I’ve not written a post on my blog for a while and I was preparing for an Instagram live session yesterday when I realised how much I missed writing and how much I enjoy sharing my insights and being part of a discussion. Instagram is a great place to establish your aesthetic and connect with people but a blog adds a completely different dimension. If Instagram was the picture, then the blog would be a nice frame to put it in.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch our live (we were having technical issues with the connection so you didn’t miss much) Phoebe and I were discussing how Instagram is changing the way we communicate and interact with each other. Thinking about it now, I’ve met more people through Instagram in the last 6 months than I did for my 3 years at university. Has our generation become comfortable with meeting people through this platform? Did we move away from meeting people the traditional way?
I did a poll on Instagram asking people if they met someone on the platform and became really good friends after and the majority of votes (58%) were for ABSOLUTELY. I always thought that Instagram is one of the best things that happened to our generation because there’s no more boundaries and you could meet people halfway across the world and become friends. It removes distances between cities, countries and continents and all of a sudden we’re all part of the same community regardless of where we are in the world.
Another great thing about Instagram is finding people with similar interests and a similar vision to yours. You can tell right away by looking at someone’s feed if they’re “your type” of person. Which leads me to another topic I wanted to discuss at the live yesterday but thanks to technology and bad connection we didn’t get this far. The Social Media Factor – How big a part does Instagram play in shaping your opinion about others? Do you get a certain vibe about people just by reading their captions and looking at the images they post?
I can certainly say I do. And my opinion has been right most of the time with a few exceptions here and there. In that case, can we say that Instagram has become an extension of our individuality? Is it too bad that we would overlook someone’s skills and knowledge just because they don’t “market themselves” correctly on Instagram? Because let’s be honest here, there must have been a time when you met a person, exchanged Instagrams and you were disappointed to see their feed wasn’t that great and the last time they posted something was Christmas. Or the joy of having to request to follow someone because their profile is on private *eye roll*
And the last thing I wanted to mention and I feel like this is probably the most important. How do we make ourselves stand out on Instagram? I’ve been reading so much about copying others on social media lately and Sophie Milner wrote a great post on Instagram’s copycat culture. You can read it here.
Taking inspiration from someone is one thing but trying to copy their content is on a completely different level. I had a very interesting conversation with a lady from an Influencer Marketing agency last week and when she asked me what my favourite influencers were, I gave her a few names. She then said “What is it that you like about all these people?” And then it struck me. What all these people have in common is the same thing that makes them stand out. It’s called PERSONALITY. Being you is something nobody can replicate and if you have to make sure you inject your personality into your content as much as you can. Because at the end of the day, this is what people will relate to, and this is what’s going to keep them coming back again and again.
