It’s so easy, just have a look
Over the past year according to The South African Social Media Landscape 2015 report YouTube and Instagram have seen a user increase of 53% and 65% respectively, and even most news reports reiterate this lately speaking about how most youth have migrated from Facebook to Instagram and that marketers need to be using that platform to access them.
In an effort to learn more about these photo and video sharing apps here are three views on why visual is king in youth culture.
An image of a photograph on Instagram speaks to the youth’s desire for immediacy and instant self-gratification because as the saying goes, “A picture tells a thousand words.” Therefore visuals cut out the clutter and delay of text, which on social media platforms has taken a secondary role. You’re then rewarded with an image that although accompanied by a few words of hashtags is powerful enough to get the message across on its own.
Moving pictures aka the video known to be found on Google owned site YouTube can create a memorable event that capture an audience. Proven in the rise of what is today termed as the ‘social media celebrities’, which are people who became rich or gained fame from using social platforms such as YouTube to post their videos of which young people are loving, following, watching and sharing with their peers’ every day. A classic case being Justin Bieber who was discovered on YouTube before becoming the musician he is today.
Lastly living your life in pictures has become a cool novel experience made easier and possible with the latest technology of smartphones. All you do is visualise, plan and achieve it by either posting videos on YouTube or snapping photos to place onto your Instagram account. The user experience adds to the fact that young people love to stage their experiences to their peers by showing them a side of their identity through visuals of video and photo of where they hang out, eat, what they wear and that they were there at a particular event or concert.