IF I WORKED AT INSTAGRAM
INSTAGRAM WELL-BEING
YOUR STORY ISN’T OVER
💁🏼♀️ "IF I WORKED AT" SERIES
This post is a part of a series where I use my passion for Product Design to shamelessly make improvements to the applications and websites of companies I want to work for.
HIRE ME, HERE’S WHY!
🧠
It’s Mental Health Awareness Month
So I wanted to look at the impact of social media on our well-being.
Did you know
Instagram was ranked the
#1 worst platform for mental health.
In conducting research I found that Instagram is especially harmful for those suffering with depression and/or eating disorders. Earlier this year glorified images of self-harm were found on Instagram which contributed to a number of suicides. Instagram is working hard to ban and remove this content but is censorship going to support the mental health of their community? Only time will tell.
As a Product Designer 👩🏼💻 and someone who has struggled with mental illness, I wanted to explore additional ways Instagram could support our mental health in order to build a safer, kinder, more supportive platform.
Instagram Well-being
Did you know Instagram has a Well-being Team
that focuses on building supportive features?
This is an amazing initiative with so much potential 👏. In order to raise awareness for Mental Health Month, I designed an Instagram Well-being feature to support those suffering depression and/or eating disorders.
Here is a list of what has changed:
Search
Surprise Me
Explore
Support (not Report)
Resources
😢
1. Search Self-harm
When someone searches for self-harm content they are not acting in their best interest.
Instagram Now
When you search for self-harm, this Can we help? pop-up appears. The disclaimer warns that this content “can cause harm and even lead to death” but does allow you to See Posts Anyways.
It’s great that Get Support is easily accessible, but sometimes the mental barrier is what makes getting support inaccessible.
Say hello to
Instagram Well-being
This Instagram Well-being pop up is intended to feel supportive through its branding, copy, and resources in an effort to reduce the mental barrier.
In order to make support more approachable I have added a Surprise Me button which redirects you to helpful alternatives. By making this intervention more playful, it increases the likelihood of someone accessing helpful content.
I mean, who could resist a touching a button that says Surprise Me?
🎉
2. Surprise Me
But what exactly is the surprise?
For your Well-being
Similar to Suggested lists when browsing Explore, Well-being recommends accounts and hashtags that could offer support. The goal is to offer positive alternatives in order to reduce time spent looking at self-harm related content.
Look at the #hashtags
The well-being branded #hashtags are supportive programs Instagram’s Well-being team has already created. Instagram could use this section to promote their initiatives.
🔍
3. Explore
Regardless if you are searching for harmful content or not, I believe it’s important to have Mental Health Awareness messaging within Instagram. The more we normalize the topic of mental illness the greater probability that someone will recognize that they need help.
Mental Health Awareness
Your Story Isn’t Over
The Feed and the Explore tabs feature mental health awareness messages that could lead you to support resources.
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4. Support
(Not Report)
Reporting someone a “inappropriate” is the only way you’re able to notify Instagram that someone is in need of support, but is this language discouraging people from acting?
I do not believe self-harm content should be allowed on Instagram, but I also do not believe relying on community members to report this content is an effective or supportive way of removing these images or helping these individuals.
Send Support
I created the Send Support button to increase the likelihood of someone notifying Instagram that this person needs support.
Send SPECIFIC Support
I have also included the ability to identify the type of support they need.
Sometimes the biggest barrier to getting support is telling someone what you are struggling with. Being able to send resources specific to someone’s needs could increase the number of people who actually get help.
Support Notification
After someone is identified as needing support, they would receive a notification letting them know someone is thinking of their well-being.
Tapping on the notification would bring them to support resources specific to their needs.
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5. Resources
The only way I can consistently find support resources in Instagram is from the Can we help? pop-up when I search for triggering words like self-harm.
Your Well-being
The simplest design change I have made is putting the support resources in an easy to find location that does not involve searching for harmful content.
Your story isn’t over
Instagram Well-being
Although Instagram has been ranked #1 worst social media platform for mental health, I think small design changes can have a big impact. By designing Instagram Well-being I wanted to not only raise awareness for Mental Health Month, but I also wanted to create a safer and more supportive Instagram community for everyone.
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