Not sure why of all the social media available, you decided to choose the one whose main aim is the sharing of images ... of course some blind people use it, but you are bound to have a harder time than if you picked almost anything else.

How about not focusing on giant companies with so many controversies that there is a Wikipedia article for those alone, and it lags when loading? I know it is the cool and trendy thing not to care about one's privacy — and given that I gave in and joined Reddit, I can hardly judge — but Facebook is an evil of its own.

Have you heard of Mastodon? Not as popular, perhaps, but there is a reason why a small blind community has developed on it (mainly on DragonsCave.space, but also elsewhere); it is incredibly accessible out of the box, with other frontends like Pinafore for those that want them, accessible apps for both major mobile operating system, and more image descriptions than anywhere else by far. And it is a part of a large network of social media that can all communicate between each other, called the Fediverse, which includes alternatives to YouTube (PeerTube), music streaming services (Funkwhale), and even Instagram, if you want something similar (Pixelfed)

No pressure; do whatever is easiest/most interesting for you. But I bet your analysis would be incredibly cool if you thought out of the box. :)

I rarely use Instagram. Probably the most useful accessibility feature of Instagram is the alt text field. When you are posting a picture describe it in there. The text won't be shown, but the screen reader can read it. And if you post a video, if there is important text in there, like a URL, phone number, opening and closing time and the like, and a narrator doesn't read it, add that text to the post, because we won't have access to it.

The app is very accessible but the content just isn’t. Of course your exception sues rule depending on the content it decide to follow but the majority of it has content that has no descriptions to what you’re watching or seeing.

Instagram is a very one-way experience for me. I post things every now and then, but never actually scroll through the main feed. My only uptick in its use came with Clubhouse, since Instagram and Twitter were the primary ways you'd be able to communicate with people from Clubhouse before they made their own private messaging system. I also have Instagram tied into dating apps like OkCupid and Tinder, giving a more accessible picture uploading experience than those apps actually offer.

I hate that I can't just switch the Instagram usernames to actual names since I always forget who is who on that platform. Even with the alt text additions to the platform, people hardly use it and it's just a slog trying to navigate the app with VoiceOver.

A short answer. The Instagram is not fully accessible.

Because of our Discord event this week - OP didn't see the weekly thread. We will let this one hold and thank you to whoever reported I didn't even notice this post this morning.