The study has investigated motives for the use of Instagram, and its relationship to contextual age and narcissism.
There were four authors of the study and one of them is Sandra Car at Zagreb University.
Croatian students’ Instagram use reflects collectivist tendencies (e.g., social interaction), while American students’ Instagram use reflects individualistic tendencies (e.g., self-promotion), according to the findings of the study which included also the cross-cultural comparison of Croatian and American social network sites and explored cultural differences in motives for Instagram use.
"American students are inclined to use hashtags for documentation. Croatian students tend to use hashtags for self-promotion, social interaction, and creativity," according to the findings.
The abstract of the paper reads that "although Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media, scholars are yet to examine cultural differences among users’ behaviour. The current study compares motives for Instagram use between participants from two countries: Croatia, a highly collectivistic culture, and the United States, a typically individualist culture. "
"Findings reveal that while motivations behind Instagram use do not vary across cultures, different forms of gratification determine how Instagram is used, and how culture moderates these relationships. Croatian students’ Instagram use reflects collectivist tendencies, primarily social interaction. American students’ use of Instagram reflects individualistic trends, namely self-promotion and documentation. In addition, American students’ self-promotion gratifications are significantly related to the amount of time spent on Instagram, although this effect is not apparent among Croatian students. While American students are inclined to use hashtags for documentation, Croatian participants tend to use hashtags for other reasons, including self-promotion, social interaction, and creativity."
In Croatia, there are an estimated 670,000 users of Instagram, making up 15% of the total population, and in the USA, there are 77.5 million registered users, or 24% of the country's population.