Has lockdown killed Instagram?

More than 50 billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram since its launch in 2010. Today, around 995 photos are uploaded every second and the number of Instagram users continues to grow. The figure is expected to hit over 900 million by the end of 2021, around three times the total population of the US.

Yet, for all of its apparent success and popularity, much of Instagram’s appeal rests on our ability to socialise. Pre-covid, Instagram acted as a visual representation of the best parts of our lives. In photos and videos we captured our social activities, trips and experiences, and snapshots of the things that bring us joy. But what happens when your life is constricted to the four walls of your bedroom, the only trips you take are to the kitchen and anything in nearby proximity that once brought you joy, has become an irritating reminder of the claustrophobia of lockdown life. What do you post then?

So is Instagram dead, or at least dormant? With nothing to post, brands and influencers seem to be taking over the app with content marketing, as the rest of us wait for the shackles to come off and freedom to arrive with the spring and summer sun. The dilemma, however, is this: while we have nothing to post, we also have nothing to do. Nothing that is, except endlessly scroll through social media.

The result is a shift to a kind of “Instagram voyeurism” – scrolling without engaging or posting. This is a social trend that has been underway for a while but has been accelerated by the monotony of lockdown. One US study suggests engagement on Instagram and Twitter began a downward trend in mid-March of last year, as the world began to lockdown, and continued a slow and steady decline, hitting a yearly low in June. Meanwhile, social media usage on Friday and Saturday nights boomed, going up 13% and 15% respectively in May.

This lack of engagement might be somewhat psychological. Studies suggest that photos including a face perform 40% better than those without. The engagement dip in June marked almost the same amount of time without access to hairdressers or barbers (or a reason to put on makeup and change out of our loungewear) as we are experiencing now. Safe to say we have little to no impetus to post pictures of our faces. The link between an increased amount of time online and decreased engagement and posting can also be explained by a shift to other apps. “Users now spend more time conversing with friends on so-called ‘dark social’ (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram, for example)”, explains social media consultant Paul Sutton.

Social media also went through a significant tone change during the summer of 2020, as support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) erupted across the platforms. A study in North America found that during the pandemic, 33 per cent were striving to avoid posting content that might be perceived as tone-deaf, 86 per cent said they had seen a shift to more political content and 49 per cent said they had changed their posting habits inline with current events.

Appetite for Influencers – people who build large followings by promoting products or services, highlighting their lifestyle – also took a hit. Travel restrictions left people angry at the influencers’ “we’re all in this together, except I’m on the beach in Dubai and you’re in rainy England” content. This rejection of influencer culture and the very photoshopped reality they represent made space for a new kind of posting. “I think it’s led to a demand for more real and refreshing content that tells a more human, unfiltered story,” says PR Director Lorraine Bridges. “ I have noticed people being much more vulnerable in their posts on Instagram, talking about their fears, mental health, things they are worried about – just saying they are not ok.”

Lois Spencer-Tracey (@Bunnipunch) has 21.7K followers on Instagram. Since the start of the pandemic, she has felt influencers were more vulnerable to scrutiny and needed to pay more attention to the tone of her posts. “The more authentic and real you are, the more audiences seem to appreciate it,” she says, “if you have a voice and want to fight for a good cause, now is the time to show that as people are looking for reassurance and support more than ever.” Her tip for creative content during a pandemic? Re-post old pictures: “I have been looking at some old content to post – Instagram shouldn’t be about what just happened, it can be about you five years ago and what you have learnt and experienced since then.”

Statistics aside, personally I see the creativity drought every time I open up Instagram myself. Days of nothing but branded content and influencer giveaways are broken only by endless repetitions of the same photo of the sky every time there is snow, sunshine or a sunset. Instagramming the weather has become the new talking about the weather; a sign of dull times.

Marketing Director Bethan Vincent says she started posting and looking at Instagram less during the pandemic. “Mainly because I worry my endless stuck indoors content is boring,” she says, “and I’m worried about the mental health effects of social media during this time.” As Sutton suggested, users like Bethan have found other apps to spend time on instead but not just the “dark socials”. “I am much more active on Twitter now, oddly, as I think it’s more about genuine human connection than superficial aesthetics. I’ve also spent more time exploring emerging social media apps like Clubhouse and TikTok,” she says.

Another app which has found new popularity during the pandemic is the exercise tracking app Strava. According to its own review of the year, so the figures come with a health warning, Strava enjoyed an 82 per cent increase in people tracking outside activities in the UK, compared to the year before. By December, there were 21.5 million activity uploads per week and two million new users per month. Among my friends, checking the app, giving “kudos” (the equivalent to likes) on others’ activity, and tracking our own exercise has become as commonplace as scrolling through Instagram. Strava’s success is at direct odds with Instagram’s struggle; unlike socialising, exercising outside is still legal. The fitness craze hasn’t escaped Instagram either though; since the start of the pandemic Instagramming about yoga rose 74 per cent, the biggest increase in any topic. And other health and food-related topics are not far behind. Meanwhile, hotels, parties, vaping and fashion saw the largest decreases in topic-related posting. What wholesome times we live in.

So what will happen when the pubs reopen and our social lives are back on? Will Instagram benefit from a frenzy of posts documenting our freedom, or will we be so sick of living life through our screens that our phones will stay deep in our pockets the moment we swap FaceTime for face to face? According to Sutton: “There will be a shift in behaviour on Instagram once lockdown ends. Rather than a boom in activity, we’ll spend less time idly scrolling and more time posting again.” Bad news for influencers who make their money off likes and engagement and good news for those of us who have missed the self-indulgence of posting our polished selves on Instagram.