Instagram, love it or hate it, it’s a powerhouse of social media these days. It’s the who’s who of all things content marketing. But why? With over 600,000 million active users, I’d say that number speaks for itself.
So if everyone is on it, what are they doing?
Watching, exploring, and observing by viewing the lives of others. Voyeuristic much? Yup.
The above screen shot, which auto-populates based on photos I’ve liked, hashtags I’ve used, or similar accounts to mine. It’s easy “click bait” on images that I have yet to see. Groovy, right? Yes. Kinda scary though.
IG has figured me out. It knows I love images of beautiful things. If it’s a crime, take me away … Far away to a land where I’m punished for admiring rare tones, lighting, people, and places. I’m proud of my algorithm and history cause those pictures are ah-mazing!
The not so awesome history tracker of IG is that it can tell on you. They know who your looking at no matter how many times you hit that clear button on history, your history is still gonna tell on you.
Don’t believe me, try it for yourself. Delete your history then go to tag a photo. Type in any letter, let’s go with “A” for the example. And just like that … Ta-da! You see the friends with an “A” as their first initial or username that I scope the most. Since they’re in my life, it doesn’t surprise me much, and I just finished working with the Louisville Film Society for their Oscar Watch Party; which explains the follow of The Academy.
You can see the auto-population in any initial. Cue the music: Oh, oh, oh … It’s magic, you know … Never believe it’s not so …
Call it magic. Call it an algorithm. Call it brilliant. Call it intrusive on your privacy. No matter what you call it, just know that it’s happening whether you want it to or not.
There are “Pro’s” and “Con’s” in every debate of the following hacks.
Parent hack: This works great for to view what your kids are looking at. Whether your pro IG or anti IG, kids will be kids and in this modern world kids are gonna be on social whether you want them to or not. Give them their privacy if you allow it but keep track of what they do, who they talk to, and make sure it’s not with a creeper. Even close people to your kids should be monitored. You’d be shocked what some people deem appropriate and what you don’t. If they’re setting a bad example to your kids or for your kids, you must remove said “friend” from their reach.
Cheater hack: This works great to view what your partner is looking at and please note that if you have to check on them you should probably let them go. Cheaters … Ain’t nobody got time for that. Life is better when you have someone that thinks you hung the moon. If they’re looking at other people then they aren’t meant for you. You’re the leading lady in your life, proceed accordingly.
Reality check hack: Check yourself before you wreck yourself … If you see someone on that list that you dislike, let the alarms go off and realize that you should probably stop stalking their profile. Really, save yourself and stop it. If you ever accidentally hit like on their photo or God forbid you accidentally tag them, you’re setting yourself up for insta-stalker status and they’ll have the screenshots to prove it. *Covering my eyes.* It’s not a good look so rise above and just say no to looking. In reality you’re not missing that much anyway.
Sidenote: If you’re the one that catches the insta-stalker. Don’t get mad. Just smile and thank them. Haters are THE best fan club. It’s a twisted club fueled by negativity but they’re fans nonetheless. Don’t sink to their level. Rise above and be extra kind to them. Their negativity exists because they clearly don’t like themselves very much. It’s sad. The only way to get the hate out of them is to love them even harder than they deserve.