Skip to main content

Instagram helps researchers monitor underage drinking

Although one of the most popular platforms for sharing filterized selfies, or images of the sky, or of whatever we had for lunch, it seems that Instagram has followed the path laid down by Twitter and Facebook, and has evolved into a network that can actually provide helpful data. A team of researchers at the University of Rochester found that Instagram photos and text can expose drinking patterns of underage drinkers cheaper and faster than conventional surveys. Furthermore, Instagram images help to pinpoint new patterns, such as the types and brands of alcohol that different demographics prefer.

Part of the reason researchers can more easily examine and observe teenage drinking habits through Instagram is because of the willingness of young people to share their experiences with alcohol consumption publicly, even while underage.  If you wanted to monitor underage drinking consumption pre-Instagram, according to the researchers, you were limited to administering surveys to teens directly. For example, Monitoring the Future, administers a survey to American students in secondary school and college, as well as young adults, specifically asking about 50,000 eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders about their personal drug and alcohol use.

Recommended Videos

The greatest challenges faced when rounding up data by traditional methods, however, is that surveys of this magnitude, while funded and supported by organizations such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, can be expensive. Not to mention the likelihood that many of the survey participants will answer less than honestly.

However, Instagram data has its drawbacks as well. Since there currently isn’t a way to filter Instagram users by age, you have to basically guess which drinkers are underage. Jiebo Luo, profess of computer science, says the research team actually uses “computer vision techniques” that can teach computers to extract information straight from images online. This method allows them to analyze Instagram faces to come up with a fairly close guess for the person’s age, gender, and race.

Some of the findings seemed a bit obvious — for example, the Instagram research found that just like adult drinking, underage alcohol consumption occurs most on weekends, holidays, and at the end of the day. Probably more helpful was the data disclosing the alcohol brands teenagers follow, and the brands, by gender, that young people prefer. According to the researchers, this data can help identify the brands attracting teenagers on social media, and although this information could be used by marketers to further target users who are likely to follow the brand, Luo’s hope is that the data helps inform government agencies and schools and assists in designing effective interventions. The goal is also to eventually use Instagram data to address and help with other teenage issues such as teen pregnancy, stress, or depression.

Christina Majaski
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Christina has written for print and online publications since 2003. In her spare time, she wastes an exorbitant amount of…
Meta plans to bring Avatars to Reels and video chat
A Meta Connect 2022 screenshot showing Mark Zuckerberg avatar.

Meta has announced further plans to expand one of its VR features to its other social media and messaging apps.

On Tuesday, during the keynote of its Meta Connect 2022 event, the parent company of Facebook announced that it would be working on bringing its Horizon social VR avatars to Reels, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Read more
TikTok pivots to photos while its competitors are still chasing its viral videos
Smartphone with TikTok's Photo Mode all on a white background.

TikTok's competitors have been all over the news recently for essentially copying the short-form video sharing app's  most successful moves. But while everyone else is pivoting to video, TikTok is now taking swings in the other direction: photos.

On Thursday, TikTok announced a slew of new editing and creation features, but the one tool that caught our eye was Photo Mode. Because the image that TikTok shared in its official announcement depicted a photo carousel-style image post that looks a lot like Instagram.

Read more
Get ready: there could be more ads in Instagram’s future
Instagram app on the Google Play Store on an Android smartphone.

It's possible that Instagram users will see more ads in their favorite photo- and video-sharing app going forward as parent company Meta is apparently experimenting with new kinds of ads.

MarketWatch reported on Tuesday that Meta announced that Instagram would see "three new advertising types." These new ad types are Explore ads, profile feed ads, and the third type was described as a "multi-advertiser ad."

Read more