Sliding DMs

Instagram DMs have become one of our main hangout spots online. But what’s really going on in there?

To find out, we dug into our own chats: three accounts, tons of messages, and an analysis to see which types of interactions take over.

ATTACHMENTS / TEXT DMs RATIO

Before looking at what we say, we looked at what we actually send. And the first thing that jumps out is that our DMs function less like conversations and more like mini content feeds. Photos, videos, memes, screenshots — our instinct is to share before we speak. This chart shows just how much our interactions revolve around sending things rather than writing things.

We don’t talk much but we share a lot.

TEXT MESSAGES CONTENT

When we talk what are we talking about? When we isolate written messages from everything else, something becomes immediately obvious: our texts are short. Very short. Most of them barely stretch beyond a couple of words. This chart highlights how much our communication style leans toward quick responses rather than developed thoughts.

To seperate « simple messages » from more developed ones we filtered the message-content with keywords like « but, or, and, therefore, or, neither, because » and open-end question marks.The gap becomes even clearer. Messages where we take the time to explain something, add connectives, or actually develop an idea are extremely rare. Our DMs stay in the realm of instant reaction rather than meaningful conversation.

We don’t go deep in conversations but we react in simple manners.

REACTING INSTEAD OF TEXTING BUT WE DON'T SNOB

Reactions play a huge role in our DMs. They allow us to respond without actually typing anything — the purest form of low-effort communication. The percentage of reacted messages and ultra-short responses shows that we mostly interact by confirming, not conversing.

And when we do react with words, it’s still extremely minimal: “haha”, “omg”, “yes”, “love”, “lol”, “crying”, “wow”. This top 25 perfectly captures our DM vocabulary — short, positive, and effortlessly supportive.

We share encouraging and positive reactions. 😍

EMOJIS LOVE LANGUAGE

Emojis have become a core part of our messaging. They don’t just complement text — they replace it. The number of emojis per message shows how naturally we express ourselves through symbols rather than words. Emotions are compressed into visual shortcuts.

Some messages don’t contain a single word. Just emojis. And somehow, everyone still understands perfectly. It’s like a new intuitive language we all learned without noticing — fast, expressive, effortless.

The top-used emojis make the story even clearer: our communication is overwhelmingly positive, exaggerated, and emotional — hearts, tears, laughs, sparkles, pleading faces. We talk in symbols long before we talk in sentences.

Emojis became a kind of language replacing words — we talk in symbols.

POSITIVE LOW EFFORT

Instagram DMs are used to instantly react to the content we see and share more content to see We react mainly in positive way and 76% DMs need less than 5 clics . Emojis became kind of our instant love language: it’s not ghosting or ignoring — it’s low-effort positivity.

We show presence in the fastest, shortest, simplest, friendliest way possible. 👍