Friday, September 2, 2016

Blogging vs. Instagram

I am concerned about this whole social media phenomenon. When I say this, I might sound like an outlier, or like an oldie who still uses Nokia. But I am not. I am inside the social media circle and in fact an active user.

When I started blogging back in 2007, the intention to blog was to purely write out of love. I loved the idea of owning a space in this world where we get to express our thoughts and feelings without being steered by anyone else but us. It was lovely, and the ecosystem felt friendly and genuine too. As fellow bloggers, we would visit each other's blog like neighbors do. We would keep track of our stats, and get excited when someone leaves a comment. But we keep all this info to ourselves, just to track our own progress. I also noticed that bloggers became bloggers because we had this commonality of being shy and socially awkward in real life, so blogging was our way to communicate better to the world; through laptops and keyboards. And suddenly, blogging became a "thing", bloggers became the "thing". Bloggers received the brightest spotlight, made headlines, made money, but believe it or not, when you meet bloggers from this era, they are still the same old authentic people they were. Fame did not change these bloggers. Because they, me, we received all this recognition and acknowledgment over a long time. It was not instant. And fame was never the goal. Fame was a byproduct of our love, hardwork and consistency.

And then came Instagram. I would say, Instagram changed the whole game. Instagram made people become addicted to everything fast and everything short. People no longer want to open blogs because blogs are too lengthy to read and takes longer time to load. "Instagram has everything I need to know" - faster and shorter. And this cultivated the culture of stalking. I remember the number of blogs I would read on a weekly basis were no more than 20, but on Instagram, we follow hundreds and thousands of accounts, and boy is that a lot of info. Because of this, we no longer seek the depth of a person. Instead, we capture what we see on the surface through a quick scroll of square-shaped photos and cheeky captions. Because of this, Instagrammers try very hard to project a feed that looks pretty to make people stop scrolling and click on their accounts. And 'Instagram formulas' came to life. "Keep yourself small and show more of the ambience. Show more of the beach. The cafes. The mountains. This country. That country. Show where you are. Show what you wear. Show what you eat. Tag the location.". Instagram cultivated a culture of showing off. And this created a cycle of a never ending stalking and showing off. Suppliers show off, demanders stalk. The more you show off, the more they will stalk. And stalkers equal to followers. The more stalkers, the more number of followers. The more number of followers, the higher you are in today's social hierarchy. Boom. Fame became a goal. 

When fame is a goal, it is dangerous. It creates obsession over likes and followers that don't even matter in real life. Because when fame is a goal, things are no longer authentic. You do everything it takes to maintain and increase your fame value. You fabricate stories. You buy followers. You keep stocks of photos to upload over the next one week to look like your cafe-hopping every single day. But why lie to your followers? They are jealous of you and see yourself as #lifegoals, but little do they know, you are living a lie - no matter how big or small.

Of course, this does not go to everyone. But truthfully, there is a big chunk of people who ignorantly enjoys and benefits from these lies. One must not belittle the power of social media. In fact, it is the most powerful platform in spreading influence. So spread good influence. Spread realness. Spread kindness and good behavior. Spread quality. Focus on building yourself rather than your feed. Write to inspire, not to merely impress. Be responsible because your followers look up to you. No matter which platform you are on - blog or Instagram - you are an agent of change.

xoxo,
Diana

35 comments:

  1. I do agree that instagram made everything more "instant". But i view it as a culture to be embraced. I think it's captivating how the culture, especially in Indonesia, shift so quickly - and how it changes how people interact with each other.

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  2. couldn't agree more Kak Di. Instagram does change the whole game, hufftt

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  3. Thats's very true. Lately these months i'm learning on this digital thingy. I also active on socmed include blog (since 2006) and instagram. Pernah kepikiran kok si ini itu bisa dapat jutaan pembaca? Pengen kayak gitu dgn harapan digandeng brand. Lalu apa perlu bikin feed goal di instagram?
    Setelah dipikir2, audience dan personal brand aku kan beda. Jd ga perlu diikutin juga. Dan akhirnya aku ga mau ngebebanin harus ini itu soal content toh ini untuk diri aku, buat kerja buat pihak lain. I just share what I want to share. Untuk instagram, aku hanya post foto2 yang memanng secara estetika bagus.

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  4. I'm completely agree, omg! Beruntung karena saat ini smartphone jadul saya tidak "kuat" menginstall social media yg berat semacam instagram, path, & snapchat. Jadi saya tidak lagi ketergantungan untuk ikut eksis meramaikan feed & show off ttg keseharian saya. Justru saya malah jadi semangat lagi menulis di blog setelah tahun lalu saya keasikan main tiga socmed tadi.

    Highlighting: Focus on building yourself rather than your feed. Write to inspire, not to merely impress. πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

    Thanks for sharing & always inspiring, Kak Di!

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  5. I'm totally agree. Instagram TOO good to be true, people talentless can be popular there. But, I have to say thanks too to instagram because at least I can upload my sneak peak blog there. My relationship with instagram is kind of love-hate relationship.


    Mallieams.blogspot.com

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  6. Iyaahh, Kak Di, setujuu. Aku juga ngerasa liat blog sekarang itu gak berasa personalitynya, lebih ngeliat ke foto bagus dan tempat-tempat keren yang didatengin. Karena aku pengguna aktif blogger dan instagram juga jadi kebawa, kepengen juga dapet kepopuleran itu. Sampe waktu itu foto aku di like sampe seribu lebih, foto lain paling cuma 50-100 likes, jadi itu berasa banget. Tapi terus disitu malah jadi kaya, oh gini rasanya? Kok ga ada perubahan yah? Gue ya gini-gini aja, ga ada yang berubah. Abis dari situ jadi sadar kalo likes dan followers itu ga ada ngaruhnya sama kenyataan sehari-hari. Jadi arahannya lebih ke sharing aja, emang kalo seneng sama foto dan gambarnya, seneng sama muka lagi keliatan cantik, ato seneng lagi pas jalan-jalan. Jadi udah gak ngoyo gitu maksa harus bagus atau apa. It's exhausting and feels not like my self.

    Blog yang sekarang aku ikutin dan masih baca juga lebih ke blog yang berasa personalitynya, yang emang mau sharing dan bukan demi menyenangkan pembacanya.

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  7. stalkers, followers,... and also socmed haters :(


    BTW, pemikiran dan penyampaian yang sangat menarik.
    Thumbs up for you..

    xoxo

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  8. Aaah... I feel you kak!
    Gathering followers and likes on instagram such a life goal nowadays, and I'm sick of it. I like the fact that you're still do something to inspire people, not to impress them. It helps me a lot to do whatever I want to do and makes me happy. I write, I snap, and I share. I don't care about how much followers and likes I made as long as I'm happy with 'my work'. I learn that if you love what you do and it comes from the heart..happiness, money ,and fame will follow you.

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  9. Thank you for writing this :)

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  10. Agreeeeed! Sekarang jadi makin dikit yang ngeblog. :')

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  11. Hello! I'm not sure I've ever commented before but I just want to say I love reading blogs and reading your blog (very inspirational) and blogging myself :) I'd be so sad if that World was lost! *high five*

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  12. Agreed!! Benar sekali kak diana..
    kalau saya sekarang lebih pilih untuk tetap di blog.

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  13. This is why I am more into reading pages of Blogger's thought instead of scrolling through square feed containing only self-image branding, which pretty much against realness and joining the 'self-centered gang'. Not all of the users are join the 'thing' though. But it is safe to say that most of them did get this syndrome: when one posted his/her best selfie, lunch at the most high cafe. The rest of people either friends and strangers will follow. It's like putting this Instagram thingy as their "Pride" and self-worth. Syndrome when you started an Instagram to stay keep-in-touch with friends yet ended up with "their business is my business too" (kepo). And, yeah, you know the drill... Everything that goes too much it's not okay.

    By the way! Hi, idk if you remember me but we met at @America couple weeks ago and took a photo together! hahhahah love this relevant thought. Keep pouring out positive vibes! xoxo

    X,
    WWW.LILSHELULLABIES.LINK

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  14. Setuju banget kak Di! Sekarang bingung membedakan mana yang benar2 ingin sharing dengan yang only want to show off.. Thank you for sharing this kak Di.. mengingatkanku juga untuk tidak show off but only to share from heart..

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  15. Bagus banget kak tulisannya.. Impactful, strong... Super love it.

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  16. I really love this post as it exactly tells what is on my mind. I'm also on Instagram and enjoy the infinite number of inspiration and even using it for business, but I agree that it is lack of depth, lack of thoughts that most of the time can be explored through longer lines on blogs.

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  17. Very well said, di. Very well said.

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  18. Kalo gue boleh usul sih mending di blogger aja.
    takutnya instagram itu cuma sebuah trend kayak friendster, twitter or berbagai macam sosmed lainya. nanti lama kelamaan juga ga bakal ngehits lagi.
    tapi kalo blog, aku fikir bakal abadi sampe kapanpun.
    eh gue bener ga sih

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  19. Udah banyak blog yang semula hampir saya pantengin tiap hari, tapi sekarang udah saya delete dari bookmark karena blog-blog tadi gak seorisinil seperti sebelumnya. Terlalu banyak promo, terlalu banyak benda, gak ada sentuhan personalnya sama sekali. Love your words, touché 😊

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  20. so deep, love this post, love you kak di :)

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  22. I DO REALLY AGREE! May I share your write to some of my friends? I think it is a good insight to remind people who mostly seeking fame on sosmed, focus more on feed rather than building their self in real life and forget the essence of 'social interactive' itself.
    Sadly, nowadays I found several bloggers who 'maybe' got influenced from this phenomena too, sometimes I got confused to differentiate which is the true/originally sharing or promotion posting (like products review/recommendation since they got paid from the sponsor) from some famous bloggers.

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  23. Setuju banget kak sama semua statementnya. Even until now, aku sama sekali gak kepikiran mau terkenal atau bisa ada sponsor dll hahaha bahkan blogku masi tetep jadi virtual diary aku & yah it's about me not always a brand. You're truly inspiring kak, please do not stop from blogging <3

    www.stepfromsteph.blogspot.co.id

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  24. Hi sis Di. What a nice writing! Good job. I used to do blog hopping during that time when ppl did blogging. Now no more . ppl prefer to update in the instagram. I tot it is just a matter of the changes of time..but when u write this, lil did i know that instagram makes ppl chasing for a fame. (I know not ppl like this) but still...and i like ur last paragraph. "Spread good vibes and kindness". Two thumbs up!

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  25. This is so true and deep! Thank you Kak Di!

    www.cupofscarf.com

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  26. nicely written.. well said.. thumbs up.. we like your words

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  27. I really agree. I still do blogging until today :)

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  28. Agree.

    Beberapa blog yang saya baca, belakangan ini, bahkan sepertinya makin sering deh, nulisnya sponsored posts melulu...

    Ga salah sih, tapi kalau diselang-seling ada tulisan yang dengan sentuhan personal, ga melulu "dagangin produk orang lain" rasanya lebih menyenangkan aja, berasa ohhhh.... ini bloggernya masih individu yang nulis dengan tulus, bukan "sekedar" bagian dari tim pemasaran brand tertentu.

    And the instagram thing, belakangan ini jadinya malah lebih sering ketemu 2 jenis account:

    - online shop
    - orang-orang yang hidupnya sangat kece karena isi post nya melulu lagi disana lagi disini pakai ini pakai itu makan disana makan disini :)

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  29. love your take on "real influencers", since the competition is really hard right now many bloggers resort to buying followers in order to reach fame in an easy way, its really sad because the essence of showing your true self is gone.

    Capturing Life Memoirs | aimeebustillo.com

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  30. i do agree kak Di. Mari jadi agent of change yang baik, bertanggung jawab.
    keep inspiring :)

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  31. i do agree kak Di. Mari jadi agent of change yang baik, bertanggung jawab.
    keep inspiring :)

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