So, in my “year of responsibility,” I’m trying to get better about my online presence – updating it a bit more regularly and learning how to really use social networks in optimal ways.
One place that lots of people like to check – but that I rarely ever post in – is Instagram. I’m not huge on pictures. I’m more into words (which is why I like twitter better). But visuals are cool, and I’m learning that it’s cool to have pictures of things to remember them. So, I’m trying to be better about Instagram.
But let me tell you, I don’t understand it.
I went to a game show audition earlier this month. I had to get medium dolled up for it. I spent an hour and 45 minutes on my hair and make-up! (Which is approximately an hour and 45 minutes longer than I spend on my hair and make-up every other day.)
Even though I couldn’t take cool pictures at the actual place (since it was all secretive and such), I still wanted to take a picture of my face. After all, sitting for an hour and 45 minutes if obviously incredibly tiring work. (That’s sarcastic. Nonetheless, it was time consuming, even if it wasn’t tiring. And I wanted the world to reward me with praises of prettiness. Doesn’t everybody want that when they work hard getting half dolled up?)
So I posted a super boring selfie on Instagram with practically no context to share (since I couldn’t say much about the show). I got 11 likes. Okay. For a social network I barely ever use, that sounds good to me – especially because they came pretty fast. And because the picture is boring! It’s just my face. No cool people. No cool places. So, good for me.
But then… I think it was about 2 days later, I built a shelf! I had a pre- and post-built shelf photo in the same square. I even put in the description “Building shelves is hard!… Unless you had an awesome theater tech teacher at which point you are invincible!!! 🙂 (Thanks, Doc!)”
Look! I’m taking care of myself and giving a nod to my awesome theater education while doing so! I’ll just sit back and wait for the likes to roll in!
Nope. Four.
What? Instagram! Why do practically 3x as many people like a boring picture of my face more than they like a fun, active picture where I’m taking care of myself?
Here are my guesses:
1) Perhaps in the second picture, there’s too much going on in one square. People like to scroll quickly through Instagram. I don’t know that they want a small story told with 2 (slanty) photos.
2) The shelf photos are sort of washed out, and the selfie photo has darker colors (easier to see).
3) The boring selfie, I’m pretty sure, was done at a somewhat normal time of night on a weeknight. The shelf-builder was done, I think, later… and most importantly, on a weekend. That’s how I spend my wild weekends – catching up with stuff at home. But it’s possible the Instagram world is out having a grand ol’ time.
So, those are my thoughts… Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share? Advice? Or personal Instagram experiences?