Learning About Instagram

December 30, 2013

Instagram 1In the year of responsibility, I’ve tried to also become a lot more aware of my social media profiles and how to use them. (And I’m trying to get better about using them more consistently.)

I think I’m getting a lot better!

Here are some things I’ve learned about instagram. (Here’s my IG profile, by the way.) You can tell me if you agree/disagree or if I’ve missed anything.

For one, I used to not really be for the filters. Many times I think the filters actually sort of ruin a good picture. Maybe that’s my eyes just not being used to it. And I’ll admit some people do the whole mixing of filters and they rock at it. But when I just scroll through the normal filters, I’m often like “uh, I’m not doing this right.”

However, I’m trying to make better (and quicker – I can’t live in IG all day!) filter choices. And in general, I’m trying to use filters more because I think that’s the whole deal with instagram. Go ahead and make your pictures look weird.

I like to try and keep my social media profiles at least somewhat different. I know I only have so many things to talk about, so we’re kind of traversing the same territory on a lot of them. However, I do my best to present those things in at least a somewhat different way on most profiles… After all, if I’m linking to my instagram from my twitter, and that feed’s coming up on Facebook – why would people be incentivized to follow me on multiple platforms?

They wouldn’t. So, I do my best to keep it fresh.

That being the case, if people want to see the pictures in non-weirdly filtered, non-square form, that’s what they can go over to Facebook or flickr for.

Besides trying to play with filters (because why not), I’ve also learned that collages should have lines between the pictures. You’d think this would be a no-brainer. But, originally, I’d just push photos together in pages or something, take a screenshot, and post that. I’ve seen however, that our eyes see much better what’s going on when there’s a clear delineation between photos.

How I wouldn’t see this just from my normal understanding about the world, I don’t know. But it’s certainly been shown to me through experimenting on instagram.

Instagram 2(I use DipTic and my usual collage app of choice (though pic collage isn’t too shabby!). Speaking of apps, you gotta download Repost.)

There was a time (recently) when I think I was sort of over-using collages. Sure, you might have events where it’s hard to pick just one photo. And sometimes a collage really is the best answer. But, you don’t want to over collage. Personally, I don’t really think that’s what instagrams about.

(On the desktop version, it already makes that big top collage for you. So, what? You’re gonna have a bunch of collages within the collage?)

Speaking of that big collage on the desktop version – I used to think that photos usually were better when they were close ups of people. After all, when you see them, you’re just looking on this small phone screen. How much can you really see anyway?

Then I realized that having more full length – and especially interestingly posed pictures help to add this great look and interesting-ness to your profile as a whole. That collage is uninteresting with a bunch of close ups and selfies.

Finally, I recently uploaded my very first video to instagram, and I learned a few things.
1) In iMovie, it said my video only was 15 seconds. But in instagram, it showed up as 16 for some reason. So, if you’re importing at all (as opposed to using the instagram app), I’d consider giving yourself some breathing room.

2) The movie showed up louder in instagram than I heard it in other places. It’s possible that happens when it gets compressed? So, just be aware when taping your instagram videos.

3) Finally, I find that cropping a movie to a square is even more jarring than a photo… So, don’t forget your movie is going to be a square…

So, that’s what I’ve learned about instagram. Agree? Disagree? (Also, would you like to follow me? :-))

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?