“@abby_fauss liked your photo.” This is a common notification I receive on my phone seconds, hours, and days later after I make a post on Instagram. I decided to join Instagram in 2012, but didn’t really start using the social media platform until a few years later. Since then, I have changed in my posting habits and what I post, and have even left up some of the old pictures I used to post rather than deleting them now to make my profile more appealing. Instagram is by far my favorite form of social media, and I am known for spending way to much time on it. I like being able to see pictures of other people and what they are doing, and I like to use my own pictures to show off what I’m doing. I think that the power of social media has impacted our world today, and has definitely impacted my own world. Instagram is like a whole album of online photos that people can share and see different parts of the lives of their followers. I like to use Instagram because I like looking at pictures and seeing other people’s pictures. For some people this is the only way you would ever see their pictures, and I find it really cool to share those moments and be a small part of that. My Instagram page showcases all of the fun things in my life and some of the best people in my life. You can see that all throughout my page, and it is especially apparent in these two posts below.
Phoenix Fun and Phoenix Sun
For my first post, I decided to analyze a picture I posted with my mom on a weekend trip to Phoenix. A few weeks before posting this, I had received a text from my mom asking “want to go to Phoenix with me on February 9th?” with no other explanation. Who would pass up a trip to Phoenix in the middle of February and a weekend with their mom? Naturally I responded that I would love to go, and got to spend a very fun and relaxed weekend with her. This picture was taken outside of the hotel we were staying at called The Arizona Biltmore. This place was so naturally beautiful and was full of floral settings like this one pictured here. The picture shown here is of my mom and I getting ready to go to dinner that night. My caption states “thanks for letting me be your plus one this weekend mama” with a heart emoji. I also have stated my location, so my followers can actually see that I am in Phoenix at this hotel. I decided to make this post for many different reasons. I decided to include two different pictures in this post also, so that people could see two sides to my post. The first photo is of my mom and I standing in front of this pink floral bush. I included this one to get a more closeup look at us and what we were wearing, and just a picture mainly focused on her and I. The second picture I included in this post is of my mom and I standing in front of a fountain with palm trees in the back. My mom is leaned into me more and she is kissing my cheek, and I am looking at the camera with the biggest, cheesy grin on my face. When making this post I was contemplating posting only one picture, but ended up posting both to give my audience more to see, and more to interact with. I thought it would be nice to show a more closeup picture of the two of us, but also include one in a different setting and with a more fun and care-free feeling. My main reason for posting this picture was to let people know that I got to come spend the weekend in Phoenix with my mom, but more importantly was showing them how much I loved my mom and how I loved getting to spend the weekend with her. This picture got a lot of likes and comments, and you can see how others felt about this post and interacted with me through the post. Getting this type of response from my audience made me feel good and that like people were truly “liking” my post and not just scrolling through another picture. This is one of my favorite pictures I have posted, and I loved being able to use it to show time well spent with my mom.
A 362 Mile Gap
The second post I chose to analyze was an appreciation post I made for my boyfriend. Jacob Smith is a dominant character you can see all over my page, and someone I post pictures with often. If it’s not posting pictures with him, you can see us interact through commenting on each other’s pictures or sending posts that make one of us think of the other. As I was driving back from a weekend spent at the University of Arkansas with him, I felt like making this “appreciation post.” I’m not one to be overly sentimental on social media, but for some reason this day I was and wanted to show my audience these feelings. In this post, I used three different pictures but chose to analyze only one of them in this way. This picture I chose of him shows him standing in front of a door that reads “Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale” with a little smirk on his face. I picked to include this picture in my post for a few different reasons. The first reason I chose to include this one was the facial expression one Jacob’s face. When I see this it automatically makes me smile and makes me laugh to see his face smirk like this. The second reason I chose to include this picture was that it was a picture just of him, making him the subject which was my whole purpose for this post. One thing that I think makes this picture unique is the location that it is taken from. I had seen this door and wall on the back of a building and though it would be the perfect place to take a picture. This was taken in the downtown part of my hometown the day before coming back to school from fall break. I wanted to make sure you could see the quote on the wall, and the different hearts on the wall and his shirt kind of ties everything together. This is one of my favorite pictures that I included in my three, and I think encompasses my reason for making this post as a whole. My purpose behind making this post was to have some emotional appeal getting to talk about Jacob and how important he is in my day to day life. I posted this picture to get an emotional response out of my audience. Although I do post a lot of pictures of him, this one was different because of the content of the pictures and my caption. I posted this to get a more emotional response from my audience that wouldn't be seen in some of my other posts.
Why Instagram?
My Instagram account is another reflection of my personality, and I want my followers to have a positive impression of me when they see my posts. My page has many different pictures with lots of different faces. I like to reflect who I am in these pictures and not have a completely different identity. I like to use Instagram to show different aspects of my life to my followers. From football games, to trips back home, or hanging out with my best friends, I’ve attempted to capture it all and let my followers see these moments. When looking at my account as a whole, the one word I think that describes it all would be genuine. You don’t find me meticulously editing pictures to make them perfect, or matching theme to a certain color scheme. My pictures reflect who I am- a fun-loving girl who likes to spend time with her friends and family, and enjoys whatever life brings my way. My intent in posting is to show my audience another side to my personality and let them see different things I am doing. By being able to post about these things, people who I don’t get to see or talk to on an everyday basis can have some insight into what I’m doing. That’s one thing I love about this social media platform. I’ve never quite looked this deep into my Instagram account and have learned a lot by doing so. By looking deeper into my previous posts, I can now have more insight into how my audience is seeing these posts, and posts things that really encompass who I am.