Instagram’s global community is a pretty remarkable thing and I feel very lucky to watch how so many people use it every day to share stories, connect and support each other. We know, however, that the debate about technology’s impact on our lives is as important as it is challenging, and at Instagram, we want to be part of that conversation — to listen and improve — so that we can help be part of the solution.
From all the accounts I follow, some are a real daily reminder to me of the kind of positive change we can bring about by sharing personal stories online and supporting others to do the same. Luanne D’Souza, for example, is using Instagram to challenge the notion of the ‘perfect body’ and help move people away from unhelpful stereotypes when it comes to body image. Similarly, Shereen Mitwalli Butler is on a mission to inspire and offer encouragement to female entrepreneurs in the region, by offering advice and encouragement to young women in direct messages and comments on a regular basis.
We want to help foster this positivity, which is why last year our company founders made a public commitment to make Instagram the safest, most supportive online platform. As someone working at the company, when they made this announcement, I know how much has happened and how quickly — we have reassessed priorities, reassigned engineers and researchers, and aligned teams around the goal of fostering the safest, kindest, most supportive global community. As a result, we’ve rolled out a number of tools and resources to make our community safer and empowered to express themselves. Things like launching a filter that automatically hides the most offensive or inappropriate comments and giving people the option of turning comments o altogether.
Our commitment to fostering kindness online also means we get to shine a spotlight on some of the most inspiring accounts in the Middle East who are championing this approach in such exciting ways. We held our first ever ‘Power of Kindness’ panel in Dubai for World Kindness Day where we celebrated some of the communities of support that are growing on Instagram, and the individuals who are building a culture of positivity online through their own accounts.
The Middle East is home to some of our most engaged and passionate community members who in the last few months alone have used the new right-to-left functionality to post in Arabic script to express themselves in even more innovative and creative ways on Instagram. As our commitment to well-being and kindness deepens, the inspiration we draw from this region will continue to grow. Today it’s about giving a voice to the people celebrating imperfections and challenging stereotypical concepts, such as ‘perfect’ skin, by sharing fresh-faced selfies using #skinpositivity and #acneisnormal. I always look forward to tomorrow when I can open up Instagram and discover the next trend, account or community who are striving to spread kindness and support to others in new ways.
We have barely scratched the surface. Our work is far from finished and our commitment is stronger than ever.
