Out of the Instagram Game

So many things have been said already about how unhealthy Instagram can be, but I always felt quite good about where I was located in the addiction spectrum. I was also proud to say that I use instagram mostly for publishing and promoting my business and less for scrolling and consuming.

That last change on Instagram's algorithm broke me down. It's not longer a game of popularity. It's also not about creating interesting content anymore, or telling a story or innovating nothing! It's now only this one thing - does the Instagram algorithm chooses to expose your profile to someone or not.

If someone choses to follow you or not - doesn't matter, anyway the consumer will see people that they don't follow, and will not see some of those they did! It's just exhausting now, words can not describe how much. The worst thing about it, is that after it brings you down, you somehow get to think that the solution, the cure, would be to create better posts, follow more people, pay for an ad, start making reels.... It's a loop, a cruel one.

BUT

I'm trying to live my life in the most optimistic positive way I can. Therefore, a loop like this one, that feels like there's no way to get out of, ever, is one of my favorite challenges.

One of the first things that I've learned from my best friend and soon husband is that if you want to win a social game, stop playing.

I'm still practicing this ability, here are 4 steps to try and get out of the game:

1. I believe that the first step for me would be to respect the people that are good in the game and choose to play it.

Dear content creators and influencers, I see your hard work and I respect that so much. I know how hard it is to stay up to date all the time, to take videos of everything you do in a good light and with a good camera that probably was expensive. To try more and more gadgets to help the videos be stable and easy to shoot, to edit the videos to be short enough, interesting enough, and to fit with the music that Instagram chooses that is right for you these days. I think you guys are great and I definitely can't do it myself.

2. Why I'm not good at the game: I always forget to take videos of the process, I don't like how I look on camera, I'm messy, I don't enjoy the music Instagram choose to be trending, I'm inconsistent and changing my mind all the time, It's not on the top of my priorities and I don't invest enough time and effort.

3.Way out:

Fortunately, in my frustrating journey on Instagram I found people with not many followers and a lot of engagement- I was always intrigued by that. Those people, I found them by searching their names specifically cause some other source made me want to do that. Gallery owners for example, journalists, public figures, and such, that I saw probably while researching online, reading an article, or seeing them in person! They didn't need the Instagram algorithm to get to me, they were already important, after succeeding in real life without using social media.

4. The plan:

Instagram will stay a portfolio, business card, landing page. I can't erase it now because I still need it for communications and such. The emotional attachment will hopefully stop because I will stop chasing followers. Meanwhile, I will go out to the streets, meet people, have coffee with them, attend events

or

give away postcards of dogs.

I'll tell you about the dogs postcards next time...