In my continuing rants at the general blogging world (it’s almost like I dislike a lot of you – almost) – I’m watching the use of Instagram grow massively with Bloggers. Why is this? Is it because we want to Hefe the fuck out of our children, or Willow the face off our pets, or Ludwig the arse off our selfies? Maybe.
Largely though, In the blogging world, I don’t think it is – a lot of it are doing it to bump your Tots 100 scores.
Ever since the introduction of Instagram as a metric (which I bemoaned here), I’ve seen more and more bloggers Instagram every aspect of their daily lives. From the breakfast they eat, to the clothes their children are wearing, through to the outfit they are going out in. A lot of us are guilty for having days like these – I have.
But every day? Every single fucking day, played out on Instagram?
It looks like you’re trying too hard. Your children lose their identities in a sea of hashtags. Trying to attract the double taps of the masses, rather than your sheep like audience that would probably double tap a filtered faeces of yours. Take it one step further – sod your children and their names – give them a hashtag each #theplannedone #awkwardmiddlechild and #drunkenaccident.
A blog should be measured by the quality of the content, not how many pictures you can throw into the ether each day.
My Instagram is locked, largely to annoy a few snooping twats, I share the odd picture here and there, but largely it’s just a wall of tilt shifted, filtered memories. I Instagram because I like it, it’s a great way of quickly jazzing up or improving a photo, and sharing it, I don’t care how many people see it, or how many double taps it gets, it’s just my photo that I’ve allowed others to see.
Perhaps I’m getting to old and cynical for all this stuff now, the route to being successful isn’t by writing well, or having a good functional blog that works well across platforms. It’s about Instagramming endlessly, running a stream of competitions and ‘reviews’ plus a whole lot rotating in the right circles.
Can’t we all just please go back to writing the words, and saying the things, instead of worrying what ‘Score’ we have or what ranking we are. I left the Tots last year, and you know what – nothing happened. People still come here, and read stuff, so many people said ‘Yeah! I’m going to leave too!’ – they didn’t. They just carry on.
You’re all fucking idiots.
Ah, suddenly everything becomes clear. And there was me thinking some people really did just have nothing better to do than document the minutiae of their day.
Haha – they do, plus.. there’s a reason behind it 😉
Ok, so I must be the minority then! I took off the Tots badge from my site over a year ago, I felt the pressure of the rankings too great and if my blog is recognised in awards then I am over the moon!!!! But that’s because people who like it vote for it, not because I have a badge and a score. Same goes for IG. I LOVE IT. I only joined a year ago and I adore how I can pour all my creative energy into a tiny square and no one judges me if I want to share endless photos of flowers on a piece of wallpaper, in fact, there’s a whole community who love just that too! I share photos of the boys far less on that platform, for me it’s where I find like minded people to follow and I am constantly inspired every time I check my feed. In my opinion it’s the most supportive platform. I love sharing photos through the day, but all sorts, not necessarily my actual day. Styled little photos are my few minutes of peace! And that’s got bugger all to do with me improving a Tots score. 😉
And this is why you’re awesome! x
“You’re all fucking idiots!”
And this is why I love you
Love you too MB x
i have been on Instagram for years. I love taking snaps and sharing memories. It pisses me off too but to each their own. If people get their kicks prostituting themselves on social media and becoming ‘popular’ then good for them.
When we measure our self worth by numbers from some entity that exists to make money then that’s very sad indeed.
Wise words Kylie. xx
Aha! More wize words from Kip,
I do post a lot of photos, I love having a place to share them. But like you, not for gain as I don’t even belong to tots. Tots who?
P.s you’re a fucking idiot too.. Xx
Stop commenting and grow the sexcrement in your tummy. 😉 x
I will truly say the only time I take note of tots100 scores is to see how poorly I compair to my wife’s score lol I never look to see how well others are doing or not doing. As for instagram I use that much the same as my blog as a living diary of what my children, my wife and I have been up to. If people like, favourite, read and or comment on either of them I’m appreciative but if they don’t hey ho life goes on.
Good man! 🙂
on a daily basis I want to be rid of the stats and the scores and be free of it all. I love Instagram just for it. This post made me smile, fab!
Pleased to make you smile.. I imagine I’ve upset a few people 😉
Why haven’t we met up for a drink yet? so we can both take selfies of our beers and be cheerful fuckers 😉
Come dressed in drag and we can make it a #datenight
Deal! Better buy me a fuck off big cocktail and pay for my steak dinner! #ClassyBird
Wine, Dine, 69?!
“Your children lose their identities in a sea of hashtags.”
If there’s more hashtag that actual wordage, I consider unfollowing the individual. It completely does my nut. #momsoninstagram being the worst. You want to be American and have lots of Americans see your stuff? Move to America.
#I #don’t #know #what #you #mean
I love instagram but like you get fed up of the constant stream of nonsense on there. I have days where I share lots of pics, depends what we are doing I guess and other days where I don’t share a thing. Most of the people I interact with on their are non bloggers.
I didn’t even realise the power it had as a metric until someone told me, and then it fitted into place why it was all suddenly becoming a stream of nothingness
Great writeup, your article is readable, comprehensible, and well-detailed. I would love to see more writeup. Kudos to a job well done.