In 2023, 98% of Meta’s revenue – approximately $131.9 billion – came from advertisements. This statistic highlights a critical reality for Meta’s various social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as well as its competitors including TikTok: their financial success hinges on user traffic. However, what truly drives this traffic – and by extension ad revenue – is user engagement with the content.
This content isn’t produced by the social media platforms themselves but by their external contributors – the individual account owners, influencers, and brands. From travel and fashion tips to sports commentary or tutorials on cooking or learning a new language, these creators produce the platforms’ true product, and this is the content that captures our attention, encourages interaction with the platform and with other users, and keeps us coming back for more and more.
Social media platforms must constantly work to preserve their user base and stay competitive in the face of new emerging technologies that threaten to lure away their users. There was a time when TikTok was the new entry and essentially forced Instagram to evolve and introduce its own version of short-form videos, “Reels.” Going back further, competition from Snapchat prompted Instagram to launch the “Stories” feature, introducing ephemeral content that kept users fast-browsing when interacting with the platform.
Strategic moves like these can be effective in retaining user interest. Indeed, after integrating Stories in 2016, Instagram saw the daily average time spent by U.S. adults on the platform increase by 14% in the subsequent year. The new feature worked because it offered users spontaneous content to regularly engage with and produce.
However, such innovations are not equally beneficial for everyone. Features like Stories and Reels may not always align with the interests of content creators. But if they are increasing traffic to the platform why should the company be concerned? Because external content creators are the driving force of most social media platforms and for these platforms to thrive, technological innovations must ensure the content creators remain motivated to produce engaging material.
My co-author Shirish C. Srivastava at HEC Paris and I examined whether the introduction of the Stories feature on Instagram benefitted the central content creator category on this platform known as “influencers.” Traditionally, influencers have invested significant time and effort in crafting carefully curated posts that establish and reinforce their brand and appeal amongst their followers. Just think about the resources that influencers like American celebrity Kylie Jenner or Italian entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni spend on creating their posts. These carefully curated images of influencers are central to building their personal brand and play a crucial role in promotional campaigns for a range of activities from business endeavors and sponsorship deals – depending on the influencer – to even spearheading public health initiatives. And let’s not forget that these posts are money-makers for many influencers. Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly earns upwards of $3.2 million per branded post.
Despite the apparent benefits of Stories in terms of increased platform engagement, the feature raises substantial questions about its long-term impact on influencers’ traditional content strategies. The shift towards more spontaneous, ephemeral, and frequent content could potentially devalue the perfectly curated – and permanent – posts that influencers rely on. There exists quite a contrast between the two options: an influencer might share a casual pajama-clad moment of their life in Stories, while their main feed is populated with glamourous shots of them beside fancy cars and in resorts. This juxtaposition between the Stories and the main feed can impact the way followers view the influencers – from one of aspiration to that of peer-like familiarity – and this shift can have implications for the influencer’s business model, brand partnerships, and social media strategies.
Not all platform stakeholders benefit equally from homogeneous features that fail to consider cultural nuances.
Adding to the complexity is that the influence and impact of Stories varies across cultures. The transition from perfect “posts” to imperfect “stories” could be perceived differently in different communities, depending on their cultural norms and expectations.
In societies with high power-distance communities, where hierarchical structures are deeply embedded, the informal nature of Stories does not always resonate well. Followers in, for example, India, China, and regions such as the Middle East, might prefer the aura of perfection and even unattainability that well-crafted posts portray, maintaining a clear demarcation between influencers and audience. The carefully curated image creates a power dynamic – and distance – between themselves and their followers and this aligns with the cultural expectations in societies driven by hierarchy and thus the very untouchability of these influencers and their way of life is, in essence, a vital part of their appeal and success.
Conversely, some societies tend to have a lower power distance and this is where the authenticity and immediacy of Stories can actually enhance the connection between influencer and follower. The behind-the-scenes glimpses into influencers’ lives demystify their public personas, making them more relatable and approachable. This increased sense of closeness – whether real or simply perceived does not matter – can lead to greater engagement because, in this context, the stories provide a sense of authenticity and even relatability between content creators and their audience.
This complex interplay between content type, follower engagement, and cultural context highlights the nuanced challenges and opportunities facing social media platforms and influencers in the wake of such strategic changes. As ephemeral content becomes increasingly prevalent, it is crucial to look beyond the immediate benefits of increased user activity for platforms and consider the long-term implications for influencers, who serve as essential platform complementors and have built a profession that is tied to these digital ecosystems.
A critical question emerges: does the Stories feature enhance or diminish the value of traditional posts and the influencers who create them? Our experimental analysis of Instagram’s Stories feature yielded some interesting insights and, specifically, our research suggests a dual effect:
- Resource Shift: The introduction of the new Stories feature reduces the frequency of permanent post creation because some of the influencers’ resources – time and money – are now put towards creating Stories.
- Engagement Impact: Despite this decrease in traditional post creation activity, the informal sharing facilitated by Stories increases user engagement in the influencers’ social media posts overall.
However, it’s important to note that this dual effect is not universal. We observed a significant exception: in high-power-distance communities, where influencers are perceived as living a life that is unattainable by the general public, the Stories feature does not yield the same increase in positive engagement as in other communities. This cultural complexity highlights just how complex it is for social platforms like Instagram to implement a one-size-fits-all feature that can function equally across domains.
What can we learn from the introduction of the Stories feature on Instagram? While the increased competition between platforms has led to rapid development and the cross-adoption of new features – both of which are a boon to the business of the platform – these platforms should not overlook what these enhancements mean for their most essential users and complementors. The varying effects of the Stories feature across different communities highlight the importance of culturally aware strategies in content creation and social media settings. Although new features might serve the objectives of the platform and thus the company at large, they must be implemented with care because the side effects for some stakeholders might not be as positive as for others.
Moreover, not all platform stakeholders benefit equally from homogeneous features that fail to consider cultural nuances. For example, while a U.S.-based influencer might find great success with a casual, story-driven approach, an influencer in a high power-distance country like India might need to maintain a more reserved, post-centric strategy to sustain engagement and respect among followers. This suggests that as social media platforms continue to evolve globally, their user engagement strategies must also adapt to the diversity of the context in which they operate.
The introduction of the Stories feature by Instagram opened new avenues for user engagement through increased transparency and frequency of content. Yet, it also posed potential risks to the traditional influencer communities, those who serve as core complementors to the platform.
Technological advancements provide numerous possibilities for platform product enhancements, such as AI-generated visual or textual content. However, whether such enhancements help in achieving the desired objectives for all concerned stakeholders depends on a host of contextual factors. It is therefore important for platforms to look beyond initial gains of user traffic and consider the long-term benefits for all involved stakeholders, including content creators and consumers, influencers, and followers. A more holistic approach may not give social media platforms the immediate results to which they have grown accustomed, but it will ensure that the innovations that they choose to implement will actually serve their customer base and the ecosystems they’ve created and provide a more likely chance for long-term business success.
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