Abstract:
The growth in smartphone penetration and access to social networking sites has seen an emergence of online personal brands as people with social media presence are knowingly or unknowingly communicating a crafted brand identity to an audience. This research paper is guided by the theory of social comparison and will examine the psychological effects of Instagram use on young South African adults in relation to Aakers Brand Identity model. The current academic research on psychological effects of social media presence is limited to one social networking site, Facebook. This study fills in the obvious gap by studying the visual SNS’s, Instagram which is a photo and video sharing platform where over 300 million of personal brands converge. An online survey that included a 40 young people between the ages of 20-30 was conducted. The survey was followed by in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 10 respondents to gain deeper insights and understanding of the common themes around Instagram usage, behaviours and psychological implications. Results from the research study reveal that the need for relevance is a key driver for Instagram use and that the aesthetic nature of Instagram drives young adults to seek perfection and validation. Visual brand that compete on social media drive competition and upward social comparison. Instead of being impacted negatively this has a positive effect by motivating young adults to improve their lives.
