The Majority of Instagram Users are Young, Amateur 'Tech-Challenged' Professionals

Today, BuzzFeed posted a very interesting infographic originally published by Marketo (News - Alert) titled, “What Your Instagram Filter Says About You.” As it turns out, the mobile app that allows the average Joe to become an amateur photographer and transforms your breakfast into a work of art can now detail what kind of person you are based on what kind of photos you snap and share. Among its 100 million monthly active users, 40 million photos taken every day and 1,000 comments per second, the question is: where do you fit in?

The infographic makes it very easy to see just who uses this app, where today’s youth users and young professionals battled to take the cake as the app’s main demographic. However, teens to young adults reigned supreme as the app’s main user-base, boasting a solid 34 percent – specifically, between the ages of 18-24. Meanwhile, anyone between the ages of 25-34 trailed closely behind with 33 percent of the total app’s users. Following that was one-fifth being tweens and teens aged 12-17, and then 13 percent aged from 35-54.

 Also, women outrank men when using Instagram by 10 percent (55 percent to 45 percent).

So how are Instagram users categorized? In quite the variety of ways, including:

•          Normal: The Professional/Amateur: This gang encompasses the majority of Instagram users by a landslide at a cool 43 percent. This group is described as being “tech-challenged amateurs who still can’t work their smartphones or [are] tech-savvy frauds.” In other words, we know you didn’t perfectly hue that picture of your teacup yorkie who is literally sitting in a teacup. It’s cute, but you’re not fooling anyone when pretending like it wasn’t filtered.
•          Early bird: The Wannabe Wes Anderson: This sounds just right to me! I am very proudly a morning person, and so for us early birds (10 percent of Instagram users), we like to snap some sweet yet reminiscent shots of things that strike a nice balance between simplicity and beauty. According to the infographic, these are usually in soft, muted colors that somehow scream the 70’s and modern living at the same time.
•          X-Pro II: The Optimist: Apparently, 8 percent of usage is targeted toward those who have a knack for bright colors. If it’s cloudy and gloomy outside, who cares! Just up the ante on your colors and you’ve somehow created a beautiful sunrise or something that makes us think of metaphors and hidden meanings to life. Well done.
•          Valencia: The Light-Sensitive Snapper: Essentially the complete opposite of “The Optimist,” The Light-Sensitive Snapper likes to dull things down a bit in a way that, according to the infographic, doesn’t really capture our interest. Think of a pale surfboard lying on a nearly identifiable beach because the colors have been toned down so much. I can kind of see what the infographic means here.

These are just the top five types of Instagram users. If you fit into any of the above, congratulations you now know your Instagram pseudonym! If not, then you’re a much rarer breed, and therefore, must check out the infographic in full by clicking here.