About
Dr. Felix Jan Nitsch is a behavioral scientist and postdoctoral researcher at INSEAD’s Marketing Department, focusing on the intersection of social media and public well-being. He researches how and why users engage with social networking platforms and how this affects their emotional well-being.
Challenge
To study the behavior of social media users, Dr. Nitsch needed to gather vast amounts of data from Instagram. Through partnering with The Bright Initiative, Dr. Nitsch was given access to Bright Data’s Dataset Marketplace where he was able to filter through the Instagram data to create a comprehensive set of data relevant for his study. This allowed a profound exploration of user behaviors, content dissemination patterns, and the overall effects of social media interactions on individual self-awareness.
Impact
This study found key insights about why and when users post on social networking sites. His research illuminated the nuanced ways in which social evaluations shape user content-sharing habits and the manner in which platform interactions mold individual self-conceptions. Specifically, the research suggests that users present themselves in a positive way. This behavior is not only reinforced by the feedback they receive but they are also lured in by the shiny successes of other users. These findings not only enrich academic discourse but also provide actionable insights for marketers, regulators, and social media platforms, emphasizing the importance of nurturing positive well-being dialogues in the digital space.
