The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the use of social networking platform Instagram among young people

S svojo diplomsko nalogo želim prispevati k množici raziskav, ki se ukvarjajo z daljnosežnimi posledicami, ki jih je pandemija imela na najrazličnejša področja življenja mladih. Instagram je eno od najhitreje rastočih družbenih omrežij, njegovi vplivi na duševne procese, vedenje, navade in stališča mladih, pa so obširni. Da lahko le te uspešno preučujemo, moramo najprej dobro razumeti, kakšne prakse uporabe so prisotne med mladimi. Namen naloge je raziskati, kako je na vsakdanjo uporabo Instagrama med mladimi vplivala pandemija. S kvalitativno raziskavo sem želela ugotoviti, ali je pandemija vplivala na čas, ki ga mladi preživijo na Instagramu, vsebino, ki jo iščejo in stališče, ki ga o Instagramu imajo. Rezultati kažejo, da je bila časovna poraba med pandemijo sicer večja, vendar to lahko povežemo s povečano količino prostega časa, ki so ga v času pandemije imeli nekateri intervjuvanci in ni trajno povečala časa, ki ga namenijo Instagramu. Večji vpliv je bilo opaziti na vsebinsko rabo Instagrama. Najpomembnejša funkcija je bila ohranjanje socialnih mrež, najmanj pomembna pa sledenje slavnim in vplivnežem. Posodobitve Instagrama, ki prioritizirajo sponzorirane objave in oglase, so tako med mladimi precej nepriljubljene. Kljub temu, da večina mladih na Instagramu zaradi komunikacije s prijatelji še vedno preživi največ časa, je zaznati upadanje njegove popularnosti, ter vedno večjo priljubljenost TikToka.The purpose of the thesis is to add my part to the growing list of researches about long term effects of the pandemic on different aspects of young people\u27s lives. Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks, and its influence on youth\u27s mental health, behavior, habits, and opinions is significant. In order to study it, we must first understand, how young people use Instagram in their everyday life. My project was to research, if and how, did the pandemic influence this everyday use. A qualitative research has been done to discover the potential effect the pandemic had on the amount of time spent on Instagram, content young people searched for, and the opinion they have about Instagram. The results indicate that even though they spent more time on Instagram during the pandemic, it did not influence the time they spend online after it. The influence on the purpose they use Instagram for, was more apparent. While maintaining social relationships was the most important aspect of Instagram use, following famous people and influencers seemed to be the least relevant one. Updates that prioritize sponsored posts and ads were not well accepted. While young people still use Instagram most, we cannot deny its decreasing, and TikTok\u27s increasing popularity