Recently I joined Instagram as part of a social media link-in party run by The Train to Crazy.
Now I never really knew exactly what Instagram was beforehand, I thought it was just some sort of photo sharing site that people uploaded their pics to and that was it.
Well I got the first part right you do share your photos BUT there is a whole other side to IG that definitely puts it into "social media" category. Users comment on each others photo's (normally iPhone pics, though some are uploading from cameras), tag them with various hashtags (which sort of categorize them, a bit like assigning a "subject" heading, in a very loose urban-slang-and-abbreviations way) and participate in Photo Challenges.
For the month of May someone (I'm sorry I'm not sure who) created the #isewphotochallenge with each day having a different sewing related theme to photograph. I joined in and although I am proving to be a slack IG photo challenge participant ( I tend to miss days when we have visitors or kids are sick) I do enjoy taking part and seeing what others contribute to each challenge.
This was my Instagram for Day 2- the theme was "Early Project":
This was the earliest example of my sewing I could find on the day, I know its been around for a while but checking on my Pattern Review gallery told me I made this in 2008! Not bad thats its still around given the amount of wear its had ;)
The actual composite pic above was created through an App called InstaCollage (free edition) which was then uploaded to my Instgram page.
Unlike Instagram I can also use the InstaCollage edited pics here in my blog (if I send them to myself via email) something which I have not yet been able to do with any of my regular Instagram images.
I'm not sure if Instagram make it deliberately difficult to use your Instagram pics elsewhere (except where they OK you to) but it sure does seem a bit that way.
Intsagram is now owned by facebook, which may explain why it is easy to share pics to facebook but not to other places (like blogger).
There was also been a bit of a user backlash in 2012 when Instagram announced a change in its terms of service which effectively enables them to sell your pictures to third parties. While this is not an issue to me - i doubt any of my pics will ever be of a standard that appeals commercially- it's something to think about if you invest a lot of time and effort into your photography or rely on it to make an income.
So do I like Instagram? Yes. I wish I could access my pictures a bit more easily in other programs once they have been "instagrammed", maybe this is a future (user pays?) option they have in the works. I am a bit wary of spending too much of my time on this one site - it can be a bit of a time waster if you tend to like social media, lots of bloggers post pics to their IG page more often than to their blogs or facebook pages so its easy to get distracted by someones latest W.I.P pic. Still for what it is it is fun. I've met some new and interesting sewists/crafters on their and maybe found out a bit more about some of the bloggers I've already a follower of (in a good way not a creepy-stalkerish way!)
If you want to check out what I've been up to on Instagram go to :
http://instagram.com/sewingforsanity
'Til next time
Happy Sewing/Instagramming (if you IG) !!!
Kate :)
Now I never really knew exactly what Instagram was beforehand, I thought it was just some sort of photo sharing site that people uploaded their pics to and that was it.
Well I got the first part right you do share your photos BUT there is a whole other side to IG that definitely puts it into "social media" category. Users comment on each others photo's (normally iPhone pics, though some are uploading from cameras), tag them with various hashtags (which sort of categorize them, a bit like assigning a "subject" heading, in a very loose urban-slang-and-abbreviations way) and participate in Photo Challenges.
For the month of May someone (I'm sorry I'm not sure who) created the #isewphotochallenge with each day having a different sewing related theme to photograph. I joined in and although I am proving to be a slack IG photo challenge participant ( I tend to miss days when we have visitors or kids are sick) I do enjoy taking part and seeing what others contribute to each challenge.
This was my Instagram for Day 2- the theme was "Early Project":
This was the earliest example of my sewing I could find on the day, I know its been around for a while but checking on my Pattern Review gallery told me I made this in 2008! Not bad thats its still around given the amount of wear its had ;)
The actual composite pic above was created through an App called InstaCollage (free edition) which was then uploaded to my Instgram page.
Unlike Instagram I can also use the InstaCollage edited pics here in my blog (if I send them to myself via email) something which I have not yet been able to do with any of my regular Instagram images.
I'm not sure if Instagram make it deliberately difficult to use your Instagram pics elsewhere (except where they OK you to) but it sure does seem a bit that way.
Intsagram is now owned by facebook, which may explain why it is easy to share pics to facebook but not to other places (like blogger).
There was also been a bit of a user backlash in 2012 when Instagram announced a change in its terms of service which effectively enables them to sell your pictures to third parties. While this is not an issue to me - i doubt any of my pics will ever be of a standard that appeals commercially- it's something to think about if you invest a lot of time and effort into your photography or rely on it to make an income.
So do I like Instagram? Yes. I wish I could access my pictures a bit more easily in other programs once they have been "instagrammed", maybe this is a future (user pays?) option they have in the works. I am a bit wary of spending too much of my time on this one site - it can be a bit of a time waster if you tend to like social media, lots of bloggers post pics to their IG page more often than to their blogs or facebook pages so its easy to get distracted by someones latest W.I.P pic. Still for what it is it is fun. I've met some new and interesting sewists/crafters on their and maybe found out a bit more about some of the bloggers I've already a follower of (in a good way not a creepy-stalkerish way!)
If you want to check out what I've been up to on Instagram go to :
http://instagram.com/sewingforsanity
'Til next time
Happy Sewing/Instagramming (if you IG) !!!
Kate :)
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