Willingness to Accept for Instagram Accounts. First Empirical Evidence

Finding an incentive compatible method to assess account values can be seen as the bedrock of social media research across all platforms and is of crucial importance for researches and practitioners alike. This study presents a new method of applying the willingness to accept (instead of the commonly applied willingness to pay for establishing account values on Instagram), by modifying a randomised Vickrey Auction. Primary research among 1024 participants and 409 Instagram users measured the willingness to accept, in relation to demographic variables, account and interaction metrics. The average account was valued at 100 € median, correlating significantly with participants' income and prevalently with the number of followers. Other significant correlations were found in the duration since sign up, number of posts, average number of likes and comments as well as the decision to establish a micro blogging business. Findings are discussed by regarding the limitations and implications for Instagram's business model in terms of a Freemium model, insurances companies offering privacy enhancing features and ad campaign pricing when users engage in brand collaborations.