Why I love and hate Instagram so much

Bloody Instagram. My relationship with this social media platform seems to be up and down like a yo-yo. I’m as easily inspired as I am…

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Bloody Instagram. My relationship with this social media platform seems to be up and down like a yo-yo.

I’m as easily inspired as I am uninspired.  One minute I can’t get enough of it, I’m inspired, I have 50 photos I want to post and I’m living my best Insta-life. The next minute I feel hopeless, it’s pointless and my photos will never be good enough. I close the app tight and forget about it.

But what is it about the platform that keeps me coming back?

A post shared by Corinne (@skinnedcartree) on

The aesthetic? Some Instagram profiles are absolutely stunning. Looking through those grids, I’m so jealous. It feels achievable to make photos like that. All it takes is a bit of lavender, a rustic blanket and a mug with a bloggy quote on and bobs your uncle.

Er – maybe not. It’s not exactly that simple.

I’m fickle. and impatient. I’m sure you can tell. But soon after I realise it’s actually a bit harder than it looks to take that perfect shot, I give up.

Or I do get that photo. I get a photo I love and YIPEEEEE. But then I post it and expect a wave of likes and comments and it gets nothing. Some of my posts do well on Instagram, some don’t. I’ve not managed to figure out the pattern to this. It’s a mystery.

A post shared by Corinne (@skinnedcartree) on

A post shared by Corinne (@skinnedcartree) on

When I got back from Australia, I got into a bit of a slump. While I was in Zante and then Australia, I thought my Instagram looked beautiful. Shots of Melbourne and the blue sea in Greece – I loved it. But then I came back home to rainy York. Back to going to work in the dark and driving home in the dark and I felt.. meh.

A post shared by Corinne (@skinnedcartree) on

Back to posting photos of my Fitbit and the occasional meal, I didn’t know what direction I was taking my Instagram in. I go through phases of trying to stick to a theme, then it just turns into a mishmash of whatever I feel like. Because screw sticking to a theme. I want to post photos of what I want. In the moment. Not carefully plan them ahead of time and post pictures at the time most of my followers are online to try and trick this chuffing algorithm that is trying to ruin my life.

But hey, despite all the struggles, the feeling not good enough, the high engagement that comes to a stop when there’s an update, I’ve found myself back to regular posting. To having images lined up to post when I’m too busy to make new ones and I’ve found myself loving it again.

But how long for?

A post shared by Corinne (@skinnedcartree) on

So if you don’t follow me, I’d love it if you would change that. Feel free to leave links in the comments for me to follow you back.

I want to follow more people I know and actually want to interact with, I guess that’s probably you guys – long term readers of this blog. It struck me a few weeks ago when I realised that I didn’t follow a blogger whose blog I have been reading for years that I don’t actually follow all my favourite bloggers.

Let’s change that.

 

10 comments

  1. I’m not sure if you follow me on Instagram (@bigmugoftea) but I really like it when people don’t have a theme, it’s just snaps of their life, them showing their followers the things they appreciate in life. I like your posts, they’re a mix of inspiring me (fitness), reminding me of home (Yorkshire) and food envy!

  2. Yesterday I read a similar article, it seems that a lot of bloggers have a love and hate relationship with Instagram. I think it is impossible to be super active on every platform, and I think that’s the reason why…when you actually write a blog, it takes a lot of time and it is hard to do both- at least in my experience.

  3. I’m a new follower on Instagram (leslienicholeblog), I’m the same way with Insta although I’ve never tried a theme. I know I couldn’t do it because I’m not that interesting or organized enough to get it done. See ya around on the gram!

  4. I also have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. I love it for following the people and brands I want to keep up with.. I hate it for making me feel inferior in every way. I don’t think I could possibly have a theme or make mine look like other peoples, but hopefully people will still follow me for being me and posting random blog updates and the odd picture of one of my cats.

  5. Instagram is a beautiful platform but it has its dark side too. I used to get really bummed by it but these days I have a better attitude towards it and it doesn’t bother me as much anymore. I just post whatever I want instead of stressing out about the perfect shot.

  6. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with Instagram! It bums me out – I feel like I have to put in so much effort, and for what? Practically nothing. 🙁

    A xx

  7. I love Instagram, but it’s hella frustrating!! It always seems as if the photos I think will get high engagement don’t, and the ones I think will bomb, do well. It doesn’t make any sense!

  8. Your feed is gorgeous! I just followed (lazygirl_us). I feel like IG is the black sheep of social media platforms. It seems like it was made to support people and influencers and less about clicking on links to go to websites and blog posts.

    I get a good amount of likes for my follower ratio, post on stories, and try to think of engaging captions, but I just can’t get people to click on links as easy as I can on Twitter. Even the people who follow me on IG aren’t my target audience, so I have no idea what’s going on.

    And from what I’ve heard, they’re changing their algorithm AGAIN! I definitely put the least amount of effort into IG because it seems like everyone is struggling, no matter how big they are. Only time will tell what they’ll do next!

  9. If you take Instagram just as it’s supposed to be – a fun social media platform – then it’s great. As soon as you make it about numbers, it starts to suck, you overthink it, it’s no fun anymore, it’s work. And I don’t see it like that. I post on random days, with random pauses between posts, no theme, usually no filters or editing, selfies, landscape, my dog… whatever whenever. And there’s the beauty of Instagram. It’s sad people took it to a whole new level with scheduling and editing, but here we are now and you just need to find your thing. Don’t worry about anything else.
    And I just checked your profile, no theme is what I like so I followed you 🙂

    xo Honey – blog Royal Lifestyle – Twitter – Instagram

  10. I feel exactly the way you do when it comes to Instagram – I’ve always wanted to have once of those accounts that has a set running theme, but it never seems to happen and I always seem to get bored of it! I think sometimes its important to just post what you feel like posting and not look too far into it and get too hung up on it, after all it is just a photo sharing website! x

    Han |

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