This study employed the media uses and gratifications model to examine the needs and motives of Instagram users that predict self-disclosure use. Students from the Gulf University of Science and Technology, Kuwait, were surveyed for this study. This study suggests that Instagram provides categories of needs and motives similar in nature to those of the other social media such as self-expression, social interaction, entertainment and opinion exchange. It also caters to the need for experimenting with photography that few available social media satisfy. Self-expression and social interaction needs were the strongest predictors of the use of Instagram for self-disclosure on all its dimensions, that is, honesty, amount, positive valence and depth. Other intersecting factors such as biological sex and frequency of use showed different patterns of use. The implications of Arab culture on Instagram use are discussed since Kuwaiti culture, as opposed to the Western cultures, is more collectivist in nature.
AbdulrahimM., Al-KandariA., & HasanenM. (2009). The influence of American Television Programs on University Students in Kuwait: A synthesis. European Journal of American Culture, 28(1), 57–74.
2.
Al-KandariA., & HasanenM. (2012). The impact of the Internet on political attitudes in Kuwait and Egypt. Telematics and Informatics, 29(3), 245–253.
3.
AncuM. & RalucaC. (2009). MySpace politics: Uses and gratifications of befriending candidates. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(4), 567–583.
4.
BarakatH. (1993). The Arab world: Society, culture, and state. Berkeley, LA: University of California Press.
5.
BarthesR. (1981). Camera Lucida: Reflections on photography. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
6.
BevanK. (2012). Instagram is debasing real photography. The Guardian. Retrieved 7February2015, from www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jul/19/instagram-debasing-real-photography?cat=technology&type=article
7.
BergJ. H., & DerlegaV. J. (1987). Themes in the study of self-disclosure. In DerlegaV. J. & BergJ. H. (Eds), Self-disclosure: Theory, research, and therapy (pp. 1–8). New York: Plenum.
8.
BoydD., & EllisonN. (2008). Social networking sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communications13(1), 210–230.
9.
BuseP. (2013). ‘Polaroid into Digital: Technology, Cultural Form, and the Social Practices of Snapshot Photography’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 24(2), 215–230.
10.
CallahanE. (2005). Cultural similarities and differences in the design of university websites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1). Retrieved 5January2013, from: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/callahan.html
11.
ChristofidesE., MuiseA., & DesmaraisS. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes?CyberPsychology and Behavior, 12(3), 341–345.
12.
DunneA., LawlorM., & RowleyJ. (2010). Young people’s use of online social networking sites: A uses and gratifications perspective. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 4(1), 46–58.
13.
FischerC. S. (1992). America calling: A social history of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
14.
HansonG. & HaridakisP. (2008). YouTube users watching and sharing the news: A uses and gratifications approach. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 11(3). Retrieved 5January2013, from: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0011.305
15.
HindujaS., & PatchinJ. W. (2008). Personal information of adolescents on the Internet: A quantitative analysis of MySpace. Journal of Adolescence, 31(1), 125–146.
16.
Ho-ChoS. (2006). Effects of motivations and gender on adolescents’ self-disclosure in online chatting. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 10(3), 339–455.
17.
HochmanN., & SchwartzR. (2012). Visualizing Instagram: Tracing cultural visual rhythms. SocMedVis Workshop. ICWSM-12. Dublin, Ireland. Retrieved 28March2015, from http//:www.aaai.org
18.
HumN. J., ChamberlinP. E., HambrightB. L., PortwoodA. C., SchatA. C., & BevanJ. L. (2011). A picture is worth a thousand words: A content analysis of Facebook profile photographs. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1828–1833.
19.
JiangC., BazarovaN., & HancockJ. (2011). The disclosure-intimacy link in computer-mediated communication: An attributional extension of the hyperpersonal model. Human Communication Research, 37(1), 58–77.
20.
JohnsonP., & YangS. (2009). Uses and gratifications of Twitter: An examination of user motives and satisfaction of Twitter use. Paper presented at the Communication Technology Division of the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Boston, Massachusetts, August 2009.
21.
JoinsonA. N. (1999). Anonymity, disinhibition, and social desirability on the Internet. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 31(3), 433–438.
22.
JoinsonA. N. (2001). Self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication: The role of self-awareness and visual anonymity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(2), 177–192.
23.
JoinsonA. N., & PaineC. B. (2007). Self-disclosure, privacy, and the Internet. In JoinsonA. N. et al. (Eds), Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology (pp. 237–252). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
24.
KatzE., BlumlerJ., & GurevitchM. (1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In BlumlerJ. G. & KatzE. (Eds), The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 19–32). Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications.
25.
KimY., SohnD., & ChoiS. (2011). Cultural difference in motivations for using social network sites: A comparative study of American and Korean college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 365–372.
26.
LeeD. (2010). Digital cameras, personal photography and the reconfiguration of spatial experiences. The Information Society, 26(4), 266–275.
27.
LeungL., & WeiR. (1998). The gratifications of page use: Sociability, information seeling, entertainment, utility and fashion and status. Telematics and Informatics, 15(4), 253–264.
28.
LeungL. (2001). College student motives for chatting on ICQ. New Media and Society3(4), 483–500.
29.
LeungL. (2002). Loneliness, self-disclosure, and ICQ (‘I seek you’) Use. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 5(3), 241–251.
30.
LeungL. (2007). Stressful life events, motives for Internet use, and social support among digital kids. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(2), 204–211.
31.
LiuH. (2008). Social network profiles as taste performance. Journal of Computer-mediated Communications, 13(1), 252–275.
32.
LivingstonG. (2012). Is Instagram ruining photography? Retrieved 5January2013, from: http://geofflivingston.com/2012/08/14/instagram-killing-photography/
33.
MaddenM., FoxS., SmithA., & VitakJ. (2007). Digital footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved April20, 2015 from www.pewinternet.org
34.
MatsubaM. (2006). Searching for self and relationships online. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 9(3), 275–284.
35.
McKennaK., & BarghJ. (2004). The Internet and social life. Annual Review of Psychology, 55(1), 573–590.
36.
MeschG., & BeckerG. (2010). Are norms of disclosure of online and offline personal information associated with the disclosure of personal information online?Human Communication Research, 36(4), 570–592.
37.
PalmgreenP. (1984). Uses and gratifications: A theoretical perspective. In BostromR. N. (Ed.), Communication Yearbook (Vol. 8, pp. 20–55). Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE publications.
38.
ParkN., KeeK., & ValenzuelaS. (2009). Being immersed in social networking environment: Facebook groups, uses and gratifications, and social outcomes. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 12(6), 729–733.
39.
PataiR. (2007). The Arab Mind. Red Brick Press. Long Island, New York: Hatherleigh Press.
40.
Quan-HaaseA., & YoungA. (2010). Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of Facebook and Instant Messaging. Bulletin of Science Technology and Society, 30(5), 350–361.
41.
QiuL., LuJ., YangS., QuW., & ZhuT. (2015). What does your selfie say about you?Computers in Human Behavior52(6), 443–449.
42.
RaackeJ., & Bonds-RaackeJ. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: Applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 11(2), 169–174.
43.
RosengrenK. (1974). Uses and gratifications: A paradigm outlined. In BlumlerJ. G. and KatzE. (Eds), The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 269–286). Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE publications.
44.
RossonM. (1999). I get by with a little help from my cyber-friends: Sharing stories of good and bad times on the Web. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 4(4). Retrieved 2October2012, from http://jcmc.huji.ac.il/vol4/issue4/rosson.html
45.
RubinA. (2002). The uses and gratifications perspective of media effects. In BryantJ. and ZillmannD. (Eds), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 525–548). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
46.
RuggieroT. (2000). Uses and gratifications theory in the 21st Century. Mass Communication & Society, 3(1), 3–37.
47.
SharifA. & Al-KandariA. (2010). The use of online bulletin boards by females in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries. Telematics and Informatics, 27(1), 42–50.
48.
SheldonP. (2009). I’ll poke you. You’ll poke me! Self-disclosure, social attraction, predictability and trust as important predictors of Facebook relationships. Cyberpsychology:Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 3(2), 5–15.
49.
SilvaT., Vaz de MeloP., AlmeidaJ., SallesJ., LoureiroA. (2013). A picture of Instagram is worth more than a thousand words: Workload characterization and application. Retrieved 5May2015, from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/261082706
50.
StarkmanN. (2007). What students want: Leave me alone…I’m socializing. T.H.E. Journal, 34(3), 659–669.
51.
StutzmanF., CapraR., & ThompsonJ. (2011). Factors mediating disclosure in social network sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 590–598.
52.
TaylorC. (2012, May1). Instagram Passes 50 Million Users, Adds 5 Million a Week. ABC News: Technology. Retrieved 5January2013, from, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/instagram-passes-50-million-usersadds-million-week/story?id=16247981#.T6P4OI5h6XU
53.
TidwellL. C., & WaltherJ. B. (2002). Computer-mediated communication effects on disclosure, impressions, and interpersonal evaluations. Human Communication Research, 28(3), 317–348.
54.
TongS., Van Der HeideB., LangwellL., & WaltherJ. (2008). Too much of a good thing? The relationship between number of friends and interpersonal impressions on Facebook. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 13(3), 531–549.
55.
UristaM., DongQ., & DayK. (2009). Explaining why young adults use MySpace and Facebook through uses and gratifications theory. Human Communication, 12(2), 215–229.
56.
Van DijckJ. (2008). Digital photography: Communication, identity and memory. Visual Communication, 7(1), 57–76.
57.
Van DijckJ. (2013). You have one identity: Performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media, Culture and Society, 35(2), 199–215.
58.
Van HouseN. (2011). Personal photography, digital technologies and the uses of the visual. Visual Studies, 26(2), 125–134.
59.
WalraveM., VanwesenbeeckI., & HeirmanW. (2012). Connecting and protecting? Comparing predictors of self-disclosure and privacy settings use between adolescents and adults. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 6(1). Retrieved 5January2013, from: http://www.cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2012051201
60.
WaltherJ. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23(1), 3–43.
61.
WaltherJ. B. (2002). Computer-mediated-communication effects on disclosure, impression, and interpersonal evaluations: Getting to know another a bit at a time. Human Communication Research, 28, 317–348.
62.
WarburtonN. (1997). ‘Authentic Photographs’, British Journal of Aesthetics37(2), 129–137.
63.
WheelessL. (1978). A follow-up study of the relationships among trust, disclosure, and interpersonal solidarity. Human Communication Research, 4(2), 143–157.
64.
WheelessL., & GrotzJ. (1976). Conceptualization and measurement of reported self-disclosure. Human Communication Research, 2(4), 338–346.
65.
WinstonJ. (2013), Photography in the age of Facebook. Intersect, 6(2), 1–11.
66.
ZhaoS., GrasmuckS., & MartinJ. (2008). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1816–1836.
