Instagram and Social Media

I know it sounds kind of weird when I say that I am not a big fan of social media. It probably sounds even more strange when I write it in a blog as a blog is a form of social media. There are a number of different social media tools though and it is some of those other tools that I think are unworthy of my time.

One of the Monday morning regulars that I fly with from Salt Lake City to the Bay Area was telling me about how his daughter's weekend was ruined by Instagram. I am not much of a photographer and don't feel the need to post pictures of my various events for people to see and so I must confess that I disliked Instagram even before I heard his story.

My friend's preteen daughter was busy this weekend with soccer games and missed out on getting an invite to a party. The next day she checked into Instagram and saw all sorts of pictures of her friends having a good time without her. It was devastating to her self-esteem. My friend had to sit down with his daughter and comfort her. I didn't get the details of what he said but he did mention that social media has gotten out of control. I agree with him. My takeaway from his story was that his daughter got out of the house and actually did something worthy of her time by playing soccer.

While I may think that social media tools like Instagram and Facebook are a waste of time, there are some benefits they do provide. Last Friday we were at work watching the Mavericks Invitational that came about because of Twitter.  My understanding is that on Monday the weather was predicted to be perfect for the event on Friday and so everyone leveraged Twitter to organize the event and get the competitors in place.

I think the important thing to remember with social media is true with anything we find desirable: moderation. While a jelly doughnut tastes good, too many of them will have you looking like the Michelin man. Furthermore you may think you were the life of the party and want everyone to bask in your glory but reality is you probably look like a dork . . . and if you have been eating all of the hors d'oeuvres, the Michelin man too.