I always have to preface these types of posts with this statement: my feelings towards social media and technology vary greatly when talking about personal versus business use.
It’s fair to say I can be rather dismissive when it comes to the latest and greatest technology, gadgets, and all around high tech offerings. Not because of some arbitrary feelings of nostalgia, but rather, it’s my need to avoid pointless fads. (I can say with pride I escaped the pitfall of MySpace.)
A few months ago I wrote a fairly pretentious and completely judgmental post about the phone app and social media site Instagram. Now I rejected joining long enough but, being that I work in social media, I wasn’t able to avoid it for too long. So I broke down and started my new life with Instagram. But if you are expecting this post to be a complete retraction to my less than enthusiastic evaluation, you will be sorely disappointed.
I will say, now I see the filters are amusing and how truly creative people can use the medium in ways that will impress even the most cynical of photography snobs. With all my reservations, I finally get that it is just plain and simple fun, even if you use the app to document your entire caloric and caffeine intake for the day. (It’s still annoying but I guess I can forgive it.)
What I won’t concede about is the necessity of a site in and of its self. Using it on your phone is one thing but to trying to connect on a computer is useless. You have to use an outside site, like Webstagram, which I don’t get. And the best mediums to showcase your pictures are still Facebook and Twitter. So I still have a separate site is pointless.
So at the end of the day my views might have softened towards Instagram but I am definitely not a convert. But let’s be real for a second; I’m just salty no one wants to follow me and all the pictures I post of beers at the terrace.