Instagram’s top tags and trends for 2022 (including iceberg lettuce) reveal a bunch of boring commoners doing dull-ass things
Instagram has delivered the first edition of its ‘Trends Report’ for 2022 today and the findings are… can we say common as muck?
Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Queensland’s Airlie Beach, Melbourne’s metro laneways, and the Sydney Opera House… These are four of the most common spots where Instagram users checked in and tagged themselves. Not the mystical periphery of Uluru. Not the fabulous flea markets of Fremantle. Not even the spot where daddy or granddaddy first called home when they landed in this country.
Just a couple of boring beaches, some dark and dirty laneways, and an unfinished landmark that everybody else has already been to – proven by the fact that the Opera House is the most popular spot where Instagrammers tag themselves.

The Sydney Opera House now Insta-filtered to kinda match the green lettuce.
The report reveals that Melbourne city is Australia’s most tagged location in 2022 while it also included these fascinating findings:
The top 5 emojis among Gen Z Australians on Instagram are: ❤, 😍,🔥,🤍,😂.
The most used emoji by Australians on the platform was the Australian flag while the most used emoji by Gen Z in Australia was the red love heart.
The top trending hashtags were #australia, #art, #love, #photography, and #melbourne.
The top Australian song on Reels (Instagram’s competition to TikTok videos) was ‘Coastline’ by Hollow Coves – probably because users thought it would be really clever to play a song called ‘Coastline’ while they were, like, walking along the beach.
And among the top trending subjects on Reels were the ‘Down Under Dance Challenge’, Mardi Gras, ‘Splendour In The Mud’, Petrol Prices, Flu Season, and the Lettuce Crisis – which begs us to wonder if Instagram users in Australia are a bunch of party-goers, racing off from one gig to the next, spreading Covid/flu in the process, and munching on lettuce for sustenance since the rest of their money has been used up in rushing to all the places fellow Instgrammers have already been to.
But that’s just a hunch.
Antonino Tati
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