Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts

Mysteries of Instagram

I discovered Snap Chat last year, and it's been fun, but out of all the social media outlets Instagram is still my favorite.  I enjoy the ease of interaction and it's also been really helpful to me on my fitness journey.  I joined a great fitness challenge, find inspiration, and discovered a protein powder I love.  It has also gotten me to buy clothes, but we won't talk specifics on that.  I originally just had one with my super secret blog handle, and now that they finally made it easier to toggle between accounts I made a personal one so I could follow friends and family.  It truly is like a time capsule of your life.   Sometimes I fall down the rabbit hole of my own posts just because it's fun to look back on old times.

I have always loved taking pictures, so sometimes I do try for the perfect staged Instagram shot.  I utilize filters.  I take way too many pictures of food and other things that may or may not get posted, but mainly I try to capture the moment.  I am just a regular old run of the mill Instagram user so there are some things I don't understand. 

A photo posted by Cece (@mahoganydrive) on
Are there really people out there who get to spend their entire lives traveling the world on a perpetual vacation?  Like how?  I wanna do that!!

How do some people post their first post one day and then have over 500 followers in a day?  Like how? They have to be buying followers right, but how does that even work?  Who are these people with gain 100 followers instantly in their bio and how did they get into the business of selling followers?  Third question.  Why is it that important?  Especially if you are not a business.  Who are you and why do you need 10k followers?

I get it, people love talented all star cheerleaders and dancers, but how do people get so many followers when they are not celebrity/professional athlete/singer songwriter/public figure type?  Some of them have more followers than Misty Copeland.  Who are they and why are they so interesting? 

What is up with those Insta accounts that have two posts and thousands of followers?  They don't post.  What exactly are you following? 

What is up with those Insta accounts that have four sexy pics and "I need a man for meetings...I'll way for you" in the profile?  What are the logistics of that? Are the pics fakes? Did match.com not work out?  What does she really want and why is she following me? 

How do people get so many selfies and videos at the gym? Personally, I find selfie taking in public kind of embarrassing.  I sneak them in every now and then, but I won't do it if anyone is around!

How do the fitspo girls learn to pose like that?  I get it.  Booty gains is really in right now, and the contortions put it on full display, but try as I might I cannot get my back and waist to contort without looking like I've turned into a statue and stopped breathing.  Mind you, I used to be a gymnast.

Why do people post porn on Instagram?  I found out the hard way while innocently searching hashtag #snapchat.

A photo posted by Cece (@mahoganydrive) on


Do people have personal photographers follow them around taking pictures?  They must!  I'm mostly reduced to selfies and candid shots are very few and far between...like maybe when I'm on vacation.

I realize there is this whole thing about having a theme for your Instagram, but how can someone maintain that for years and years on end?  I scrolled an Instagram account back to August 2015 just out of curiosity and aside from food and denim there were literally seven pictures that featured color outside of black, grey or white but the monochromatic theme, went back much further than that. Are those the only colors that you wear?  Do you systematically refrain from posting Instagram pics while you are wearing vibrant colors?  Themed Instagrams are pretty to look at, but it must take a lot of the Insta out of Instagram and it seems like a lot of work to keep it. 

What is this obsession with white white fur rugs and all white sheets?  I can't help but notice that the flowers, coffee, aviator sunglasses combo is very popular atop white rugs and in the passenger side seats of cars.  Do they really like Starbucks and fresh flowers that much or is it just for Instagram?

Why are so many Instagram accounts starting to look alike? See above.

Why is the list of hashtags on some posts a mile long and sometimes include hashtags that have nothing to do with the picture?  

Why post one picture in a collage of two or three pictures that are exactly the same.  I look for a difference, but nope.  The same exact picture.  

Lastly, how do people always manage to find a perfect brick wall (bonus if it's covered in really cool graffiti) to pose in front of.  I haven't seen any and if I did, I wouldn't have anyone to take a picture of me standing wistully in front of it!

Okay.  I think that covers it.  I have much to learn.

Oh Snap!! What I Think About Snapchat

About three months ago I went to a work conference out of town.  I was holed up in my hotel room and bored so I decided to download snapchat.  I posted my snapcode on Instagram and wrote that I was bored and alone in my hotel room trying to figure out #snapchat.  Don't ever search that hashtag on Instagram.  You can, but you should know that what will come up is a whole lot of porn.  I had never seen that side of Instagram before and I was horrified by all the X rated photos and videos that popped up.  I reported a few as inappropriate, before realizing how futile it was.  Instagram probably can't remove and/or shut down accounts as fast as these photos are posted.  New material popped up every second and then it became clear to me why I gained three new followers, plus a snap of a bare chested man laying down within minutes of my Instagram post.  Little did I know that "bored and alone in a hotel room" is an open invitation for snapchat shenanigans that I want no part in.  Lesson learned.

Snapchat may have started out as a sexual media app, but it's grown into much more than that over the last few years.  Even the old folks are getting involved now.  That would be me. 

What I Like
There is an anonymity and lack of permanence that encourages real life and not the curated life that a lot of people present on Instagram. 
  • Everything disappears after 24 hours.  When it first started it was only 10 seconds.  The ghost image for snapchat is totally appropriate and it is no wonder snapchat started out the way it did.  Friends can screenshot anything posted and save it to their phone, but there is still a disconnect between you and your picture that makes it different than any other social media app.  I am still only going to post things that I am comfortable offering up for public consumption, but the non permanent nature of posts means I put less thought into what I choose to share and don't have to consider if it is "worthy" of posting.  I'll post that goofy selfie that I might not post on Instagram.  There is no trail of posts over time so it won't live on my account forever and ever and all eternity.
  • Everything is real time.  There are a few filters, but you can't upload stock images or pre-prepped photo shopped pics through the app.  There are outside apps that allow you to upload photos from your phone albums, but I tested one out and it sucked.  Plus, it's really too much trouble.  It seems most people just upload as is.
  • It exists as an app only and does not live on the world wide web.  I wonder if that will change, but the internet is forever and it's nice to have a social media app with content that isn't.  I'm sure those snaps don't totally disappear.  They have to be somewhere.  Perhaps the cloud?  But it can't be googled and that's good enough for me.
There are no profiles on Snapchat for selling yourself or trying to appear cool.  There is no bio or place for a web link that provides any indication as to who you are or where you came from. A photo can be added that will sit inside your ghost and be visible when someone adds you as a friend.  If it's not someone you know outside of snapchat the only thing you know about anyone beyond their username or dancing head pic is what is provided in snaps. 
There is no gigantic long feed to scroll through.  There is a list of snaps to view and I can pick and choose what I want to view when I want to view it.

More video and less pictures.  I know that you can post video on Instagram, but a lot of people mainly stick to photos including myself.  I'm finding mostly video clips on Snapchat.  It's interesting to see a different aspect of people and their life in 3D.  I have been following Faith's blog for about 6 years.  After that long, you kind of feel like you know people even though you have never met them.  I hope it's not weird to say this, but it was really cool to hear her voice in a snap.  So that's what she sounds like! It is another way of getting to know people I only know online.

It is 100% consumption.  It's social, but it doesn't encourage being social if that makes any sense.  You view a snap and that's it.  There is nothing further to do.  No liking, no commenting, no favoriting, no sharing.  There is no obligation to interact which means less time spent and I don't have to like or worry about being liked.  

Viewing my own snaps is kind of fun.  We had a good time laying in bed at night looking back on our day together while we were vacationing in Sedona.  If I want to download that "story" and save it to my phone to look back on later or show my mom I can.    

There are no follower counts, stats, comments or likes trying to tell me what I am worth.  In this numbers driven online world it's actually kind of nice.  Each user has a score and it's not even clear what that actually means but it seems to be more about participation than popularity.  According to Snapchat Your Snapchat score is a special equation combining the number of Snaps you've sent and received, Stories you've posted, and other factors.  I can tell how many people view each snap, but beyond that I don't know exactly how many friends I have, unless I count them out on my friend list.  The snapchat score is not on display and only shows up on friends I follow if I tap the username.  I still haven't figured out why some snapchat scores show up and others won't.

I finally know what I look like throwing up a rainbow.  I've always wanted to know. Just kidding, but the new updates are pretty fun.

Snapchat Live and Discover are interesting.  I found the Paris Fashion week Live snaps really fascinating. 

My Snapcode // Username:  MahoganyDrive

What I don't like
It's not very intuitive.  When I first went into the app I was convinced you had to be born in the 90's to figure it out. There were things I couldn't figure out just by playing around with it. Why is there a camera when I open the app?  What am I supposed to do?  How do I find friends?  How do I get those fun filters?  It's so weird.  I experienced similar confusion when I first started using Facebook, but Snapchat is much worse and the support page isn't even that helpful.  I did outside googling to get started and I was still confused.  It is very cryptic, so do not feel stupid if you can't figure it out right away.  The home screen is a camera and is built around what snapchat is all about, and once I followed a few people and figured out that I was doing all there is to be doing it made more sense.  Then, the next step was getting a few followers so I wasn't just snapping myself into the universe for no reason.

You have to hold the button down for the duration of every video snap.  This can make recording awkward at times.

Finding people to friend is difficult.  If I want to add someone I have to know their username.  There is no search feature.  If I am one digit off I might be following someone else entirely.  Friends can also be added by taking a screen shot of a snapcode or scanning a snapcode using the snapchat camera, but I don't see them posted anywhere very often.  It hasn't reached Instagram or Facebook levels.  Not everyone is using it.  Maybe nobody wants to admit to using it.  

Unless you are a celebrity, well known personality or big-time blogger this also makes it difficult to get people to follow you.  Snapchat is an app only and does not live on the world wide web so I can't hyperlink it on my blog.  No one is going to stumble upon my profile.  People have to make the effort to seek out my username.  I do not have a lot of followers.

It uses a crap ton of data.  I found this out the hard way.  Two months in a row we burned through data at an alarming rate and had to pay an overage charge.  MJ had just looked into how much data we were using before he changed our plan and we weren't even coming close to our limit so we couldn't figure out what was going on.  I had a hunch, so I went to google and discovered that Snapchat is a serious data drain.  I did two setting fixes that should help.  In the Snapchat App itself I turned on travel mode, which apparently is a new feature.  This stops stories from loading and using data until I tap on it.  On my phone settings for snapchat I turned off background app refresh to prevent snaps from loading and cellular data.  This means that I cannot login, view or upload new snaps unless I am connected to WiFi.  This means less snapchat for me, because it's not worth going over on data.  Hopefully this fixes our usage problem.

It is also a battery power killer.  I think it drains the battery more than any other app on my phone. 

It's just another social media time suck that I really don't need.  This is a big one.  I am reluctant to become any more involved in social media than I already am so this is the only new social media thing I've tried since Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  I held out for a while, but I kept hearing about it and curiosity got the best of me.  The concept is no different then any other social media app.  A lot of looking at other people and a lot of look at me!  And for what?  I try to be aware of how much I'm spending on social media and refuse to let it get ridiculous.  I don't want to be that person who can't get their head out of their phone, because there are far too many things in life that are far more important than social media. Which really isn't that important at all.  

My husband thinks I'm weird for using snapchat, and sometimes I am slightly embarrassed that I am even interested.  What am I doing with my life?  Why do I participate in any of this social media madness?  Why do I care and what does that say about me as a person?  I haven't snapped much lately as I ponder these questions.  I'm nosy by nature and have always had an interest in peeking into other peoples lives.  It's why I originally became interested in reality TV, before it got all crazy, and just one reason why I was interested in blogs.  In my opinion Snapchat is better for that than Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. 

This post went on way longer than I intended and despite this wall of text I'm still not sure how I feel about it!  I think the word is ambivalent.  How do you feel about Snapchat.  Yeah or Nay?

What I think About Facebook

It's Not Facebook It's You


I have read so many things about what not to do on social media or what annoys people about social media that at this point I'm more annoyed by those articles then I am by the actual things on social media that annoy me.  This article on How to Be Insufferable on Facebook  left me totally confused.  I  wasn't sure what was left for anyone on this planet to post after it ruled almost everything out as annoying.  I mean, if you follow this persons so called rules what is left to post and why would I want to bother with social media at all if I have to consult a manual to ensure that I'm not being insufferable before I post anything?  I used to get really bent out of shape about certain things on social media too until one day I realized that social media truly is what I make of it.  I only have to be as annoyed as I allow myself to be.  Instead of writing another post about what annoys me about social media this one is about how NOT to be annoyed by social media.  Some of it is specific to Facebook but can apply across all social media platforms.

1// Cut the friend list.  People in real life annoy you right? So why would you expect social media to be any different? There is one HUGE difference a lot of people fail to remember. While you may be forced to tolerate your cousin who brags about herself or that co worker that is always such a Debbie Downer you do not have to put up with that girl you went to high school  with who chain posts collages of her and her boyfriend wearing color coordinated outfits.  You do not have to subject yourself to the political rants of your deranged step uncle or the TMI attention seeker.  If you don't like it don't follow.  The minute I started to feel that I was more annoyed or consumed with Facebook then the enjoyment I was getting out of it I did something very ground breaking.  I stopped accepting friend requests and I deleted more then half of my friends.  You may have to put up with someone you don't like in real life but the reality is you don't have to be friends with anyone you don't want to on social media. Not your mother, your sister, nobody.  If you only keep 10 friends because the rest if them drive you nuts so be it.  Or better yet just get over it because people are annoying and that's just life.  There are people that still bug a little that I haven't gotten rid of for whatever reasons and I just deal with it because really-it's not that big of a deal.

2// Customize it.  Social media, particularly Facebook is pretty customizable these days.  There are many privacy settings and other controls that allow you to personalize your Facebook experience.  Use them. If you are worried about offending people on Facebook by defriending just hide their posts.  They will never know the difference and you can check in on them when you feel like it.  That person that blows up your news feed by sharing every single video or article they read needs to be stopped.  They might feel the need to share their comprehensive internet experience by posting a million videos, pics and links per day but you don't have to see it.  I started hiding certain feeds and suddenly, my newsfeed became very boring (in a good way) and when it wasn't boring it was filled with things I was actually interested in seeing.  

3// Understand that the very thing that drives one person up the wall may not bother the next person at all. There is a good chance that you are doing something that annoys someone even if you feel you are doing everything "right" because there is no right. There are people who hate any and all hash tags, roll their eyes if you post more then one pic a day and can't stand your stupid inspirational quotes. There are people who complain if you post the burger and fries you had for lunch or your sweaty post work out pics even if you don't do it a lot.  I've done both by the way, and so what.  I tend to operate on the anything in moderation idea but even so you still can't please everyone.  We are all so different.  It's impossible.

4// Accept that Social media is selfish in nature. We get our own handle, write our own about me blurb and choose our profile pic. It's all about US. If it weren't what else would we be posting all day? Even if we post a video that we think is funny and might make someone laugh we are posting it because WE like it and you can bet there will be probably still be someone who won't appreciate it. Someone who will be thinking there she goes posting another stupid video.  It's also perfectly selfish in that we can customize our own experience not only regarding what we choose to see but what we choose to post.  Since you already know you can't please everyone just please yourself.

5// If you don't want people in your business don't share it.  If you can't or won't unfollow, defriend or customize your privacy settings just don't share it.  Really, it is that simple.

6// Separate yourself from it. Who are all of these people and why do I care about everything they are doing?  Why is it necessary for me to share my every thought?   Take a deep breath and step back.  Just because you can share doesn't mean you have to.  All the time.  Just  because you have the ability to peek into peoples lives doesn't mean you have to.  All the time.
 
There are a lot of things I like about social media.  I like staying connected with certain people.  I like seeing pics of my out of state nephew regularly and staying caught up on news in the gymnastics world and other things that interest me.  I like it that I can send group messages, coordinate events, allow people to see pics and just in general engage with others.  I know people who don't have Facebook accounts saying they will "get in trouble" because you know, Facebook is so powerful it can destroy relationships.  Others have deleted their accounts 10 x over because they can't stand the "drama" or they get too consumed with it.   Others say they just don't like people to know their business.

I'm here to tell you one thing.  Don't let annoying people take Facebook (or any other form of social media) away from you.  If it doesn't do anything for you and you are not interested in it at all that's one thing but if you quit because others annoy you I'm not sure how much sense that makes when it's only as annoying as you allow it to be. Forget about trying to please everyone on social media. It'll never happen. Just worry about pleasing yourself.  The ones who don't like it can just unfollow and you can do the same