Instagram…The enemy of the fan paparazzi….An opinion.

“If you “like” a photo, then it’s assumed you found that picture to be aesthetically pleasing. What is not assumed is that you expected a “like” or a follow in return. And don’t even think about unfollowing someone because they didn’t follow you back. This sort of middle school behaviour is not appreciated. “Like” worthy pictures for the sake of liking them.” Fitzgerald, B. Huffington Post Online.

Recently a fan wrote a reflective post on her Facebook page bagging the use of Instagram by some fans and celebrities. Many of the points she made in the post were critical of the way people use Instagram such the number of selfie posts by celebrities, the use of filters and the culture of likes and favourites in particular with friends and celebrities. This post is a response to that post.

After a brief search there are lots of quality articles about the correct official and unofficial social rules of Instagram. The rules come from a range of sources including social media and blogging experts and those in quality magazines and online newspapers. I will try and integrate those findings into this response. Although I am not sure how these social rules were collected, they certainly are enlightening.

I am the first to confess I don’t know much about social media, the various applications or the social rules that guide their usage. I don’t like Facebook and only have an account to research and to access sites where I need a log in. The need for a Facebook account is essential to access information and entertainment as it’s power and influence are becoming more extensive.

I have an active Twitter account. I also have an Instagram account. While I do not post any photos (well not yet anyway) I use the account to follow my interests mostly some television shows, celebrities and my love of photography and special places. (As one of the articles I read suggested that if I was close to 60 then I should stay on Facebook and if I have less than 100 followers on Istagram I should abandon it.)

I love the look of the photographs on Instagram, the fact the photographs are open on my mobile phone when I search and a person can type more than 140 characters to write about what they are posting. Looking at photographs from the sites I follow is like going to a photography exhibition at an art gallery. Is there any such thing as a bad photograph on Instagram? If so I have yet to see one.

From the fan’s Facebook page….

“And are you suppose to like only the good pics or be ‘loyal’ and like every single pic your friends/fave celebrities post, regardless of quality?

As for the mind-numbing plethora of selfies, what is with the fundamentally exact same selfie shot-same angle, same expression, same filters, same hair, same make up – posted again and again and again…an liked by the same 15-20 people, again and again and again and again?

Not to mention the whole notion of undeclared “latergrams” and shots taken with SLRs and imported into Instagram”.

I certainly understand why this fan doesn’t like Instagram and is critical of the way ‘her’ celebrities and other fans use the app. Instagram (other social media) is in many ways the enemy of fan paparazzi of which she is a member. Instagram and social media accounts give people, and in particular celebrities control over what they post and how they are seen, rather than through the eyes of the normal paparazzi and the fan paparazzi.

From research I found the unofficial and official rules of Instagram in having over 10-11 likes is a good thing as that will indicate the number of likes rather than the names of the followers.

Other rules state that commenting and not liking a post is not considered cool. Followers should like their best friend’s posts no matter what the quality. Some fans consider celebrities to be their friends whether they are or not. Or they comment on a post because well they genuinely like the post. Only the user knows the reasons why they like something unless they express that in a comment.

Liking a post is a nice thing to do and has positive effects for the receiver and the giver. There is nothing wrong with positive feedback and loyalty for anyone whether the person is a celebrity or not.

The fan who posted the post is in the fandom paparazzi and has posted thousands of photographs and videos on social media. They are shared on her personal accounts on Facebook and Twitter and a fan site on Facebook. Her Twitter account is almost exclusively used for contact with a celebrity. She only vary rarely uses her Instagram account for distributing her photographs.

Unlike the fan who posted the post, not everybody who responds to someone’s post wants something in return whether acknowledgement or recognition.

I disagree with the comments this fan made about selfies and that some celebrities post way too many selfies that are way too similar. I love selfies and the stories they tell from the fandoms I am in. I don’t find them ‘repetitive or mind numbing’. And neither do the fans. Selfies and other photographs taken by our celebrities in most cases usually receive more likes and favourites than those by the fan paparazzi. And yes there are social rules for posting them that are not always observed but I love them anyway.

In the social rules I read there are social rules about using filters, however, there was nothing to state there has to be a certain amount of time from when the photographs are taken and loaded up onto Instagram or what kind of cameras they were taken with. In fact many social media commentators encourage people to edit their photographs and use filters.

There are many professional photographers on assignment for organisations who share their photographs from where ever they are long after they are taken such as National Geographic. Then there are the history sites sharing photographs from decades ago. All brilliant, relevant, and interesting photographs. These photographs attract hundreds of thousands of favourites and thousands of comments.

Social media applications or trends may start out being used one way, however, their use is constantly changing with the users deciding how they want to use it. Instagram expectations for usage are clearly laid out in their user policy. These are quite different from the social rules of Instagram devised by social media trend setters.

There are a couple of things I don’t like about Instagram. I really dislike fan pages who share original posts via screenshots from celebrities as if it were their own and collect favourites and likes for doing so without adding a substantial comment via their personal and fan accounts. An article I read stated saving screen shots and sharing them is now not cool. I absolutely agree.

The other thing I don’t like is the overloaded post full of hashtags. The general rule about hashtags is that a post should only contain two or three.

As I stated before Instagram is the enemy of fan paparazzi who follow celebrities around whether at concerts or conventions. The fan who posted has taken many ‘mine numbing photographs’ of the same thing, over and over many years of the same person, from the same position at the same event.

I don’t really care too much about really famous celebrities and how they use their accounts. If a celebrity has thousands or millions of followers then I am sure they must be doing some right. It is also their choice.

Choice about what we do on social media regardless of social trends and who and what we follow is important. Followers should be able to respond in the way they want as long as the response isn’t abusive or offensive or illegal.

Some fans when making observations about fans and fandom seem to forget that celebrities are in most times too busy to read fan’s posts or know that a fan exists.

References

Bloomingdale, H. ‘The Instagram Rules. The Good, the Bad and the Very Boring’. Vogue Online. Published 26 August, 2015.

Fitzgerald, B. ‘11 Instagram Tips For Beginners: Etiquette Rules Every User Should Know’. Huffington Post Online. 26 June 2012.

Stryker, S. ‘29 Unwritten Rules of Instagram the Everyone Should Follow’. Buzzfeed Online. Published 6 May, 2014.

Sula, H. ‘The Unwritten Rules of Instagram’. Published 1 August, 2014.