A few weeks ago, I joined Instagram for the first time. I’ve steered clear of social media because of all the negative press which surrounds it: it’s bad for your concentration; it makes you question life decisions; if you’re not having to pay for something, you are the product. To name a few.
But now that (I hope), I have something moderately interesting to say, and because I want to reach a nice big audience as I run around the UK, I have decided the time is right to take the plunge. I’ve made an account, I have started making videos and I am following other users who are creating content that I feel like I can learn from.
At first I was quite pleasantly surprised. There is more good on Instagram than I realised. Interesting, helpful and sometimes inspiring content. But my pleasant surprise has turned into horror in the last few weeks. The people whose good content I was seeing have huge audiences (which is why I am seeing their content) and they have huge audiences because they post so much content. I’m blown away by how much is being pumped out by some accounts. The volume is extraordinary and it feeds the addiction that many Instagram users struggle with. There is always something new to watch on Instagram. Literally every second of the day, there is something new. And so it’s worth it for people to open the app constantly.
Meta Platforms (NSQ:META) - the company which owns Instagram - is currently trading at all time highs. The share price is up 25% in the year to date and the company’s market capitalisation is knocking on the door of $2trn. And I can’t see what’s going to stop that momentum as long as people keep using Instagram to share literally every second of their lives.
A lot of the accounts that I am following belong to seemingly quite ordinary people with no particularly phenomenal talent aside from an ability to create content that other ordinary people are addicted to consuming. It means that a lot of these people have been able to give up their jobs to become full time influencers - paid to go about their ordinary lives, as long as they are wearing the latest pair of fancy trainers.
It’s an evolution…
