Instagram has in a few years amassed 800 million monthly active users who upload a mindboggling 70 million images daily making it among the top social networking platforms today. Followers can like the posts, comment on them, and even share them. With operations that are so massive, Instagram quite obviously generates a huge data volume that can be a treasure trove of information if analyzed properly. Instagram has already started using concepts of big data as well as artificial intelligence in an attempt to get insights into the behavior of users.
Information and Content Search
Instagram users can discover content on subjects of their choice or trending events, places, people, and things by using hashtags and trending information. With millions of images being uploaded every day it is quite natural that the average Instagram user will miss most of the activity; using hashtags is a convenient way of discovering the content of interest.
Improving the User Experience
It is important for Instagram to demonstrate to users the value they will find in it and this is only possible if the platform can deliver to them the content that they will like. It is evident that as the number of users and the number of posts keeps on increasing, it can become very difficult for the users to find information that is relevant to them. It is to help overcome this challenge that Instagram employed machine learning algorithms to give priority to content customized to individual user preferences and profile instead of the chronological feed on accounts of followers for Instagram.
Targeted Advertising
To lend value to the tons of data that Instagram collects every day, it needs to make sense out of it by extracting customer behavior and demographic insights. By assessing this information, Instagram is better poised to sell advertising that is more specifically targeted to companies that will ensure a better ROI. This also helps them to sell communication solutions to companies that are interested in talking to niche audiences. Essentially, Instagram will be able to isolate audiences by their demographics, preferences, interests, and past browsing and purchase behavior so that custom messages can be developed to address them.
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Spam Filter
Instagram fights spam messages using DeepText, an artificial intelligence algorithm developed by its owner, Facebook. According to information available, the algorithm is almost human-like in its ability to comprehend the message context and that too in as many as nine languages; English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, being main. With the help of this filter, Instagram is able to detect and delete fake messages from individual accounts. DeepText is also increasingly proving to be effective in countering cyberbullying for which Instagram was acquiring notoriety. DeepText is becoming more adept at identifying and removing content that is offensive in a particular context.
Conclusion
Instagram is all set to further leverage machine learning concepts to extract customer insights that factor in social, economic, and cultural aspects. From an exclusive focus on social networking, it is likely to transit to be a big data company with a deep understanding of human behavior.
Harris is a leading blog writer and content marketing professional with thousands of real Instagram followers for his postings.