Instagram to conduct a survey on users in the U.S. about their “RACE”

New: Instagram has recently announced an optional survey on its U.S. users to determine how different communities experience Instagram. Says it will help them establish a more equitable platform. 

Through this survey, Instagram is seeking to gather and measure demographic information, like race and ethnicity. 

In the announcement post by Instagram on Thursday, they have said that – “Starting today, we’ll ask a random assortment of people on Instagram in the United States to participate in an optional survey where they can share this information.”

How will it work? 

So, basically, some Instagram users in the U.S. will find a prompt on their screens that will take them to a survey led by YouGov, an international research group that helps companies securely run surveys. 

These encrypted responses from YouGov will be split to sent across Instagram’s Partner Research Institutions, including Texas Southern University, University of Central Florida, Northeastern university, and Oasis Labs.  The combined analysis will then be shared with Instagram. 

They have also assured the users, committing that – Neither Instagram nor the institutions will be able to connect responses to individuals or their Instagram accounts.

Key Takeaways: 

1. This survey is absolutely optional.

2. Your responses will be completely encrypted and remain de-identified.

3. This will not, in any way, hinder your Instagram User Experience.

4. Information gathered by the partner institutions will be deleted after 30-days.

This survey is driven by the intention of making Instagram, a more fair and equitable landscape. 

While this initiative seems so right as it will help Instagram understand user-experience in-depth, and leverage its full potential, people might get a little hesitant about sharing their personal details at this moment, so early.