Abstract
The growth of Instagram continues, with the majority of its users being young women. This study investigates the impact of Instagram upon source credibility, consumer buying intention and social identification with different types of celebrities. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 female Instagram users aged 18–30 to determine the extent to which Instagram influences their buying behaviour. The research findings show that celebrities on Instagram are influential in the purchase behaviour of young female users. However, non-traditional celebrities such as bloggers, YouTube personalities and ‘Instafamous’ profiles are more powerful, as participants regard them as more credible and are able to relate to these, rather than more traditional, celebrities. Female users are perceptively aware and prefer to follow Instagram profiles that intentionally portray positive images and provide encouraging reviews.
1. Introduction
Instagram is one of the fastest-growing online photo social web services where users share their life images with other users, however the academic research related to this media is limited (Sheldon & Bryant, 2016). It is a relevant channel upon which to focus due to the site's recent decision to expand its advertising platforms, in so doing, revenue generated from advertisements on Instagram is expected to reach $2.81bn in 2017 - greater than both Twitter and Google in the US (Vizard, 2015a, 2015b). Individuals spend more time on Instagram than other similar sites, suggesting it is of importance to research this media type (Sheldon & Bryant, 2016). Instagram reported more than 400 million monthly active users (Statista, 2016).
