Why I Heart Instagram

I have begrudgingly begun to admit that my life, and my blogging, have improved exponentially since acquiring an iPhone—one of the top 5 reasons is FINALLY being able to access Instagram, which I'd heard so much about but sadly couldn't view or use.

When I was a Blackberry user, I thought that iPhone users (AB in particular) were just close-minded snobs who refused to see the value in technology besides what they owned. I totally acknowledged Apple’s greatness—I just didn’t believe it was the only thing that could be great (does that make sense?).

Well, I finally get it. Just call me s-n-o-b. But back to my point.

Instagram is a photo sharing app unique to iPhone users (and actually, now Droid users as well) that allows you to capture snapshots of your life and share them with followers. You can also edit and add filters that make gorgeous pictures—even from those that you would normally find unfit for sharing. It has been great for me because:

I can take better photos

The iPhone camera takes amazing photos, and editing with apps like Instagram and PicStitch (which creates collages of multiple photos) makes it so much easier to capture the story I’m trying to tell without always having to take a full body shot of myself. I might love my shoes, but be having an awful hair day. This way, the shoes still get spotlighted. And—when I use Instagram photos for the blog, they’re all the same size. No pesky cropping and right clicking needed.

Another way to connect

my new fav color for spring: hibiscus

I can give my followers a glimpse into my everyday life that I can’t share as easily here. By acquiring more pictures that I love, I can share all the outfits, accessories, good hair days and healthy meals that would never have made the blog previously because I just couldn’t get the right shot. And I can share them with simple, short captions, as opposed to writing full blog posts.

More Metrics

this is currently my most liked photo

This crazy smart and informative blog post at Grit and Glamour introduced me to Statigram, an online application that allows you to view Instagram photos online, and gives the most fantastic detailed metrics about the photos you share, who you follow and who follows you. It also allows you to create an Instagram tab for your Facebook page, and can create a custom Facebook cover photo collage of your Instagram photos. That cover photo alone was a life-saver for me because I hadn’t yet found the right one that had the feeling of the blog, and fit those pesky specs. But I digress—bloggers love metrics. Now I can see what types of photos people respond to the most, which helps me to come up with more post topic ideas, and to create more of the blog posts that my readers will want to see on the site.

I am totally obsessed with Instagram, so if you are an iPhone (or Droid) user, feel free to follow me there! My username is @chicmommy1 (the same as my twitter handle). If you’re not an Instagram user, never fear—you can “like” my Facebook page, and follow my Instagram RSS feed from there!

Are you an Instagram user? How much do you love it?