Instagram is playing an important economic role in Iran, as about one-eighth of Iranians use this social network to earn income.
Domestic and foreign reports show Instagram is one of the most widely used social networks in Iran.
Statistics published by the US-based Beta Research Center show one million more Iranians have joined Instagram since January 2021, which increased domestic users of this application from 47 million to 48 million.
Studies indicate that a large number of Iranian homepages on Instagram pursue home-based and informal business activities, Ebinews.ir reported.
Experts believe that the social platform has gradually transformed into a big market for small and home-based businesses, such that their livelihood is now tied to people’s access to Instagram.
1.7 Million Businesses
Instagram and similar social networks have eliminated the need for having substantial initial investments to cover overhead expenses, such as renting a workshop or store.
Surveys from the Beta Research Center show 1.7 million businesses were active on Instagram in the fiscal 2020-21. These businesses include at least 200,000 large and medium-sized businesses and 500,000 provincial and local businesses, each of which has been the source of generating income regularly.
About 1 million pages on Instagram also generate a minimum income for entrepreneurs.
Earlier, Tejarat News had published a report quoting the Statistical Center of Iran, which showed that 65% of Iranians use social networks and messengers, and 20% of them (or 11 million people) earn money through social networks.
The above-mentioned statistics show that the livelihood of 11 million Iranians depend on the internet and social networks.
The Meta-backed social network topped the list of revenue-generating platforms in Iran with a share of 83%, which means about 9 million people are earning money through Instagram.
Since there is no legal and official authority to monitor exchanges on Instagram, the amount of turnover from goods and services exchanged on this platform cannot be calculated.
The main business fields in Instagram are clothing, followed by cosmetics, jobs in the fields of consulting and services, as well as businesses related to home appliances and food supply. These are followed by interior decoration, jewelry, car accessories, flowers, plants, animals, books, cellphones and electronics products.
Covid-19 and Online Businesses
With the expansion of internet access and curbs on social interactions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, people's preference for online shopping is growing worldwide, including Iran.
E-Commerce Development Center of Iran has released the results of a seven-month (March 21-Oct. 22) nationwide survey on the status of online businesses, IRNA reported.
Faranak Abolmasoum, the head of E-Commerce Monitoring Office at the center, said 51.9% of online businesses are retailers and wholesalers, 20.5% are service providers and 27.6% are active in both fields.
According to the survey, 80.6% of online businesses take orders via social networks, in addition to their websites, 34.1% use mobile messaging apps and 26.8% have developed brand-specific mobile and web applications.
Instagram, the social networking service that accounted for the lion's share of Iran's e-commerce, was used by more than 86.2% of online shops. WhatsApp Messenger was the second most popular media tool for businesses with online activities (50.3%).
According to Abolmasoum, 75% of online shops used Iran Post Company's delivery services, 31.4% benefited from intercity transit services, 30.4% utilized their own delivery channels and 25.5% availed of private postal services for delivering parcels to customers.
The survey showed men placed 62.9% of online orders while women accounted for 37.1%.
E-Commerce Development Center of Iran also found that 93.6% of the surveyed businesses used private investments for development.
Officials attribute these developments to the country's expanding ICT infrastructure and believe Iran's e-commerce sector has the potential to grow further, if the telecommunication services operate at a higher capacity.
NIN as a Base
The country’s ICT outlet, known as National Information Network, was launched in August 2016 as a tool for offering electronic and smart services as well as a powerful platform for the local internet.
Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technologies Isa Zarepour has declared that the integrated network project will be completed in four years.
“After around two decades of foot-dragging, it is finally time to give the initiative one last push,” he added.
NIN was first proposed in 2005 by the ICT Ministry as an alternative and independent network with content compatible with Islamic values to facilitate Iranian users’ access to indigenous content. After a long-running saga, the project was launched in August 2016.
Zarepour stated that to address the obstacles of NIN expansion, public education about the network's potentials, the creation of a rich content generation chain and the convergence of many sectors to use NIN in their activities would be extremely beneficial.
“Budget allocation policies should be changed, project implementation efficiency should be improved, foreign and private investors should be attracted and wastage of money and time should be reduced,” he added.
The minister noted that domestic ICT enterprises, mobile operators and tech teams should also play a bigger role in NIN development.
