What comes after laggards? Me.
I’m here to announce that biggeidea is back on Instagram. I downloaded the app two or
three years ago, used it twice, and gave up. Because clearly I’m better at anti-social media then the
opposite thing.
But two weeks ago I signed up for a Social
Media Strategy course. Our first assignment involves picking a platform and pimping
it like hell. So I chose Instagram in order to prove to the world that I can
communicate without the use of words.
I’m enjoying Instagram a lot more than I
thought, despite the fact that it’s owned by evil Facebook. Having a decent
smartphone helps – my old 3GS was not conducive to either good photo taking or
a decent user experience. My iPhone 5 erases both of those problems.
I realize that there are already a
thousand other essays about Instagram. But I did want to mention two quick
things that gave me a pleasant surprise.
The first is that Instagram changed my
behaviour. Not in the obvious, obsessive-compulsive manner that mobile social
media tends to encourage. (Although it did that too.) I mean changing my
actions IRL. I saw the plume of smoke and diverted two blocks. I’ve never done that
before. The plume photo was the also the first time I tried to carefully
document an urban moment. Usually I take two quick clicks and keep going. This
time I shot two dozens photos, from different angles, until I got the one I
wanted.
The second surprise was that I can take
decent photos. I’ve reached a stage where the extent of many of my talents are
clear to me. I’m not a guitar virtuoso. I can sing well enough to perform
specific karaoke songs, but otherwise I don’t have an amazing voice. The list
goes on. And as a word guy, I came to the conclusion that photography was best
left in the hands of skilled professionals. I think that’s still true for
indoor photography, where the basics of lighting seem to allude me. But
outdoors, without a flash? That I can handle. Plus the filters certainly help.
What I’m still not comfortable doing is
posting a bunch of adequate photos that document my day-to-day existence. I
have lots of photos on my phone that serve as visual diary entries, but I
consider them either mundane or private or both. I think my tendency get overly
precious with my visual and written content is one of the reasons I’m not that
amazing at Twitter – I don’t have the fast, fun and fluid ability to quip at
the speed of the Internet (unlike say Ivor
Tossell). I can make people laugh in real life, and I can craft a great
line in an essay, but I tend to overthink Twitter.
My goal is to try and underthink Instagram to
see if that makes me better at social media. In the meantime, this shot took
five minutes to get right:
