Instagram really is the marmite of the blogging world for me. It’s one of those social media apps I enjoy scrolling but I previously haven’t enjoyed it as a blogger or social media person. I Don’t Use Instagram For Blogging for a variety
Authentication When I used to have an instagram for my blog, I used to find myself staring over at a lot of other bloggers that I really aspired to be like, I wanted my feed to look like theirs. I started to feel over the course of months that the “me” part of the instagram was fading and my feed was so influenced by those I was influenced by that I wasn’t being my most authentic self. I started to feel very lacklustre and honestly it got me down so much because what I wanted more than anything was to be successful on the gram, and it was just way too numbers orientated for me. I also found that as an underline, I was only sharing the more glamorous parts of my life, like when I went out for food, or when I was doing something that I thought would appeal to other bloggers. I wasn’t sharing the things that I genuinely loved, the things that genuinely inspire me. I wanted to be something that I wasn’t. I think that this might be a different case if I used Instagram for my blog now, as I’m far more confident with myself as a person, and I know who I am and what I love, but 20 year old me really struggled with this side of social media, a lot. I feel like I fell into a heavy hole of wanting the Instagram lifestyle, more than a ‘successful’ instagram if you get what I mean. I think there can be just a fundamental issue of only showing off the positive sides to your life, for your own mental health and for those who could be influenced by what you post. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers Back in the day, I used to think of Instagram just as numbers game. Really you need a substantial amount of followers for brands to work with you, nowadays I feel like micro-influencers are more popular., and it felt like you needed too put an incredible amount of effort in to liking, commenting, and making sure that your following was constantly growing. It started too feel like you HAD to be constantly on instagram working, plugging away so that you were constantly improving. The Algorithm now is even worse, so I can’t even imagine how this works now-days. I also personally found the follow for follow, follow to unfollow games really irritating as well. I’d constantly have people following me for a follow back and then unfollowing almost instantly. It used to be really damaging for how I felt about my growth especially when some brands, or brand outreaches would want a specific amount of followers, and I wouldn’t quite be there but I would feel like I was getting further away every time someone unfollowed me. Privacy I think I’ve mentioned this at the beginning of the post, but sharing lots of personal details and parts of my life on the internet, makes me morbidly uncomfortable. I think and I’m going to say this, in regards to how I feel about it, there has to be a line as to what you will and won’t share. otherwise you could fall into the trap of literally sharing everything about your life on the internet. I personally chose not to show my family or friends my blog, and if I had an instagram this sort of information would literally be accessible to anyone who clicks it. Absolutely anyone can watch what is going on in your life, and I don’t know if I want people have that kind of power over my life, which is another reason I’m exceptionally careful about what I tweet as well. Which might sound silly, but in a digital age, I feel like it is better to be safe than sorry, that and I wouldn’t want anything I posted to be held against me in the future. It’s Too Time Consuming Personally I don’t think I could have an instagram without wanting to do it full time, and I barely have the time to write as much as I would like too. With Instagram, going out to take photos, editing photos, creating story content, it is all a lot. I think the further up the line you get the more professional you are going to want your content to be which makes it a lot more time consuming to create, especially if you’re editing photos, video footage and trying to consistently post when you can. Like I sad I just don’t think in 2020 I have the time for it, although I have so much respect for those that do. I’d love to know what you think about Instagram, and your relationship with it, for the most part I only use it for my Art account nowadays to push sales of my prints. If I’m honest I only post on that a few times a month.
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