I recall the professor discussing the importance and role of culture within society. 

Something along the lines of, "culture is a system of unquestionable, engrained values and beliefs". 

The past weeks, I've been attending a series of conferences. Naturally, as expected, the word "trend" has been thrown around in conversation several times. It's weak, hasty and absolutely superficial. Just like the usage of the word "robust" but that's topic for another post on designing good language. 

My point? Let's take Instagram and apply to cultural human behavior. There is value placed on personal invention and reinvention. Tons of pictures are uploaded to the platform every minute, and this most definitely reflects a cultural need to reinvent ourselves throughout moments in the day. 

Recently, Instagram announced the release (click here to view) of video. Was this development based on trends? Nope. We want to see visuals come to life, moving away from the static form and into a dynamic narration. 

Simply stated, pay attention to culture, not trends.