Instagram just unveiled a new feature: the ability to toggle between multiple accounts. I’ve been wanting this for years! My first order of business? Creating a work account. I have been pushing the idea of a corporate Instagram account to my superiors for some time. I think IG is a natural place to showcase all the community events and activities we participate in, and want to make a fun and interesting page to highlight those things and possibly help attract new talent. So I’ve taken it upon myself to set that up and manage it. Err…I didn’t officially receive permission, but I’m calling this an executive decision. Minus the executive pay, of course.
The ability to manage multiple accounts opens up lots of other opportunities. I once decided I’d make barrels of monkeys my theme, and pose a monkey in every single photo I uploaded. This lasted for all of two posts before I realized that those damn, dirty apes distracted from the scenery. But now, if I wanted to start a new account focusing only on plastic monkeys from a barrel, I could quickly and easily do so.
Hmm…
I’ve long said if I had to give up all social media accounts but one, I’d keep Instagram. Twitter? Never got into it. Facebook? Seems I only use it to cross post my Instagram photos (and blog posts). LinkedIn? Only worthwhile when you are between jobs. Instagram, on the other hand? I love it. No politics or drama, and not a big time suck. Just a steady stream of photos. And we all know a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
I was scrolling through my IG feed this morning and was amazed to see I’ve got 878 posts (which, based on that old idiom I just referenced, translates to 878,000 words…about 10 novels’ worth. Damn, I’m prolific!) This fueled my curiosity, as I started to see some common themes emerging. I learned that I tend to post photos that fall into the same eight categories or so. Intrigued by this knowledge (and a strange fascination with statistics), I decided to dust off my math skills and do a bit of counting. I went as far back as December 31, 2014 – which amounted to exactly 400 posts. A few notes: I originally counted “nature” as a category but found that much too broad, so I broke it down a bit further (mountains, trees, bodies of water). And I could not for the life of me decide what constituted a “selfie.” After much Google research I settled on the following definition:
A picture of oneself taken by oneself.
Selfies can include other groups of people, so long as they were taken by you. Alrighty, then! Without further ado, here are my top eight categories, and the number of photos I’ve posted of each over the past 405 days or so:
- Food (38)
- Bodies of Water (33)
- Trees (28)
- Mountains (23)
- Sunsets (17)
- Selfies (16)
- Sunrises (14)
- Bloody Marys (10)
I find this pretty interesting. Looking at this list, you’d assume I’m a nature-loving foodie who enjoys Bloody Marys.
Nailed it, Instagram.
There are, of course, other photos that don’t fall into any of these categories. But they are few and far between. For instance, in a three-way tie for last place on my IG feed, I present:
- Spiders floating in cups of tea (1)
- Discarded bottles of Astroglide on the sidewalk (1)
- Naked bicyclists (1)
Maybe in another 400 posts, those categories will have new photos, too. At least, one can hope.
Here are a few of my favorite IG posts.
And of course, we mustn’t forget this gem…
What’s your favorite social media site? If you had to choose one, what would you pic? Do you have any Instagram feeds you particularly like? Want to see more pics of trees, mountains, Bloody Marys, and discarded lube? Feel free to follow me on Instagram (adios.ghost)!
Mark My Words 
I can’t stand Twitter or Facebook. I do use Instagram but can’t say I’ve figured it out yet. If I had to choose I guess I’d say I don’t like any social media. Maybe something new will come along and make me a true believer.
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I do know what you mean. Sometimes I long for the days when social media meant reading a magazine in a waiting room.
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My blog, of course is my favorite, but lately, I’ve gotten on a Twitter kick. Apparently the group that runs my kid’s school system’s account has free rein when it comes to responding to people’s complaints whenever there is a winter weather alert. So much so, it was featured on a BuzzFeed article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jonathancoby/16-sassy-tweets-from-the-nations-16th-largest-sch-afb2
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Ahh. That’s great! Thanks for the link. I wasn’t counting blogging as social media, but if we are categorizing it that way, then I might have to change my answer!
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Forgot to mention, I love your photos. I am not on instagram but clearly I am missing out by not following you there too.
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Thank you! If you ever do join, look me up.
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I hop between social media sites. Instagram is nice when I’m bored. Facebook supplies me with information and news articles that I wouldn’t otherwise come across. Tumblr is an ocean of teenage angst (frustrating) and flowery creativity, and Youtube.. of course, where would we be without Youtube, eh? I shall follow you on Instagram, of course. Your photos are absolutely stunning! Also intrigued by the spider in the cup of tea and the nude cyclist (what.. how.. WHY?!).
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I almost posted the spider and nude cyclists here, too. I guess you’ll just have to find them on Instagram. 🙂
I always forget about including YouTube on lists of social media sites. It kind of falls into a category all its own in my mind. A giant “timesuck” category.
Which, come to think of it, does sum up all social media sites pretty well…
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Well that was a surefire way to catch my attention anyway 🙂 Hahaha, too right. Even wordpress, to an extent, can be a giant ‘timesuck’ 🙂
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The spider or the naked cyclists?
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Both! They are equally as fascinating as each other in their own little ways 🙂 (Naked cyclists, though.. I just can’t get my head around it)
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Mark, as you know, I just recently got on Instagram (Nov. of last year) and I have to say, I really like it because it’s a way to share my photography and also see other photographers work. I’ve met some AMAZING photographers. And like you said, it really doesn’t take up that much time. A friend of mine uses her Instagram account for her job in retail and gets a TON of business from it.
However, I have to say that blogging is still my favorite social media.
Never been a fan of Facebook or Twitter.
Have a SUPER weekend, buddy!
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I am amazed by just how great some of the photographers who post to Instagram are. I never get tired of looking at their feeds!
If we are counting blogging as social media – and why not, it does fall into that category now that I think about it – then I might have to change my answer and stick that one at the top instead. After all, I’ve been doing it longer than Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram combined.
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Instagram is my fave…..takes the least amount of time, but provides the greatest amount of pleasure! Pretty pictures make me happy! Plus, it’s fun to have complete strangers heart your photo, based on your hashtags.
I’m glad to follow you and Ron!
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And thank you for following, I might add! I agree wholeheartedly with your whole cost/benefits analysis of Instagram. You’ve summed it up perfectly!
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Yaaassssss! I’m so excited I can link up accounts now too. I get irritated having to log out and log in and lose all my fave hashtags. I love that bloody mary’s take up their own category. LOL
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And every time I post a pic of a bloody mary, I have some new bloody mary enthusiast start following me. I hope they aren’t bored with all the mountains, trees and bodies of water I post, too!
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