Gender Differences in Instagram Hashtag Use

ABSTRACT This article draws on two theories—uses and gratification and the James–Lange theory of emotion—to investigate gender differences in Instagram hashtag use. The study content analyzes 1,382 Instagram posts with the hashtag #Malaysianfood and categorizes them as informative/emotional and positive/negative. The results show that compared to male users, female users tend to use emotional and positive hashtag descriptions. This study also finds a positive relationship between the number of hashtags used and both the number of followers and likes. Finally, the results suggest a high satisfaction with Malaysian foods based on the number of positive and negative hashtags. Academically, this study adds to the limited Instagram and hashtag literature, expands the online gender behavior literature to hashtags, and introduces hashtag sentiment to measure user satisfaction. Companies should consider gender preferences in Instagram, and other social media, hashtag use to attract and keep target customers.

[1]  J. Singer,et al.  Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. , 1962, Psychological review.

[2]  E. Katz,et al.  Uses and Gratifications Research , 2019, The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies.

[3]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[4]  P. Lang.  The varieties of emotional experience: a meditation on James-Lange theory. , 1994, Psychological review.

[5]  Rajita Sinha,et al.  Multivariate Response Patterning of Fear and Anger , 1996 .

[6]  Thomas E. Ruggiero.  Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century , 2000 .

[7]  A. Rubin,et al.  Predictors of Internet Use , 2000 .

[8]  Victor Savicki,et al.  Computer Mediated Communication: Gender and Group Composition , 2000, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[9]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  An Examination of Factors Related to Sex Differences In Enjoyment of Sad Films , 2000 .

[10]  Sally J. McMillan.  The Microscope and the Moving Target: The Challenge of Applying Content Analysis to the World Wide Web , 2000 .

[11]  Bo Pang,et al.  Thumbs up? Sentiment Classification using Machine Learning Techniques , 2002, EMNLP.

[12]  Stephen B. Wicker,et al.  Fundamentals of Codes, Graphs, and Iterative Decoding , 2002 .

[13]  Helena Bilandzic,et al.  Communication and emotion. Essays in honor of Dolf Zillmann , 2003, Z. für Medienpsychologie.

[14]  Christine Lee,et al.  How Does Instant Messaging Affect Interaction Between the Genders ? By , 2003 .

[15]  Gordon B. Davis,et al.  User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View , 2003, MIS Q..

[16]  N. Mundorf,et al.  Gender Socialization of Horror , 2003 .

[17]  K. Scherer.  What are emotions? And how can they be measured? , 2005 .

[18]  Hsiu-Fang Hsieh,et al.  Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis , 2005, Qualitative health research.

[19]  John C. Paolillo,et al.  Gender and genre variation in weblogs , 2006 .

[20]  Alex Messina.  Public relations, the public interest and persuasion: an ethical approach , 2007 .

[21]  Chien Chou,et al.  Gender differences in Taiwan high school students' computer game playing , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[22]  Eszter Hargittai,et al.  Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[23]  Daantje Derks,et al.  The role of emotion in computer-mediated communication: A review , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[24]  John Raacke,et al.  MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[25]  Katherine A. Karl,et al.  Social Networking Profiles: An Examination of Student Attitudes Regarding Use and Appropriateness of Content , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[26]  Adam N. Joinson,et al.  Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people?: motives and use of facebook , 2008, CHI.

[27]  Fang Wu,et al.  Social Networks that Matter: Twitter Under the Microscope , 2008, First Monday.

[28]  P. Markey,et al.  The role of extraversion and neuroticism in influencing anxiety following computer-mediated interactions , 2009 .

[29]  W. Minker,et al.  Handling Emotions in Human-Computer Dialogues , 2009 .

[30]  J. Bruce,et al.  Morning cortisol Levels in preschool-aged foster children: differential effects of maltreatment type. , 2009, Developmental psychobiology.

[31]  Kerk F. Kee,et al.  Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment: Facebook Groups, Uses and Gratifications, and Social Outcomes , 2009, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[32]  M. Khemlani,et al.  Communication Mode Among Malaysians , 2010 .

[33]  Xiaolong Wang,et al.  Topic sentiment analysis in twitter: a graph-based hashtag sentiment classification approach , 2011, CIKM '11.

[34]  P. Redding.  FEELING, THOUGHT AND ORIENTATION: WILLIAM JAMES AND THE IDEALIST ANTI-CARTESIAN TRADITION , 2011 .

[35]  Tamara A. Small.  WHAT THE HASHTAG? , 2011 .

[36]  Daniel M. Romero,et al.  Influence and passivity in social media , 2010, ECML/PKDD.

[37]  Shyhtsun Felix Wu,et al.  Anti-preferential Attachment: If I Follow You, Will You Follow Me? , 2011, 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust and 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Social Computing.

[38]  Alex Pentland,et al.  Awareness as an antidote to distance: making distributed groups cooperative and consistent , 2012, CSCW.

[39]  Rob Law,et al.  Perceptions and Strategies of Hospitality and Tourism Practitioners on Social Media: An Exploratory Study , 2012, ENTER.

[40]  Benedikt Jahn,et al.  How to Transform Consumers into Fans of Your Brand , 2012 .

[41]  B. Loader,et al.  What the hashtag? A content analysis of Canadian politics on Twitter TAMARA A . SMALL , 2012 .

[42]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use by national tourism organisations , 2013 .

[43]  Ana María Munar,et al.  Trust and Involvement in Tourism Social Media and Web-Based Travel Information Sources , 2013 .

[44]  R. Law,et al.  Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality: A Literature Review , 2013 .

[45]  Jessie Donaghey,et al.  An instagram is worth a thousand words: An industry panel and audience Q&A , 2013 .

[46]  Eva García Martín,et al.  Hashtags and followers An experimental study of the online social network Twitter , 2013 .

[47]  Subbarao Kambhampati,et al.  What We Instagram: A First Analysis of Instagram Photo Content and User Types , 2014, ICWSM.

[48]  Yan Jin,et al.  From #mcdonaldsfail to #dominossucks: An analysis of Instagram images about the 10 largest fast food companies , 2015 .

[49]  Deborah C. Fowler,et al.  Social Media Marketing: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory in the Hotel Industry , 2016 .

[50]  Jisun An,et al.  #greysanatomy vs. #yankees: Demographics and Hashtag Use on Twitter , 2016, ICWSM.

[51]  Cristina State,et al.  Hashtag Progress: The Digital Fingerprint of Web 2.0 on Tourism and Hospitality Industry Management—A Case Study for Romania , 2016 .

[52]  Jamie Murphy,et al.  The Role of Information Quality, Visual Appeal and Information Facilitation in Restaurant Selection Intention , 2016, ENTER.