Work Text:
Unpacking Social Media Engagement, or the Measured Impact of Instagram Stories on Your Crush: A Five-Month Case Study
Samira Mohan, MD
Abstract
Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers, i.e. users can choose to designate users to a preapproved Close Friends list and choose to upload media to Close Friends Story. We report a five-month case study measuring the impact of Instagram Stories on the object of your romantic and/or sexual attraction. This is the first case to be reported from my department and other proximal social groups. Accurately measured impact of social media engagement and thorough examination of multiple criteria and data points, coupled with strategic use of the Instagram Close Friends feature, will lead to better outcomes for those desiring to be coupled up.
Keywords: Instagram, Stories, Close Friends, Heart React, Spice, Response
Introduction
Instagram Stories were released on August 2, 2016, as a feature for sharing temporary photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, directly competing with Snapchat's popular format and quickly becoming a core part of the platform for authentic, in-the-moment sharing. Instagram's Close Friends feature launched for Stories in 2018. Since its creation, users have been able to add up to 100 accounts to their Close Friends list to share Stories, Reels, and Posts instantly to a trusted circle of confidants. Commonly, posts, photos, and videos shared with Close Friends may be of a more serious or personal tone, have sexual, vulgar, or racy content, or be shared with concealing identifying details in mind.
There have also been documented uses of Close Friends in order to conduct social engineering, cybersecurity, and psychosexual means testing. There are many cases of celebrities who have utilized altering their Close Friends list in order to disseminate different versions of false information in order to determine which of their confidants leak information to the media. Hackers have, on more than one occasion, taken control of a popular Instagram account in order to conduct phishing through manufacturing situations of urgency and need. On a smaller scale, popular teen and women’s magazines such as Seventeen and Cosmopolitan have been dishing out tips on how to utilize a Close Friends list of one in order to engender and analyze reactions from a crush.
I present a case of utilizing Instagram Stories and Close Friends as a means of collecting aggregate data to determine whether or not romantic and sexual feelings are reciprocated by the subject of my study. As this was my first experience encountering such a case, I recommend a few measures that can be taken when collecting useful, determinate data from the subject of your study.
Case Report
A 46-year-old man (heretofore referred to as the subject) reactivated his Instagram account at the instigation of his nieces at an extended family gathering. Upon reactivating his account, the participant followed multiple friends and coworkers, including the author of this case study, heretofore referred to as the participant. Upon opening up the app and seeing the notification that the subject had followed her, the participant decided to follow his account as well, or more colloquially, “follow back.” The subject relayed the interaction with his nieces to the participant upon presenting to the emergency department at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center for his next scheduled shift, and communicated he did not intend to utilize the app much, as he prefers to avoid social media due to operational security concerns.
Immediately prior to arriving at the emergency department for her shift the next morning, the participant posted an Instagram story documenting which coffee shop she had purchased coffee from while en route to the hospital. Less than one minute after posting, the participant received an unrelated Instagram notification that re-opened the app to the Stories page, where it was determined that the subject had already viewed her story.
It was at this point that the participant determined it would be relevant to conduct an informal study into if this event was unique, or if the same result could be achieved through repeated tests. Over the course of the following week, the participant created a loose social media schedule based on overlapping and non-overlapping work shifts, mutual interests, and a shared sense of humor. During this time, the average Story view time was determined to be 160 seconds, with 6 recorded subject responses to 10 different Instagram Stories and Close Friends Stories. During this time, the subject did not approach the participant about his placement on her Close Friends list.
Based on early success, it was determined that additional testing would be useful and conclusive. The participant created a more structured social media deployment initiative, during which she would slowly scale back her Close Friends list until only the subject remained. This would allow her to employ a variety of tests and types of photos, short-form videos, and shared posts. Data was obtained over the course of the next five months, with the study initiating in the first week of January and concluding at the end of May.
Aggregate data are shown in Table 1 for a breakdown of Instagram Story Post Rate, Subject Response Rate Totals, Subject Response Rate by Type, Photo Spiciness versus Average Response Time, Story Post versus Average Story View Time, and Close Friends Story Topics.
Instagram Story and Close Friend Story posts were broken down into four main categories: Medicine, Mental Health, Fit Checks, and Errands. Each category’s posts consisted of an organic mixture of photos, videos, and memes. Due to the subject’s and participant’s profession and interests, posts skewed heavily towards Medicine and Mental Health. Fit Check posts were utilized to determine observation and response to the participant’s clothing choices outside of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, and Errands posts were used to demonstrate similar habits, such as frequenting local restaurants and cafes, libraries, museums, parks, specialty grocery stores, hobby shops, and other local destinations.
In addition to dividing Story posts into public versus Close Friends posts, and then further into Story Topics, posts were also designated a Spicy versus Not-Spicy tag. Due to the subject matter, all Spicy posts were also categorized as Close Friends posts, but not all Close Friends posts were designated as Spicy. It became a data point of interest to break Spicy down into four further categories upon initial review of early data, at which point Spicy posts would also be tagged as No Skin, Tame, Spicy, or Sexy based on amount of skin show, tightness of clothes, expression on face, insinuation of activity, and mood lighting.
In addition, analysis of early data determined it would be useful to break down Story Responses into types, categorized as Heart Reacts, Story Replies, Text Messages, and In-Person interactions. While Heart Reacts were the most frequent mode of response, they were often coupled with Story Replies, Text Messages, and on occasion, In-Person interactions.
As the study progressed, it became clear that there was significance to cross-matching participant Story post type with subject Response type. The topics Fit Checks and Errands provoked the most consistent Heart Reacts, it was Errands and Medicine that received the most text-based and verbal responses. In fact, Errands and Medicine received almost a 2:1 ratio of Heart Reacts to Text Messages, but when Heart Reacts were analyzed against the other three categories of response as a whole, they figured out to an almost 1:1 ratio.
On the other hand, while Mental Health and Fit Checks received the most Heart Reacts combined, the ratio of Heart Reacts to other responses is much higher, coming in at 5:1 and 4:1 respectively. We must conclude that the subject is more comfortable discussing Medicine and Errands with the participant than Mental Health and Fit Checks, even though they average out in levels of engagement.
While response times early on in January were largely consistent with each Story post type receiving some form of response within 100 and 180 seconds, over time the average response time differentiated by type. Not all Story post types had an image/video and text that strictly aligned. For example, a post may be classed as a Medicine type post based on relevant text superimposed over an image of the participant’s legs in a bathtub. As an additional example, a post may be classed as an Errands type post based on a location tag on a self-filmed video of the participant’s face as she drinks an iced matcha latte.
All Story types were strategically designed to be more and more intimate as the study progressed. For example, posts about Mental Health started as memes and lighthearted references to media, and progressed to Story posts and Close Friends posts about the participant’s more personal mental health struggles, grief journey, and experiences with racism and sexism and how they impacted her daily life.
Posts about Errands started with coffee runs before the participant reported to Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center for her shift in the emergency department and progressed to Story posts about daily workouts, grocery lists, library and bookstore selections, and appointments with medical professionals.
Story posts centered on Medicine started as references to new journal articles from major trade publications and light-hearted insights on the participant’s 12-hour shifts as a new attending physician, but progressed to more serious topics such as disparities in care, reflections on case reports as they impact current healthcare issues, and eventually to discussions of the participant’s father’s death in an emergency department and the participant’s struggles with adrenaline crashes, physical aches and pains, and negative interactions with patients at the end of the day.
Lastly, Fit Check Story posts started with pictures and short videos of the participant in work-issued scrubs and modest attire, eventually foraying into gym clothes and going out clothes such as dresses and skirts, and then as the weather warmed, bikini and cover-up photos at the beach during a Spring Break trip, eventually culminating with pictures of the participant in revealing pajamas, loungewear, and athleisure.
As the study progressed, average response time to Mental Health and Fit Check Story posts decreased by an average of 50 seconds. Medicine dipped slightly in the first three months of the study, and then increased by a small amount. Despite not achieving a downward trend, Mental Health averaged out to a response time of 60 seconds over the five months of the study. Fit Checks started higher than the rest, but increased at a much larger amount by the end of the study, an average of 175 seconds.
Lastly, I analyzed the willingness of the subject to pass the threshold of engagement on Spicy Close Friend stories. As defined earlier in this report, any type of post can earn the designation of a Spicy post, as Spice level exists outside of Topic.
Out of 46 Spicy posts, 7 were categorized as No Skin, 12 were categorized as Tame, 20 were categorized as Spicy, and 8 were categorized as Sexy. At first, Spicy content was largely No Skin and Tame. After January and February, Spicy posts began to be included in the data set. In April, the participant began posting Sexy content to her Close Friends story.
Out of 46 Spicy posts, 41 posts were responded to. The 5 posts that did not receive a response were all posted in January, implying an early hesitance on the subject’s part that was later overcome. The most frequent method of response, and lowest threshold of engagement, was Heart React. The next most common was Story Reply. The steep drop-off of reports between Story Reply and Text Message implies that a successful engagement is directly correlated to the subject not leaving the Instagram app. Out of all Response types, only 1 In-Person response was recorded, which necessitated informing the subject of his unwitting involvement in the study, and precipitated the end of the observation period.
Discussion
The utilization of Instagram’s Story posts and Close Friends posts may not be suitable for a first line of assessment, but proved a useful tool in this specific case, with this specific subject. Common complications with psychosexual means testing through social media posts may be moderate to severe based on the subject of the study. Subjects who are more likely to take offense at social manipulation and targeted instigation would, for instance, likely balk at their nonconsensual participation in such a study. It is important to select the subject of your study based on several criteria, which are not limited to but may include: previous flirtations, proven interest in your personal life, proven interest in your career progression, defending you to your boss, and offering to drive you home in inclement weather.
When a subject presents with multiple positive criteria, it is important to consider whether the subject’s interest may be purely platonic. At this time, it is appropriate to consult with other professionals who may provide observations and diagnostic criteria of their own. In this case, the subject had the opportunity to be observed by many fellow medical professionals at the emergency department, who in turn were able to provide their evaluations on if the subject was suitable for study. The fact that the subject did not question the participant at his placement on her Close Friends list, and did not largely vary in his viewership of her Instagram stories, was also proof positive for his involvement with the study.
The subject was observed for a period of close to five months, during which the relationship between the subject and the participant deepened considerably both inside and outside of their shared workplace. They discovered commonalities in how they enjoyed their coffee, where they liked to eat breakfast, shared DoorDash habits, and shared many journal articles and case reports. In addition, they discussed a depth of topics that might not have otherwise come up organically, such as depression, anxiety, complex-post traumatic stress disorder, grief and grieving, sexism in medicine, and workout routines.
The day before the study concluded, the participant posted a Sexy story of herself in a silk burgundy robe that revealed her left areola and nipple, in addition to a sizable quantity of her sternum, clavicles, and shoulders. When the participant presented at the emergency department the next night to provide coverage for a sick employee, she was eventually pulled aside by the subject who expressed concern at the photo. The subject was clear in emphasizing that he was not criticizing her choice to post the photo, but was merely anxious to reassure himself that she was aware of the permanence of a digital footprint, and the importance of making sure that she only shared such photos with people she could trust.
It was at this point that the participant disclosed to the subject his involvement with her study, and that he was the only Instagram user on her Close Friends list. It was at this time that the subject disclosed that he was unaware that the participant could see that he had viewed her Story posts. In retrospect, the participant may have had success in being forthright with her attraction and affection without conducting the study, but it was a useful means in building confidence.
Conclusions
At the end of the shift, the participant completed handover and badged out of the emergency department, the subject still in the middle of handing over a complex case to a day shift attending. Willing to exercise patience, the participant walked to the hospital parking deck. Approximately 20 feet from her vehicle, the subject caught up with her on foot. After reassuring himself that he had correctly interpreted the participant’s behavior, the subject kissed her on the mouth. Immediately following, the subject once again offered to drive the participant home. Upon clarification of sexual intent, the subject drove both himself and the participant to his home, where they spent the next 48 hours together before reporting for work.
This case study describes a situation that may in fact, be unique in the participant’s unwillingness to be forthcoming with her wants or desires and in the subject’s hesitancy to make the participant uncomfortable in a shared workplace despite multiple years of trust, mutual fondness, and great respect. The atypical meeting of the participant and subject as medical student and attending physician initially raised concerns of power imbalances, underscoring the later diagnostic challenge.
Acknowledgements
[1] Santos, T, for being a shit-stirrer of epic proportions.
[2] King, M, for providing measured commentary when asked.
[3] Evans, D, for never minding your own business when you could be minding all of ours.
[4] Charli xcx for the song party 4 u.
[5] Abbot, J, for waiting all those years, for always trusting me, respecting me, and teaching me, and for putting up with me and my convoluted hijinks. Oh, and for loving me. I guess.