Instagramming food by Lebanese users under “Lebanoneats” hashtag

Abstract

“Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology” said Brian Solis (March 14, 2012), Digital Analyst and Anthropologist, Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, Human Being. This quote could be the best label to describe how people have perceived social media since day one. This thesis tackled the gratifications an Instagram user gets upon posting food images. It explains the reasons behind this immense trend of people sharing their food with friends, family, and even strangers following their social media accounts. For this purpose a literature review covered few researches done before in order to answer this topic by highlighting the main points mentioned in other studies and focusing on the uploaders themselves to check what they found as results in order to challenge another angle. This thesis examines the gratifications a Lebanese user on Instagram gets when sharing food images with others such as building a self-image through food photos, becoming an influencer, and unleashing the inner photographer in him as part of promoting his talents . The uses and gratifications theory was applicable to the subject because this theory is the most common among others allowing us to analyze the content such as image, caption, and the use of hashtags. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were applied to achieve the study objectives by conducting three interviews with famous Lebanese food bloggers who represent the Lebanese population in addition to an online questionnaire with 170 respondents. Data were collected, analyzed and interpreted into findings answering the research questions and hypothesis.