. Academic Librarianship and Information Research. 52(2): 79-107. https://jlib.ut.ac.ir/article_69596_96a0600dc567e29d50bbc641d9e01d4f.pdf. [in Persian]

Laughey, D. (2007). Key Themes in Media Theory. UK: McGraw-Hill Education.

Lee, E.; Lee, J.A.; Moon, J.H. & Sung, Y. (2015). “Pictures speak louder than words: Motivations for using Instagram”. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 18(9): 552-556. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0157.

Li, CR, Zhang E, Han JT. (2021). “Adoption of online follow-up service by patients: An empirical study based on the elaboration likelihood model. Computers in Human Behavior. 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106581.

Lim, V. (2002). “The IT way of loafing on the job: Cyberloafing, neutralizing and organizational justice”. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 23(5): 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.161?urlappend=%3Futm_source%3Dresearchgate.net%26utm_medium%3Darticle.

Littlejohn, S.W. & Foss, K.A. (2009). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. Vol. 1. Sage.

Livingstone, S. (2005). “Media audiences, interpreters and users”. In Gillespie, M. Media Audiences (pp. 9-50). UK: Open University Press.

Mandiberg, M. (ed.). (2012). The Social Media Reader. Nyu Press.

McQuail, D. (2013). “The media audience: A brief biography—Stages of growth or paradigm change?”. The Communication Review. 16(1-2): 9-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2013.757170.

---------------. (1987). Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction. Sage Publications, Inc.

Moon, J.H.; Lee, E.; Lee, J.A.; Choi, T.R. & Sung, Y. (2016). “The role of narcissism in self-promotion on Instagram”. Personality and Individual Differences. 101: 22-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.042.

Moradi, S; Rajabpour, M.; Kian, F.; Hajlu, N. & Radbakhsh, N. (2014). “Motivational factors in using virtual social networks”. Iranian Journal of Culture in the Islamic University, 4(10): 95-118. https://ciu.nahad.ir/article_166.html?lang=fa. [in Persian]

Rainie, H. & Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: The New Social Operating System. Vol. 10. Cambridge, MA: Mit Press.

Ravadrad, A. & Gishnizjani, G. (2017). “Typology of re-presentation mediated body of Iranian Instagram users”. New Media Studies. 3(10): 265-310. https://doi.org/10.22054/cs.2017.22288.237. [in Persian]

Razeghi, N.; Sharepur, M. & Alizadeh, M. (2017). “A qualitative analysis of motivations for joining Facebook social network”. Cultural Studies & Communication. 13(47): 11-42. https://www.jcsc.ir/article_27280.html?lang=fa. [in Persian]

Rheingold, H. (2000). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ross, K. & Nightingale, V. (2003). Media and Audiences New Perspective. Open University Press.

Shahabi, M. & Bayat, G. (2013). “Purposes and motivations of social networks’members (A study on youth from Tehran). Culture-Communication Studies. 13(20): 61-86. https://www.jccs.ir/article_3358.html?lang=fa. [in Persian]

Sheldon, P. & Bryant, K. (2016). “Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age”. Computers in human Behavior. 58: 89-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.059.

Taprial, V. & Kanwar, P. (2012). Understanding Social Media. Bookboon.

Thelwall, M. (2009). Introduction to Webometrics; Quantitative Web Research for the Social Sciences. Springer Nature Link. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-02261-6.

Thompson, J.B. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Stanford University Press.

Timothy, D.J. (2005). Shopping Tourism, Retailing and Leisure. Channel View Publications.

Turkle, S. (1996). “Who am we”. Wired Magazine. 4(1). https://www.wired.com/1996/01/turkle-2/.

Wellman, B. (2002). “Little boxes, glocalization, and networked individualism”. In Kyoto Workshop on Digital Cities (pp. 10-25). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-45636-8_2.

Windhal, S.R.; Signitzer, B.H. & Olson, J.T. (2008). Using Communication Theory: An Introduction to Planned Communication. Sage.

Zokaei, M. & Hasani, M. (2016). “Social media: Conceptualization and typology; A case study on Tehran University Students”. Communication Research. 22(84): 77-95. https://doi.org/10.22082/cr.2016.18817.

Zolghadr, H. & Ghasemzade, A.M. (2013). “Social networks, exhibitive of global village”. Communication Culture. 2(8): 171-193. https://journals.iau.ir/article_510504.html. [in Persian]