Casey Neistat (2012) loves Instagram, a picture sharing app, like 300 million other users. Instagram now has more users than Twitter (Constine, 2014). The difference between the two is that Instagram is only pictures, and Twitter is text. Yes, you can embed a picture in a tweet, but Twitter is based on text and Instagram is based on pictures. Neistat explains that Instagram is not simply about posting pictures. Instagram is about sharing a story. This story is told through pictures. This is very similar to Snapchat (a more recent app), but Instagram keeps a permanent record of posted pictures, while Snapchat only keeps posts for up to 24 hours. Instagram is a way to document your life and share it with others. Neistat goes on to give a few pointers on how to use Instagram in his YouTube video Instagram i love you (2012) and advises users to find a theme and use it when posting pictures to share with others.
I’ve never thought of Instagram as a way to to share anything besides normal day-to-day things. And for this reason, I’ve never gotten into it. Do I have an Instagram account? Yes. And I scroll through the posts of the 50 people that I follow (most of whom are celebrities) when I have some time to kill. Now that I think about it, the pictures that are the least interesting are the pictures of celebrities looking perfect. The interesting posts are the ones that have something to share. Political views, memes, posts of what people are doing, and more. These are the things that make Instagram worth browsing. This concept never occurred to me until Neistat said it in his YouTube video. We don’t want to see picture after picture of selfies. We want to see pictures that are worth seeing.
Now that I have a different view of Instagram, I can see how useful it can be. Being asked to actively participate on Twitter has opened my eyes to the value of interacting with others on social media for professional purposes. I’m sure I can have the same experience with Instagram. I’ve never thought to have a “theme” when posting things online. Maybe that’s why it’s been difficult for me to want to share pictures. I’ve never used Twitter before now because I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. However, using Twitter to post about education? I have plenty to say! I could do the same thing for Instagram. This program has opened my eyes to so many different platforms I could be using to get support and interact with other educators. Google+, Twitter, Instagram, and Weebly are all fantastic ways to express myself, receive feedback and interact with others who share the same viewpoints. Instagram is not only about posting selfies. Instagram can be posting about my day as a teacher and seeing what other teachers go through on a day-to-day basis. What a great way to come together to support one another. Instagram here I come!
Resources
Constine, J. (2014, December 10). Instagram Hits 300 Million Monthly Users To Surpass
Twitter, Keeps It Real With Verified Badges. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
Neistat, C. (2012, October 2). Instagram i love you. [Video file] Retrieved from
https://youtu.be/GacoqdKjVyE?list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp.
I’ve never thought of Instagram as a way to to share anything besides normal day-to-day things. And for this reason, I’ve never gotten into it. Do I have an Instagram account? Yes. And I scroll through the posts of the 50 people that I follow (most of whom are celebrities) when I have some time to kill. Now that I think about it, the pictures that are the least interesting are the pictures of celebrities looking perfect. The interesting posts are the ones that have something to share. Political views, memes, posts of what people are doing, and more. These are the things that make Instagram worth browsing. This concept never occurred to me until Neistat said it in his YouTube video. We don’t want to see picture after picture of selfies. We want to see pictures that are worth seeing.
Now that I have a different view of Instagram, I can see how useful it can be. Being asked to actively participate on Twitter has opened my eyes to the value of interacting with others on social media for professional purposes. I’m sure I can have the same experience with Instagram. I’ve never thought to have a “theme” when posting things online. Maybe that’s why it’s been difficult for me to want to share pictures. I’ve never used Twitter before now because I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. However, using Twitter to post about education? I have plenty to say! I could do the same thing for Instagram. This program has opened my eyes to so many different platforms I could be using to get support and interact with other educators. Google+, Twitter, Instagram, and Weebly are all fantastic ways to express myself, receive feedback and interact with others who share the same viewpoints. Instagram is not only about posting selfies. Instagram can be posting about my day as a teacher and seeing what other teachers go through on a day-to-day basis. What a great way to come together to support one another. Instagram here I come!
Resources
Constine, J. (2014, December 10). Instagram Hits 300 Million Monthly Users To Surpass
Twitter, Keeps It Real With Verified Badges. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
Neistat, C. (2012, October 2). Instagram i love you. [Video file] Retrieved from
https://youtu.be/GacoqdKjVyE?list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp.