Getting acquainted with social networks and apps: Instagram’s instant appeal

The rise in the popularity of smartphone apps is hard to ignore. People are accessing information and connecting through social media on their smartphones at increasing rates.

This paper is a literature review.

Almost half of the total digital media time spent by US adults is spent on smartphone apps. Smartphone apps account for two-thirds of all growth in digital media engagement in the past two years, and those users spend the most time using social networking apps.

Photo apps were found to have some of the highest engagement in users, and the photo app Instagram is the second most used mobile app among US adults in the age group of 18-34 years.