Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Mass Media, grade: 1.33, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, language: English, abstract: "We're communicators by nature, and things like Instagram offer us a new language to speak with" say Daryl Peveto and Matt Slaby from Luceo Image Agency in a recent interview about the shifts in the paradigms of photographic and online communication (Laurent, 2012). Considering the increasing volume of communication via online channels, their words may be interpreted as not surprising at all. However, the universe of social media platforms shows a great diversity in terms of the distinct offerings for different motivational needs of the users. Inspiring from this variance, this paper will first highlight the distinct features of Instagram. Secondly, the paper will attempt to assert Instagram into an alternative and empirically supported framework of social media goals by Hoffman and Novak (2012) in order to differentiate its utility from other platforms. Thirdly the paper will critically compare and contrast Instagram and other well-known social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, Google+) on the basis of variety of theories like social interaction, self-understanding and self-expression. A subsequent conclusion will then be formulated with respect to the whole analysis.