I see the eyes rolling.
How the hell can Instagram, social media, the thing on this earth with the sole purpose of getting lots of attention, becoming famous and an influencer, be *better* private? Seriously, all ears for this one.
WELL, I’ve truly seen it from all angles. I was public when I started the gram. Then about 2 years into it I made it private for about 2 weeks. Yes, I lasted a whole two weeks. I did that because I was getting bombarded with weird messages. I thought making it private would help. Then I missed using all the hashtags and damn it I want my likes! So back to public and I just blocked and reported the annoying people.
Ever since then it’s been public pretty much. I go through phases when I meet new people who I haven’t yet added on to Insta, and because we haven’t broken down barriers yet, I make it private so that when they DO decide Google me, it’s gonna come slowly, and rather than the first words out of their mouth when they find me on Insta will be “OMG you were in Venice for NY?” With it private, I can receive a request, and not confirm it until they are on the bus ride home and I don’t have to hear initial responses.
That’s the thing about social media. When we stalk people on it, our very first impressions should be private and hidden. Not in a public place in front of that very person.
But moving on…I mean, I like the idea a lot of someone liking all my pics (vanity metric I know) but there’s validation in numbers and if you’re not getting it anywhere else, then why not the gram?
It’s not for everyone. Around 1 in every 4000 accounts now have a monetized account. That’s a harsh statistic. One girl I follow has about 50K followers, but she’s an influencer with pretty pics and in the meantime shes selling an e-book through her blog for about £30.
Another guy is simply using it as exposure for his business. He’s a fitness trainer and by doing live-insta every day on the dot at 5.30pm on the beach in Tel Aviv – FOR ONE HOUR, he films himself working out on the monkey bars and playing basketball. Through this he gets messages and eventually turns them into fitness trainees.
But back to the headline. I’ve been on and off private for almost a month. I’ve been looking for a new job. I’ve been exploring London and not the pretty side with museums and cute food, but shopping in markets and finding different neighborhoods and bonding with old close friends in hidden gem cafes, no more soft swirl watermelon found on Insider Desserts. This stuff isn’t that instagrammable and instead I’m getting to know London really well, I’m really bonding with old friends, and I buy stuff or go into shops where I fawn over in their jewelry section and chat to the owner for half an hour, not because their stuff will be nice for Instagram, but because I wanna hear their story. (No pun intended)
London’s a very Instagrammable place and its hard not to take the phone out at every sunset and pink crystallized macaroon. But its also a lot more fun to explore and travel without thinking about angles and lighting and whether it’s pretty or whether you’ve explored and learned something.
I’ve been here a year and I already have 50 red buses and phone box pictures. Making it private has made me spend less time on it, less speculation about what people are liking. Without hashtagging I have only a few followers who actually like my pics and they are doing it because they know who I am.
It’s a hard breakthrough. Imagine for years strangers are liking my stuff, but have no idea who I am and they like it purely because of hashtags getting their attention, when in reality, the only people who like it, well, I could count them on one hand.
What do we value from insta apart from likes??? THAT’s the million dollar question. I like having a documented journal of my past 5 years. If I need to find the menu in English from a restaurant I went to way back in 2014, then it’s hidden in there somewhere. I don’t post stupid pics of menus on FB. I share Reddit post screenshots. I like having some place where I can go back and see it all. I feel like I’m judged a lot on Facebook by friends and family, and Instagram doesn’t have that.
About 80% of the followers on my insta are total strangers. We’ve never met. We probably never will. They are silent and never comment. They like it because a hashtag caught there eye.
What’s left after likes?
- A place with less judgement – my friends and family from years ago don’t care what I post on there because they can’t see it.
- I can share weird and random stuff like old menus and cats in the street just because I wanna reminisce one day.
- It’s kind of like having my own personal photographic journal.
- I want to play with filters and photo apps and it looks better on Instagram than on Facebook.
- STORIES! Stories are WAY better on Instagram than anywhere else.
I think for the time being I am going to try and keep it private.
I’d curious to see what everyone else thinks.
Millennial Genie 