How do Australians use Instagram?

Revealed: The first study into how Aussies use Instagram
 
-       Instagrammers in Sydney, Brisbane & Gold Coast post the most ‘selfies’
-       Sunday at 5pm is most popular Instragram time
-       # Australia leads brands; car companies feature strongly top 50

Sydney and Brisbane are the ‘selfie’ capitals of Australia while Melburnians prefer posting pictures of food according to the first study into how Australians use Instagram.

People taking pictures of themselves and posting to Instagram is a popular pastime in Queensland with the Gold Coast also topping the ‘selfie’ table. In Adelaide more artistic images are posted than any other, while users in Perth prefer portrait piccies.
 
The findings are part of the latest Datafication study from Sydney-based advertising agency The Works in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney’s Advanced Analytics Institute. They have analysed more than three million geotagged Australian Instagram images since the platform launched in 2010.
 
Nationally, posed portrait images of people are the most popular Instagram posts followed by pictures of food and then selfies.
 
Selfies lead in Sydney followed by portrait snaps and then food. In Melbourne food is a clear favourite for Instagrammers with selfies and artistic shots trailing. Selfies top in Brisbane followed by food and miscellaneous images.
 
Douglas Nicol, creative partner and director at The Works said: “Selfies are more than just the me culture and narcissism, there is a lot of benchmarking happening. People want to know how they rate in terms of hotness and body image versus complete strangers – it’s effectively gamifying your body.”
 
Instagramming in the evening
Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform in Australia with more than 1.08 million users in April 2013 according to estimates from socialmedianews.com.au.
 
The Datafication research found that Sydney Instagrammers post the most followed by Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The average active Australian user posts 2.3 times a week.
 
The most popular day of the week for Instagram use is Sunday at 5pm while during weekdays the peak usage time is 8pm.
 
To see the top 20 most liked and commented Instagram images per state for the past month and year, and for more detailed information on the Datafication Instagram study visit http://www.datafication.com.au.
 
Australia’s Top Brand#
As brands get to grips with managing their presence on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram looks set to be the new battleground as user numbers continue to increase but many major advertisers fail to properly engage with the platform.
 
The number one Australian hashtag is #instagood used more than 1.6 million times followed by #photooftheday which features in excess of 1.3 million times.
 
In contrast company brand hastags are used significantly less. The study found #Australia is the clear leader in the Top 50 with more than 855,000 hashtag mentions. But brands such as Nike in sixth only rate just under 15,000 mentions and McDonald’s in ninth just under 7,000.
 
Nicol adds: “The number of brand tags used by Australian Instagram users is very low compared to the highly popular hashtags like #instagood. This indicates that Australian marketers have not yet embraced Instagram, which is surprising as it is the fastest growing social media platform in Australia."
 
Dr Suresh Sood, business development manager at UTS:AAI said: “The largest study of Instagram use in Australia has uncovered some interesting insights into just how people are using Instagram and what it can mean for companies that want to use it. It’s clear that more work needs to be done by brands to engage with the platform.
 
Launched in October 2010, Instagram has more than 100 million active monthly users worldwide. 40 million photos are posted each day with 8,500 likes and 1000 comments made per second. In April 2012 Facebook acquired it for $1 billion.  
 
The Datafication findings are the latest in the series of research carried out by The Works and UTS to help Australian marketers get usable insights into how people are really using social media. Visit http://www.datafication.com.au for details of the previous studies on Twitter as well as get the latest results from the Instagram research.
  
Top 30 Instagram #brands in Australia
1.     #Australia
16.  #Disney
2.     #iPhone
17.  #BMW
3.     #Canon
18.  #Cadbury
4.     #Apple
19.  #VW
5.     #Facebook
20.  #Lindt
6.     #Nike
21.  #Toyota
7.     #Ford
22.  #Audi
8.     #Nissan
23.  #LornaJane
9.     #McDonalds
24.  #VB
10.  #Ikea
25.  #Volkswagon
11.  #Holden
26.  #Shell
12.  #Android
27.  #Ferrari
13.  #Coke
28.  #Starbucks
14.  #Maccas
29.  #GloriaJeans
15.  #Corona
30.  #Shimano
 
Most popular Instagram posts by category
Melbourne:    1. Food; 2. Selfie; 3. Artistic
Sydney:        1. Selfie; 2. Portrait; 3. Food
Brisbane:      1. Selfie; 2. Food; 3. Portrait
Perth:           1. Portrait; 2. Food; 3. Scenic
Adelaide:      1. Artistic; 2. Food; 3. Scenic
Hobart:         1. Miscellaneous; 2. Portrait; 3. Scenic
Canberra:      1. Scenic; 2. Portrait; Artistic
Darwin:         1. Scenic; 2. Portrait; 3. Food
Gold Coast:   1. Selfie; 2. Miscellaneous; 3. Portrait