I AM a social butterfly, and have gone through several metamorphosis, starting with blogging so long ago that the concept of microblogging(which referred to Twitter in it’s advent) was breaking news. I didn’t know HOW people could possibly convey their thoughts and ideas in 140 characters(or less!). I certainly couldn’t – still can’t!

But, I have adapted. I learned to optimize the various social media platforms to perform as best possible, and discovered obstacles along the way. Facebook, for example, and how they seemed to draw everyone on board with Business Pages and once we were there, effectively closed the door and shut off the lights by making it difficult to stay visible to those who had Liked us in the first place.

Twitter WAS good, and still is, for me, despite the short burst of type required, and which I almost ALWAYS found myself editing; cutting words to pare down the character count.

Pinterest, while it seems to be a top traffic generator to my Etsy shop annoys me greatly since, now that I have gotten used to Twitter 240 characters, seems to ask just too much of me with the various machinations to just VIEW the platform.

But Instagram? I like it! Well, except for the fact that I have to use my cel phone to post. Believe me, I tried to hack a way to post from my laptop and couldn’t make it work. Alas, my two finger typing has been reduced to one-finger pointing, which is the level of dexterity I seem to have, when it comes to putting word to….the ethernet. Thankfully I’m not so inept when it comes to crafting my pendants and other creative pieces.

My Instagram page isn’t like the typical Etsy shop or other branded company profile. I mix my daily visual stimulations and posts from my cross-country travels with work-in-progress shots and product photography.

My video clips are almost quaintly horrible, though I AM getting better about remembering to leave space around the focal point while I shoot so as not to cut off the top of the subject in the final clip. I am a One Take videographer, and let the world be damned to view my inability to remember words(I’m getting old) or haven’t taken a single thought about what to say before I begin.

But – people like my page, and slowly but surely my Follower Count is growing, and people are beginning to comment.

It takes work – just like ALL the social pages. But for some reason I have been able to cultivate genuine followers who are interesting, and that I am interested in. Sure, I still get the “SPECTACULAR FEED!!!111 Check me out!” comments. It’s easy to block them, and I take a small delight in doing that. And I’ve realized and accepted that it’s OKAY to not Follow Back everyone who has simply managed to not be offensive right off the bat. I don’t want to scroll through hundreds of images I’m not interested in, and you know what? If someone Unfollows me because I didn’t reciprocate to their follow – they weren’t real followers in the first place. Just like my mother would have told me if she were still alive and I was still twelve years old and doing things because I worried people wouldn’t like me unless I was acquiescent.

I find people who post interesting things so easily on the platform, and can so quickly search for topics I find intriguing. The only thing that seems trite is that, like all social platforms, they decide what should be edited away to make my feed manageable. I’d prefer to have more control over that.

So – Follow me on Instagram if you like this post. Or don’t. It’s all good.