IG: From Photographers' Filters to Taiwan's 'Fragile' Anxiety

30-Second Overview:
Instagram is the visual business card for 11.3 million people in Taiwan. According to the TWNIC 2025 Report, although IG usage remains stable as the second most popular social media platform in Taiwan (21.07%), it has declined from 23.89% in 2024. More noteworthy is the rise of Threads (nicknamed "Cui" in Taiwan), which jumped from outside the rankings to third place with a 4.57% usage rate, surpassing X, TikTok, and PTT. This has made the tension between IG's narrative of "refined aesthetics" and "Cui's" culture of "real controversy" the most interesting fault line in Taiwan's digital life in 2025.

"My girlfriend felt her photos weren't good enough."¹ In 2010, Kevin Systrom and his girlfriend Nicole Schuetz were taking a walk on a beach in Mexico. This sentence led him to write the first filter—X-Pro II² that same afternoon. The photo of a taco stand processed with the X-Pro II filter became Instagram's first uploaded work, marking the starting point of the visual culture transformation over the next fifteen years.

The 1:1 Square Frame and "Literary Youth" Vibe: IG's First Wave in Taiwan

Instagram's initial spread in Taiwan followed the path of the "literary youth" (wenqing) community. The 1:1 square composition and retro filters gave ordinary Taiwanese street scenes an old-film feel. For Taiwanese users accustomed to the chaotic feeds of Facebook, IG provided a pure visual order—each person's page became a carefully curated mini-exhibition.

📝 Curator's Note: In Taiwan, IG filters are a social contract—everyone agrees to display only the brightest 5% of their lives.

Usage Patterns Behind the Numbers

The DataReportal Digital 2025: Taiwan report indicates that Instagram's advertising reach in Taiwan has reached 48.8% of the total population; among Taiwanese adults aged 18 and above, over 56.2% are active users³. The TWNIC 2025 Report shows that Instagram's usage rate ranks second among Taiwanese social media platforms (21.07%), a decline from 23.89% in 2024⁴.

The contrast between these figures is interesting: DataReportal's advertising reach statistics look at "how many people can actually be reached by ads on IG," while TWNIC's usage rate survey looks at "how many people self-report using IG." Two different calculation methods, two different answers, together depicting a platform whose coverage is saturated but whose active stickiness is beginning to decline.

Algorithmic Shift: Reels and the Anxiety of "Watch Time"

Between 2024 and 2025, the biggest shock to the IG ecosystem in Taiwan came from the platform itself: Meta officially confirmed in its Q4 2025 earnings report that core metrics have fully shifted to "Watch Time" (total watch time)⁵, with the algorithm deploying heavy resources to Reels short videos to compete with TikTok.

This has suffocated many creators who have been deeply rooted in Taiwan for years. Hootsuite's 2026 trend analysis points out that IG's core algorithm has shifted "from simple reach to deep engagement"⁶—a 15-second casual video with a high completion rate often beats a meticulously edited static photo that took three hours to produce. Taiwanese photographers, food accounts, and lifestyle creators are all re-evaluating their creative strategies in this wave of transformation.

The Surprise Attack of "Cui"

Just as IG seemed to be becoming increasingly heavy, Threads (nicknamed "Cui" in Taiwan) unexpectedly went viral in 2024. The TWNIC 2025 Report shows that Threads' usage rate in Taiwan reached 4.57%, surpassing X (Twitter), TikTok, and PTT to become Taiwan's third largest social media platform⁴.

"Cui" fills the gap of Taiwanese users being "afraid to tell the truth" on IG. IG's logic is to maintain a refined persona; "Cui's" algorithm favors controversy, leaks, and public trials⁷. This "IG handles beauty, Threads handles arguments" dual-habitat ecosystem allows both platforms to find different emotional outlets for their users.

The Discrepancy Between Digital Accessibility and Misinformation

The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) 114th Digital Accessibility Survey indicates that the household internet connectivity rate in Taiwan has reached 93.4%⁸. However, another set of numbers from the TWNIC Report is more noteworthy: over 60% of Taiwanese people adopt an "intuitive identification" attitude towards misinformation⁹.

A highly penetrated social media ecosystem encountering low-systematic fact-checking habits is the real challenge Taiwan faces in the era of rapid dissemination on IG and Threads. The issue of digital accessibility has long advanced from "whether one can connect to the internet" to "how to judge what one sees after connecting."

Beyond the Filters

From the first X-Pro II on a beach in Mexico to the countless swiping fingers on the Taipei MRT, Instagram has changed the way Taiwanese people view the world. It has taken Taiwanese food and scenery to the international stage, but it has also trapped life within the anxiety of the 1:1 frame.

The rise of "Cui" perhaps illustrates one thing: when filters have become refined to the point of distortion, what people ultimately want may be that unadorned, real, and messy connection.

Further Reading:

• Facebook: From the Crazy Farming Craze to the Double-Edged Sword of Digital Democracy — Meta, IG's parent company, has another stronghold in Taiwan. From the 2009 Happy Farm craze to the 2025 censorship controversies, it is necessary background for understanding Meta's Taiwan strategy.
• Threads in Taiwan — IG's "Cui" alter ego, how it exploded from zero to become the third largest platform in Taiwan in 2024, and its symbiotic and competitive relationship with IG.
• History of Migration in Taiwan's Online Communities — From BBS, Wretch, Plurk to Facebook, IG, and Threads, the collective migration history of Taiwan's internet users provides a long-term perspective for understanding IG's declining trend.

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