Online Etiquette - Keeping it Instafresh

In recent events, I have decided to dedicate my blog to thoughts on what is SOCIALLY acceptable on SOCIAL media. 

This is not professional in any manner or meant to be offensive in anyway. My intention is to inform the general public that there are unspoken rules of using Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. and I see these rules broken more than I would like.

Instagram is probably my favorite social media out there. I love it so much because it usually isn't full of clutter like Facebook or Twitter. This is because Instagram is set to share only photos or videos. No status updates, page ads, friends who liked links, etc. Instagram is clean with a picture/video and a caption. 

Until someone screenshots a status, tweet or note and posts it as a picture. 

Do you people not get it? That is what Facebook and Twitter are for. Chances are, the people who follow you and Instagram are probably on your Facebook or Twitter too. We've already seen it, and now I'm seeing it twice. Instagram is for actual pictures of actual life. Keep your statuses and tweets where you originally wrote them. 

What I find even worse is the people who have gone around that and create a note, screenshot it, and upload it to Instagram. There is a reason that Instagram does not have a place to only write an update about your life. As my faithful site Wikipedia defines Instagram,"It is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables it users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services." The main purpose is photos and videos, that is all. 

Which brings me to another point. Do not post memes. Ever. I will admit I did post one a year and a half ago...but I made it and I'm the one in the picture. I also fell trap to posting the memes about finals back in the day. Those were deleted when I realized they don't belong on Instagram. KEEP THEM AWAY. 

Instagram also has this day theme every week. 

Man Candy Monday

Transformation Tuesday

Woman Crush Wednesday

Throwback Thursday 

...etc...every week.

I've always found this kind of odd. 

I really don't mind if you do post using the #mcm or #tbt but, for the love, please do not post the same man or women every week of your significant other. One thing I can not stand is seeing the caption, " My #mcm every week" No. Just stahp. Don't use celebrities every week either. They don't even know you exist. 

You can't say that I don't understand celebrity crushes. Because, honey, I do. I'm a strong fan girl of many fandoms. I don't feel the need to plaster their face for everyone else though, just my desktop will do.

And don't you ever "#fbf to last weekend!" NO. No, no, no, no, no. You should have posted that last weekend. DO NOT WAIT A WEEK JUST TO RELIVE IT AGAIN WHEN WE ALREADY SAW PICTURES A WEEK AGO. Go, do something new this weekend and then let me know about it. 

I always did like a clean Instagram. So hows about some spring cleaning?

Online Etiquette - How Pinteresting are you?

In recent events, I have decided to dedicate my blog to thoughts on what is SOCIALLY acceptable on SOCIAL media. 

This is not professional in any manner or meant to be offensive in anyway. My intention is to inform the general public that there are unspoken rules of using Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. and I see these rules broken more than I would like.

I will admit, Pinterest is addicting. It has something for everybody. You don't have to be crafty, fit, artistic, intelligent, rich, etc. to use it. Really, Pinterest is used to form ideas into your head. To help oneself to become more recreational. I recently took a Communications class at Brigham Young University. The Professor asked the class, "I want you and a partner to come up with a list, in order, of the top influential social media sites." Facebook was at the bottom of the list. I don't know about you, but I rarely feel inspired to do anything while scrolling through a jumbled mess of so-and-so liked this picture and so-and-so was tagged in 3 photos. The top influential website was Pinterest, followed by Tumblr. So, if Pinterest is so influential, why does it only have 70 million users compared to Facebook's 1.4 billion? Well, because it is designed to draw in the female demographic. 

Pinterest has this stigma of being girly. I hate that. Yes, it has wedding stuff and home crafts, but it also has home repair tricks, hilarious photos, gadgets, workout routines, etc. I don't know why it has been deemed for girls only but I guess, why is video games deemed only for boys?

If you Urban Dictionary Pinterest you will find the definition -a social networking site that allows you to figuratively "pin" pictures of your likes/interests in a simple, organized fashion. Organized. That is the main influential factor of Pinterest. It allows the user to organize and visualize ideas they like into different categories so they are an easy find when needed. No one is going to plan their wedding, birthday party or home from start to finish with their pins on Pinterest. That would be absurd. What Pinterest is actually used for is to look and pin what you like, for example, styles, color schemes, photos, etc. Then after getting an idea of what ideas capture your interest, you put it all together and creat your own thing. Hence being influential. 

Being influential is not what I have beef about with some Pinterest users. What I am opposed to is the users who decide to pin 50+ pins from the same category in one sitting. Whether it is interesting to me or not, it is completely overwhelming. 

If I am seeing a 100 quilt designs or 45 pictures of the same celebrity, I'm not feeling inspired. I'm feeling like I need to frantically scroll to where I can see anything else besides the same thing over and over. It gets old real quick. Plus, I know there is no way any one individual is going to go back and find that one pin that they really liked. Pinterest should be used for the ideas that get the mind to whirl, not give you every cake idea under the sun. If you want to pin a bunch of the same thing, just mix and match! Pin a recipe here, a quote there, an outfit, and then another recipe. That way, we're all not overwhelmed on the receiving end of your pins. 

The not so ironic thing about Pinterest is that the purpose of it is in the name itself. Pinterest.  Find the things that interest you and share them with anyone who follows you. Don't shove your favorite celebrity down the rest of our throats; that is what hidden boards are for. Use Pinterest to inspire your fellow pinners to paint their nails, not drive them to see every design possible. If they wanted to see all  the designs for themselves, they could just search for it in the search bar. 

So, let's keep things Pinteresting for all of us, and we could be pin-pals.