This is a part of Social Learning with Instagram series.
The sun is shining through white peony petals. 2012 Summer, New Hampshire. Originally posted on Instagram
Instagram is a social media space. Depending on where you land and what you search for, you will end up with drastically different views of what Instagram is. The ever un-Popular page makes people want to flee, myself included, so I don’t go there. If the Popular page of a community turns you off, then what is the point of hanging around and more importantly hanging where?
Instagram is actually a sea of communities. It is more like a society containing everything that exists under the sun. Also just like navigating in the society, the question you need to figure out first is what you want to do here – the answer will lead you to the community or communities that you belong.
There are at least four basic types of people on Instagram. The most expected group are the people who use Instagram just like another social media space to share their unfiltered life with friends and/or strangers. Yes, it is the unfiltered life, not the “beauty” around. In this space, you will see a new t-shirt, shining nails, fancy slippers, a greasy or juicy burger, and of course, shirtless teenage boys showing off their six packs. Photos from this group are usually snap shots hastily posted right after being taken without many after-thoughts going into the photos. This is your people watching space on Instagram: the everyday life and ordinary world is right in front of you, don’t expect too much, and keep an open mind.
Another group of people who are so different from the first group are those elite folks. They are usually professional photographers, and their job titles could be designer, graphic designer and chief creative director somewhere. Many of them have thousands of followers, and they deserve to be followed. Those are the people who should inspire you.
Before I get to the most relevant group to me, I want to mention one last group, which is very common ever since the social media space is invented – those are the people who mainly care about the number of followers they have on Instagram without putting the same effort into posting great pictures. One such user could follow 85K people; hoping people will follow back, and get 40k followers. That’s not bad for the number of followers, but the quality of their posts is totally a different matter. Again, following 85K people require 3 x 85k taps on your screen: 1 tap on the picture to get to the user, 1 tap to follow the user, and 1 more tap to get back. 255K taps to gain followers! Spammer is the right word for such effort.
Finally, here are the rest of us on Instagram who really enjoy taking and sharing pictures! It is not difficult to spot us: the pictures are definitely thoughtful with aspects for improvement, and sometimes we have brilliant shots that surprise ourselves and inspire our peers. This is where I hang out on Instagram. In this space, you will get answers to your questions, response or acknowledgement to your thoughtful or supportive comments – you won’t get such interaction if you follow the elite members as they must be receiving thousands of likes, comments, and follows each day. With support and nurture, you can start to learn, improve, get better and give back – the possibilities are endless! This is my Instagram, inspired!
Lessons for being a conscious social learner:
- You need to become aware of your learning environment, in this case, your classmates – who are the most relevant and accessible people that you can learn with and from.
- You need to generate an idea of what you want to learn from those targeted groups. If you like certain people’s pictures, ask yourself what about their photos that attract you – that’s something you want to learn from those people.
