Introduction
Today, our society relies on technologies that provide applications for consumer production in order to communicate, advertise, produce and acquire information. Advancing the technology of cellphones has shifted these said ways in which people are able to work, share and communicate. By creating a market for apps, the same software, functions and instant sharing that was only acquired by computer is now available and very popular by phone. Because of the phones portability, some tasks can be completed faster, easier and better than on a computer. The popularity of completing tasks such as enhancing photos are more likely to be obtained by cellphone applications than computers amongst college students. This is evident especially with the application Instagram, which allows an individual to upload, enhance and share pictures that were taken with their phone. The article "A Billion Dollar Turning Point for Mobile Apps" rationalizes the reasons behind society's shift from computers to mobile devices for technology. The article includes a quote from Professor Sundar, in which he states, "People are living in the moment and they want to share in the moment. Mobile gives you that immediacy and convenience (Wortham, 2012). Ultimately, as University students are motivated by easy, fast and multi-functioning applications, they are more inclined to edit their photos with Instagram, than using other applications that are less of a convenience.
In a study conducted by the University of Gothenburg, three researchers investigated how people use their own mobile technology in the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History and learned that visitors often uploaded pictures from the museum during their visit onto Instagram and that many of the pictures were carefully planned and edited. Ultimately, the study determined that smart phones have changed the way we share our experiences. According to Associate Professor Alexandra Weilenmann, "we used to document places and events by taking pictures with cameras, which we would then print and share with our closest friends. Then cellphones with cameras were introduced, and as these have evolved, along with the breakthrough of Facebook and Instagram, our way of sharing our experiences has changed" (Jungselius, 2013).
Furthermore, not only is Instagram conveniently applicable on a mobile device, it also provides many options for enhancing pictures and thus, Instagram is more likely to be used as a creative mean for its users. Instagram incorporates a creative angle to its product by including numerous editing options such as rotating, cropping, a lux effect that makes photos more vibrant, twenty different filters, as well as a blur, tear drop and tilt shift effect. In a similar case study, Martijn Dorresteijn determines that Instagram allows "users to extend the possibilities of their mobile camera and modify their pictures on the fly, with a range of effects that remediate old-fashioned analogue photography as well as professional image editing desktop applications such as Adobe Photoshop" (Dorresteijn, 2012). With this in mind, Instagram is more likely to be more than just a social networking application since it provides many creative options. Thus students are more likely to put effort into their pictures and in the end use Instagram as a means of advertisement and in building creativity.
In our study, we hope to draw connections between the type of device that is used to enhance pictures and the photo editing service used; the type of means that Instagram is used for and the type of pictures uploaded, how frequent a user uploads a photo, and with whom an Instagram user choses to follow and be followed by. In regards to our study, we hope to determine why DePaul students use Instagram and what they use it for through researching similar studies as well as testing our hypotheses through student's survey answers.