nerwin
Been spending a lot of time on here!
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
- Messages
- 3,790
- Reaction score
- 2,066
- Location
- Vermont
- Website
- nickerwin.com
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
I spend so much time on Instagram because I'm trying to get more followers and likes. I have to post certain photos, certain editing style, certain times of the day, certain hashtags and follow trends. It's an incredible amount of work to just get 15+ followers and then to only have them all unfollow you within minutes if you don't follow them back and it makes you depressed because you've spent hours doing it all that work.
I loose probably and hour or two a night of sleep because I have to stay up and do my "Instagram work" around 11pm - midnight because that is when my account apparently gets the most interaction.
Recently I had a follower comment on a photo of mine and they said they will unfollow me if I don't share my camera settings. I'm like what the heck? Seriously? Now you get threats of unfollow if you don't conform to them?
I hate it. This is not the way it should be. But that's the way it is on Instagram if you want to get any kind of exposure on that social media platform.
The thing is, you can't compete with a billion other users who have thousands upon thousands of followers which are probably not even real people to begin with anyways because more than half of them are probably bots & paid followers.
If you really think about it, Instagram isn't a photography app anymore. It's a lifestyle app. People's Instagram accounts are highlight reels in which portrays them as having an amazing life but they probably are having the same problems with life we all experience. It's just a persona.
So I thought about just deleting my account and moving on with my life but I was reluctant, why? Even though I don't have many followers or get many likes on my photos, I have connected with a handful of awesome other photographers and people who I have similar interests with whom I'd never would've met if it wasn't for Instagram.
Which leads me to another point. It should never be about quantity, but quality. I'm not saying necessarily quality work, because we all can't produce National Geographic quality work every day but what I'm saying is finding people to connect with who inspire each other and communicate frequently with is so much more important than getting that extra like or follower who will probably just unfollow you anyways.
What are your thoughts on Instagram? I don't what to do whether or not I should abandoned it or continue to use the platform but not participate in so called Instagram mafia?
Yes, it was kind of a rant, but I felt like getting it off my chest since it's been on my mind for a while. It's just weird because I don't have this same feeling with Flickr or Facebook. Instagram is a whole different world of people.
I loose probably and hour or two a night of sleep because I have to stay up and do my "Instagram work" around 11pm - midnight because that is when my account apparently gets the most interaction.
Recently I had a follower comment on a photo of mine and they said they will unfollow me if I don't share my camera settings. I'm like what the heck? Seriously? Now you get threats of unfollow if you don't conform to them?
I hate it. This is not the way it should be. But that's the way it is on Instagram if you want to get any kind of exposure on that social media platform.
The thing is, you can't compete with a billion other users who have thousands upon thousands of followers which are probably not even real people to begin with anyways because more than half of them are probably bots & paid followers.
If you really think about it, Instagram isn't a photography app anymore. It's a lifestyle app. People's Instagram accounts are highlight reels in which portrays them as having an amazing life but they probably are having the same problems with life we all experience. It's just a persona.
So I thought about just deleting my account and moving on with my life but I was reluctant, why? Even though I don't have many followers or get many likes on my photos, I have connected with a handful of awesome other photographers and people who I have similar interests with whom I'd never would've met if it wasn't for Instagram.
Which leads me to another point. It should never be about quantity, but quality. I'm not saying necessarily quality work, because we all can't produce National Geographic quality work every day but what I'm saying is finding people to connect with who inspire each other and communicate frequently with is so much more important than getting that extra like or follower who will probably just unfollow you anyways.
What are your thoughts on Instagram? I don't what to do whether or not I should abandoned it or continue to use the platform but not participate in so called Instagram mafia?
Yes, it was kind of a rant, but I felt like getting it off my chest since it's been on my mind for a while. It's just weird because I don't have this same feeling with Flickr or Facebook. Instagram is a whole different world of people.
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