My first instagram shot from our 2017 trip to Nicaragua.
I finally joined the instagram party last July. #latetotheparty. I was delayed at the Phoenix airport, bored and harboring a new digital crop of imagery from Sedona, Arizona. I'd resisted becoming a social media loser on instagram for quite awhile. But photography is my favorite hobby. It just makes sense to share the love with like minded phone carriers. It turns out, however, that like minds don't always think alike.
Don't get me wrong. Insta-users love my photos. But only for one day. Then they say adios, au revoir and good bye. Of course, anyone that uses instagram knows who the real losers are. Them. The idiots that only care about numbers. They mindlessly follow every instagram account they run across, then they turn the hour glass upside down. When the last grain of sand funnels through, they cackle like the green faced witch from the Wizard of Oz.
Their stats give them away at first swipe. They only follow 400 people, but are followed by 23,000. They must be famous! They must travel the world sharing paparazzi worthy flashes from their fabulous life. Hashtag the Eiffel Tower. Hashtag the Pyramids of Egypt. Hashtag moi and Bobby Flay. Oh wow! They absolutely must be the coolest people on the planet to have so many instagram followers. Right?
Wrong. They're just jerks. There are no pyramids. I lied.
Here's a screen shot from a blog post educating people on how to be assholes.
So who employs the nasty follow/unfollow method? Almost everyone on instagram. I've been unfollowed by accounts that only have 6 boring photos. Most of the time, their photos are marginal at best. You might see the Tower of Pisa nestled in-between 1,000 selfies. There's lots of food porn. No doubt about that. There's a few tasty beverages. A few hot mamas in bikinis. And maybe their cat. Like I said, they only care about numbers. Not photography. So they follow every page they swipe across like a frazzled tax accountant on February first, hoping to be followed back. They might even like one of your photos. And leave a thumbs up in your comment area. Then, like they heard a blaring smoke alarm accompanied by a river of flames, they run away from your page screaming. They dump your sorry ass.
A few months after I joined instagram, I was about to cancel my account in disgust. I still feel that way every time I have to unfollow another scum bag. Sure, I've accumulated a few real photo fans. Thank goodness for them. Or I'd lose faith in humanity completely.
So what do you do if you want to stay sane and also stay on instagram? There's an app for that. Now, as soon one of those losers un-follows me, it's adios amigo. It's easy. There are tons of un-follow apps to choose from. The apps compile a list, as often as you choose to refresh, of every last loser that leaves you in the dust. Please people. Don't become a stat. Don't become someone that was only followed to grow another fool's account. Ditch them as soon as they ditch you.
Don't play into The Game of Followers!
9 comments:
I'm not on Instagram, and after reading your post, I doubt whether I'll join it.
Anyway, we shouldn't take too seriously all those social nets that have invaded our life.
OMH, am deliriously happy not to join instagram nor twitter. I only have FB, but there are groups there in photography whose admins and members are not into real good photos. They are just after the likes because the photos emerge on top again to be seen again by newcomers. I don't do that for my photos to be always seen. I didn't remove my name in the registry but i don't post anymore.
Oh I am way too old for all this hassle. Yeeps.
Amen!!
I couldn't agree more, Sharon. I find this all to be true. I'll get either a notice that someone is following me or I'll notice a new person liked one of my photos. When I look at their page and see that they have 21k follows and crappy photos I just shake my head. Or I see that they have 21k followers and they only follow 62 people, but they have amazing photos. Any they need one more follower? Me? I should feel so honored that they took the time to seek me out, like my photo and then move on to the next person. Yeah, I have a hard time with all of that. I really love photography and Instagram is a place to put them up. I really enjoy looking at good photos and find inspiration among a number of feeds so I'll keep active on Instagram for now.
I had no idea about instagram, although I have no intentions of joining. From what I have figured out, only 'out there' people have a large and true following--and average Joes may have their five minutes but that's about it.
Having said all that, I am only on the internet because I want to share my photos and thoughts of NZ and hope a few others like what I post.
I barely have enough time to blog and read my email, so Instagram is not for me. Heck, I even have texting disabled on my phone.
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Specifically, what we are wanting to do is take a screenshot of your header and display it (linked back to the homepage) in place of the text-link. If you will visit SiteHoundSniffs.com, it should be easy to see how having a displayed header makes an individual site more attractive to visitors and SiteHoundSniffs look better. You do not have to do a thing but grant permission. There is absolutely no charge, nor will there ever be.
Have you tried Google+, Sharon? You can choose which category to put your pictures in but then again you have those that want numbers, the mediocre photos. I guess that is just life.
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