Tidying up my Instagram accounts
Are you on Instagram? For a long time it was my favourite app, but like a lot of social media platforms, my interest and activity waxes and wanes. The main social media platforms for me are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and to a lesser degree Pinterest. I also like staying in touch with people with Messenger and WhatsApp.
I think it’s marvellous how I can be in a Slack chatroom with podcasters from across the Pacific Ocean. Chat with cooks in the UK in a Facebook group. Share tweets with friends from all around the world.
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However, from time to time, it’s good to have a clean out. Earlier in the year, I cleaned out a few Twitter accounts. For the work-related one (@DrGaryLum) which had to effectively cease operation, I unfollowed everyone and deleted all the tweets. I could delete the account but I like the username and one day I may use it again. I went through the @garydlum and @yummy_lummy accounts and unfollowed quite a few tweeps. I also blocked some people I didn’t want following me.
The same is true for Facebook. I have a professional account with an attached Page. There’s no activity on it and I’ve cleaned out all the status updates and posts respectively. I’m keeping the accounts because I like the usernames and one day I may use them again. On my personal Facebook account, I’ve tightened the privacy settings to stop the trolls, but I’ve opened up the public Facebook pages relating to life and food.
I’ve discovered, it’s not until you start trying to delete status updates on a personal Facebook account do you realise just how much stuff you’ve shared. I also discovered just how much crap I share. I’m slowly going through my personal Facebook account and deleting status updates. What I find remarkable it that Facebook claims to give users complete control, but every day I still come across status updates that I cannot delete. An error message pops up when I try to delete some status updates. These are usually the cross-platform posts from other apps like Instagram.
Not beholden to numbers
Early on, when I first started trying out Twitter and Facebook I was interested in getting followers and friends. It didn’t take long though to work out it’s nigh impossible to interact with any more than maybe a hundred or so people on any platform. I look at the accounts of some people and wonder how they maintain a relationship with the tens or hundreds of thousands of followers or friends.
Slowly unfollowing people on Instagram
So I’m slowly unfollowing people on my Instagram accounts @garydlum and @yummylummyblog. I miss seeing the photographs of some people because of the dilution effect and the algorithm. I will continue to follow local people and people who I know. I’ll even add people who I meet or who are recommended. I don’t really follow celebrities but I do follow creatives like podcasters whose shows I listen to.
I need to do the same on Twitter and get the number down to something realistic which gives me enough interest and enough opportunity for interaction and engagement.
The tough one is unfriending people on Facebook. Just the word ‘unfriending’ sounds a bit mean. There are ‘friends’ from primary school, high school and university. I have no contact with them other than Facebook. I don’t think I’ll be doing much unfriending on Facebook.
What about blogging
For this particular blog, I’m not that concerned about followers, I have a really good cohort of people who read and comment and we interact well together. Over on Yummy Lummy, I’d be happier with more followers and more traffic, but because I’m not doing it to earn money, it’s not really a big deal. More followers though do mean more opportunity for interaction with people which is always a good thing.
Will the price of salmon rise?
This week I was reading ProMED-mail and Tasmanian salmon was mentioned. Apparently, the Pilchard orthomyxovirus is affecting the salmon. I just hope it doesn’t cause the price of salmon to rise.
Hopefully, this is not because I had salmon on Tuesday and not Monday last week 😂
What’s been happening this week?
Monday was a public holiday as we celebrated Reconciliation Day. Tuesday and Wednesday were interesting because of Senate Estimates. Thursday was the last day of Autumn and my seasonal affective disorder really kicked in because it meant Winter was imminent.
Friday marked the first day of Winter. Surprisingly, it hasn’t been as cold as a couple of weeks earlier in May. The week ahead is looking okay with no subzero mornings. I hope it stays that way throughout June.
What I ate this week
This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one and scroll through the rest of them.
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Final thoughts
Do you tidy up your social media accounts?
Do numbers mean much to you?
Should we follow each other on Twitter and Instagram and friend each other on Facebook?
I don’t have Facebook Gary but do have an Instagram account which I probably post a photo about once a week maybe or once every two weeks. I like to follow posts about animals and beautiful places around the world but I don’t think I have many followers. I like having people follow my blog which has been up and running for three years now – I just checked and I have 914 followers – I would love to reach 1000 as I think that would be pretty exciting.
Thanks, Sue. I agree, getting to 1000 is a good milestone to achieve. What I find annoying are all the accounts which follow and then after a day unfollow just to grow their own following. I’ve discovered a lot of account like that. Accounts which I liked but which offer no interaction and when I unfollow them I see they haven’t been following me at all.
Oh interesting. That’s naughty. Makes sense now. Thanks Gary for the insight.
Much food for thought in this post, Gaz. Like you, a few months ago I went through my Facebook statuses and realised how much I shared over time. You are right, not all statuses can be deleted. I’ve deleted some of mine, and I think it will be a while before I can delete all the crap. It can take all night all week to do mine lol.
My main social media platforms are Facebook and Twitter for blogging. I do have a public Instagram to showcase my photography but have been inactive on it for most of this year due to time constraints. I do plan on bringing that back up later this year. On the personal side, I use Messenger for chats and Instagram for broswing leisure and keeping in touch with lovely people – my followers here tend to be those I have met in real life such as my friends, or people I’ve met and have been talking on a long time online such as through WordPress.
It is interesting to hear you say you block people you don’t want following you. Was there are reason why? I was guessing along the lines of trolls and spammers. On my personal Instagram I do follow quite a few people and will be doing a cleanout soon, partly because some photos or followers no longer resonate with me.
I just bought smoked salmon today. Cooked it with pesto pasta – so had cooked smoked salmon, and some raw on the side. Some leftover raw in the freezer already 😀
Mmm…I love some smoked salmon, Mabel.
I think like a good ‘spring’ clean, cleaning out social media makes sense.
The people I have blocked are people I know who just want to find material to use against me. Trolls are an unfortunate part of life but I try not to lose too much sleep over them. I prefer to rejoice in friendships and connections I make with friends like you online.
Smoked salmon is so expensive 😦
Like you, I also like to rejoice in friendships and connections over social media. Over time some people will get tired of trying to pester you. I hope those people who want to find some vendetta against you are blocked completely.
I hope so too but I just roll with it.
If worse comes to worse I still like tinned salmon 😂😂😂
Have you ever thought of replacing salmon with another fish? How about battered fish? 😀
I tried Ling but it was tasteless. I might try something else but I love salmon so much.
Perhaps try whiting or flathead. They tend to be the sweeter kind of fish.
I like flathead. No bones 😃😃😃
But it can be hard to find in Coles or Woolies. I’ve never seen them much around lol. Maybe you can have another fish day each week.
Flathead Friday makes sense
Mind you Friday is also KFC day 😃😃😃
No, KFC hands down first 😃 Maybe alternate between KFC and Flathead Friday 😃😃
No you’re talking 😃
It may be a KFC Friday this week 😃😃😃
Great. Buy that bucket chicken and enjoy the leftovers for the weekend. Nice plan 😃😃😃
I may need to make a creamy KFC casserole
Do it. KFC should sponsor you.
Can you imagine having a KFC sponsorship? It would be fabulous.
It’s possible. Then again, you also promote Maccas once a week or a fortnight. Either one or the other. Can you even choose? 😃
Let’s not forget my desire to be a Spambassador
Don’t forget Coles either. That is in every blog post of yours. Coles should already sponsor you. What are they doing 😃 Imagine, you on the Coles ads 😃😃
Hehe, being on Coles ads would be fun. I’d have to get a YummyLummy.com T-shirt made 😃😃😃
Maybe try writing to them and see how it goes 😃
I bet Coles gets lots of letters like that. I might give it a go though 😃