Below are some of the features I am looking for—and not looking for—in the Instagram accounts I follow. Hopefully, my own Instagram account complies with these preferences.
Instagram Dislikes 👎
- Accounts that consist mainly of the account holder posing in front of exotic tourist attractions. These scenes remind me of hunters posing with the animals they just killed. At the least, you're not engaging in your destination and teaching us anything about it. You just need the "kill".
- Photos that are so beautiful that they could be offered on Shutterstock. Stock photos of places and people, no matter how technically stunning, are ultimately boring. I'm not impressed with your National Geographic-quality photos of Maasai tribespeople or scenic waterfalls. These photos are detached and impersonal, and any google search yields hundreds of them.
- Personal accounts that consist primarily of a single topic, like food or beer.
- Accounts that never include a funny post.
- Accounts that never include a video.
- Accounts of a pretty young woman (rarely a man) that relies chiefly on her appearance to gain an audience, instead of her content.
- Accounts with too many selfies—or none at all.
- Bitterness or sarcasm. (but irony is good!)
- Interesting photos with no explanation of them in the caption.
- Generic inspirational quotes in the caption of your photos. (Please Stop! 🛑 Just tell me about the post itself.)
- Too many reposts from others.
Instagram Likes 👍
- Posts that actively engage with the environment, instead of just observing it from a distance.
- Posts that actively engage and challenge the audience.
- Posts that teach me something I didn't know.
- Funny posts.
- Spontaneous posts, even if technically imperfect.
- Posts recording the ironies of life.
- Accounts with rich and varied content.
- Posts of interesting things you just discovered.
- Experimentation with new photo and video techniques.
This post was tweeted on 5 Dec 2020.
