Analysis of Instagram adverts in the context of user experiences within the framework of surveillance capitalism

The name of this phenomenon, which sees users as products and turns their spending time on social networks or websites without doing anything into financial income, is: Surveillance capitalism. Every step users take, everything they do to spend time, whether necessary or unnecessary, turns into data, and this data is monetised by selling it to companies or advertisers. Global companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Google, whose applications, websites and social networking sites are used by many people in their daily lives, are the best at monetising user data. These companies, which are at the forefront of surveillance capitalism, sell the data they obtain from users to any company that wants to sell something on the Internet. Surveillance capitalism uses many technologies, but it cannot be equated with any technology. Its activities may involve platforms, but these activities are not the same as platforms. It deploys machine intelligence, but cannot be reduced to machines. It produces and relies on algorithms, but it is not the same as algorithms. In the context of these definitions, the study aims to reveal the effort to understand the laws of surveillance capitalism, which affect the lives of individuals in many ways, through the experiences of individuals. The study has a quantitative research method and the data were obtained by applying the survey technique. The questionnaire was applied online with a total of 548 participants, 403 of whom were male and 145 of whom were female. The sample of the study consists of Instagram users between the ages of 20-25 and residing in Istanbul. In the survey study, three different scales were used to measure users' privacy and surveillance concerns on social media, the way they experience Instagram adverts and their subjective norms. For the use of these three scales, necessary permissions were obtained from the experts who created the scales within the framework of ethical rules. As a result of the survey, the following results were obtained. Surveillance Capitalism can affect user experiences through social media platforms such as Instagram as a post-panoptic tool. These effects can be explained as follows; Instagram encourages users to create and share visual content. Therefore, it was observed that this incentive directed users to create more aesthetic and perfect content. As a result, it can be said that the display of perfect images and lives creates a kind of perfection pressure on users. While Instagram promises individuals to brand themselves and create a certain image, it can be said that it causes users to strive to gain social approval and appreciation by presenting themselves in a certain way. Since Instagram offers a continuous flow of content with instant posts and stories, it triggers the fear of being left out or missing something. Therefore, it can be said that users spend a significant portion of their time on this platform as they frequently visit the platform to stay up-to-date. Since Instagram offers products and services according to the interests of users through personalised advertisements, it can be stated that it influences consumer behaviour and leads to the preference of certain products and brands. As a result, social media platforms such as Instagram shape users' behaviours, perceptions and values. Surveillance Capitalism monitors and analyses consumer behaviour through these platforms and creates more effective advertising strategies.