A New Development in the Debate About Instagram and Teens

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses Meta's (formerly Facebook) new pilot program that will allow a small number of researchers to access Instagram data to study the app's effects on the well-being of teens and young adults.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Meta's New Pilot Program

1. What is the purpose of Meta's new pilot program?

• The purpose of the pilot program is to allow a handful of researchers to access Instagram data for up to 6 months to study the app's effects on the well-being of teens and young adults.

2. What are the key details of the pilot program?

• Meta is seeking proposals from researchers that focus on certain research areas, such as investigating whether social media use has different effects in different regions of the world.
• Meta plans to accept up to 7 submissions for the program.
• Researchers, not Meta, will be responsible for recruiting the teen participants and obtaining parental consent.
• Researchers will have access to data such as how many accounts participants follow and how much they use Instagram, but certain data like user demographics and content will be off-limits.
• The program is being run in partnership with the Center for Open Science (COS), a nonprofit organization.

3. How do researchers view this pilot program?

• Some researchers are regarding the program with trepidation, as social media platforms like Instagram are essentially "black boxes" that have made it difficult for outsiders to directly link the app to mental health effects.
• However, others see the program as a valuable resource, as social media companies have "treasure troves of data" that researchers could not amass on their own.

[02] Challenges in Studying Social Media's Effects

1. What are the challenges in studying social media's effects on mental health?

• Social media platforms like Instagram are essentially "black boxes", making it difficult for outsiders to draw direct links between the app and its possible effects on mental health.
• Academic researchers do not have access to the vast amounts of data that social media companies possess, which could help answer important questions about the impacts of social media.

2. Why is the data from social media companies valuable for researchers?

• Social media companies have access to large amounts of data on user behavior and activity that academic researchers could not gather on their own.
• This data could help researchers establish clearer connections between social media use and mental health outcomes, which has been challenging to do without access to the companies' internal data.