Abstract—Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social medium, is rapidly gaining popularity. The State of Kuwait presents an excellent case for exploring the influence of culture on Instagram use. Like other Arab countries, the traditional culture of Kuwait greatly affects the attitudes and behaviors of its People. It is interesting to examine the influence of gender on Instagram use activities. In Kuwait, the culture, besides security reasons, inhabits females from disclosing contact information. The central theme of this research paper is to understand gender differences on Instagram use by Kuwaiti higher education students. This study confirms that males are more likely than females to post their personal pictures on Instagram, more likely to disclose their personal information and more likely to have public accounts unlike females who are more likely to have private accounts than males.

Index Terms—social media, gender differences, cultural differences, media and culture, usability, Instagram

Cite: Ali J. Al-Kandari, Ahmed A. Al-Hunaiyyan, and Rana Al-Hajri, "The Influence of Culture on Instagram Use," Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 54-57, February, 2016. doi: 10.12720/jait.7.1.54-57