Tag: INSTAGRAM

Social Media: Society, Politics and Healthcare

By Konsam Jenny

Abstract

With the introduction of social media, majority of the population of the world is under the influence of it which is both positive and negative. It has changed the world scenario: education, politics, administration, health, society and so on. Youths are glued to social media and adults and senior citizens are no exception. This paper tries to highlight some of the issues faced in the field of politics, society and healthcare. The author took up this areas believing that society is deeply impacted by our health and the way the administration is run.

Key words: social media; politics; society; healthcare

Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com

Introduction

Social media has become an integral part of our life. It no longer confine in staying connected with family and friends but it serve a bigger role such as forming public opinion, a platform for discussion for almost every field (society, administration, economy, politics, health and so on, both in the national and international arena). The use of social media is prevalent across all ages and professions and is pervasive around the world. Social media, nowadays, plays a significant role in shaping/changing our world.[1] As of January 2023, Facebook users have reached 3 billion (monthly active users)[2] Youtube – 2.49 billion; WhatsApp – 2 billion; Istagram – 2 billion.[3] A detailed analysis by the team at Kepios shows that there are 5.04 billion social media users around the world in January 2024, equating to 62.3 percent of the total global population.[4] Social Media such as Face book, Twitter and YouTube are not just mere innovations in the internet world, but are fast emerging as influencers and opinion creators.[5]

Definition of social media

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content”.[6]According to Dewing (2010) social media is defined as “various types of internet services commonly associated with social media (sometimes referred to as web 2.0 includes the blogs, wikis, social networking sites, status-update services, media sharing sites)”.[7] Another definition provided by Mayfield (2008) describes these media as “online platforms that promote participation, openness conversation and connectedness”.[8]

Types of social media

Social Media can be classified as: Social Networking Sites (mainly used for connecting with friends and family focusing more on person-to-person conversations); Image-based sites(apps like Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat which are designed to amplify the sharing of images); Video sharing/streaming platforms/Discussion forums (which allow users to ask questions and get answers from different people) and Blogs and community platforms (Blogs are a great way for businesses and marketers to reach and provide credible information to their target audience).[9]

Social media and society

Social media deeply influences every aspect of our lives be it personal or our professional lives. Following are some of the positive as well as negative impact of social media in our society: 

Positive impact

One simple example of positive impact of social media is very much prevalent during the time of Pandemic (Covid-19). Education was hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was with the help of social media that education was made available online to millions of student. In today’s time academic education is provided through various tools such as blogs, podcasts, e-learning, m-learning etc. Connectivity with family and friends living faraway places has become easier. It also helps in giving awareness regarding various topics, including current affairs, politics, environment, etc.[10]  

Negative impact

  1. It has become primary source for spreading fake news and information
  2. Powerful people, companies and institutions misuse it to spread propaganda to meet their interests
  3. Politicians /political parties use as a propaganda tool, setting a fake narrative to manipulate the ideology especially common people.
  4. Use as a tool by Terrorists and Extremists extensively to spread hateful and violent ideologies
  5. Trolling and bullying can become a serious issue affecting one’s health (mentally as well as physically).[11]

Role of Social Media in Politics

Social media which was considered as a tool for entertainment has change considerably. Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and others have played a big role when it comes to administration. It has dismantled traditional barriers between politicians and their constituents.[12] It is seen that before 2009 general elections, Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP who had previously served as UN Under-Secretary-General, was the only Indian politician with a Twitter account but today most of the politician has social media account.[13] For example, the most influential political leader on Twitter is Barack Obama (former US President). In 2008 Obama first started using Twitter and other social media sites during his presidential campaign. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 election made Twitter his most important tool for communication, Joe Biden, Amit Shah, Arvind Kejriwal, Dalai Lama, Pope Francis are some of the prominent leaders who have used social media. It is worth mentioning that BJP reportedly operates around 200,000 to 300,000 WhatsApp groups and controls 18,000 fake Twitter handles.[14]

Social media influencer and politics

 Social media influencer also plays important role in creating public opinion when it comes to politics. They are important in political marketing shaping narratives and engaging with diverse voters. Political parties collaborate with influencers of different types based on their campaign goals and budgets. Influencers can be categorised as Nano (0-10000 followers) and micro-influencers (10000 – 100000) connect with local communities, while macro (1-10 lakh) and mega-influencers (10 lakh and above) spread messages to a vast audience.[15]

In 2023, Ankit Baiyanpuria (a social media fitness influencer from Haryana) joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Shramdaan programme of the “Swachhata Hi Seva”[16] Union Ministers S Jaishankar (watched 6.6 million times), Nitin Gadkari (watched 2.2 million times), Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Rajeev Chandrasekhar have given interviews to two prominent Youtubers Ranveer Allahabadia and Raj Shamani.  Delhi chief minister Arvind kejriwal gave interview to comedian Kunal Karma in 2019; Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was interviewed by YouTube content creator Samdish Bhatia in 2022; Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan interviewed by Shamani;[17]Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gave interviewed to Bhatia, Curly Tales and Mashable India during his Bharat Jado Yatra.[18] The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Tiwari and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s Aaditya Thackeray have given similar interviews since 2022.[19] Biden recently rolled out the red carpet at the white house for hundreds of influencers including actor Kalen Allen (2 million) and artist Devon Rodriguez (9 million followers) hoping to persuade them to join his cadre of digital assets.[20] Trump has been cosy with conservation influencers. The list is endless.

Social media and political events

Incidents like the huge protests of 2012 regarding anti-corruption movement by Anna Hazare leading to the serious consideration of Lokpal Bill in the Parliament; the outrage following Nirbhaya gang rape case (2012) channelized through the social media led to bring changes in Rape Law; the development on the long awaited administrative issue of Telangana; the 2014 India’s Parliament Election called as “First social media election” made history as much of it took place online; presidential campaigns of Barack Obama way back in 2008 made history; the Arab Revolution or the Arab Uprising where social media played a significant role in bringing changes to the long dictatorial rule in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011. In Philippine, with the help of only text messages President Joseph Estrada was ousted in 2001. In 2012, in Romania it had helped in converting street movements into large cities.

Social media and Health

Human beings being a social creature need companionship. It is this connections that help humankind to ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life.[21]On the other, lacking of such connection can lead to serious health issue. Although, it is seen that social media have their own benefits but it can never replace the real world. Ironically for a technology that’s designed to bring people closer together, spending too much time on it actually make you feel more lonely and isolated.[22]

Benefits of social media in Healthcare Professionals (HCP)

Social media was widely used in health contexts by many especially during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.[23] It is used for various health purposes such as health interventions, health campaigns, medical education and disease outbreak surveillance.[24] Mention may be made that 80 per cent of cancer patients used it to connect with peers In US alone, 80 per cent of health organisations used social media accounts.[25] Social media provide HCPs with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviours, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleague.[26]

According to the Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)[27] following are some of the benefits and drawbacks of social media in healthcare: 

The positive side:

  1. Patients use social media sites 

About 80 per cent of patients used internet to make healthcare-related search, therefore, it’s important to connect practice and services to the internet

  1. Easily Build Relationships with Patients

Patients want to feel that they have a close relationship with their physicians. According to a survey conducted on behalf of American Osteopathic Association roughly 42 per cent adults want to follow their healthcare professionals on social media

  1. Showcase accomplishments and activities through social media platforms

Patients want to know that their doctors and nurses are involved in the community.

  1. Attract Healthcare Professionals to the Workplace 

Research shows that about 90 per cent of physicians use social media for professional reasons. It becomes easy to find more doctors and nurses to join your company.

Drawbacks of social media in healthcare

  1. Security Risks: The biggest is that their private information might get stolen.
  2. False information
  3. Lack of Control from the Healthcare Professional: there is no way to prevent negative comments.
  4. Time-Consuming: it is not easy to produce new content all the time.
  5. The Danger of Self-Diagnosis

Conclusion:

Social media have become so important in every sphere of our life. From the above discussion we can conclude that there is an ever increasing rate of internet users all around the world. The facilities provided by social media cannot be comparing with any other in every field (politics, society or health, as discussed above). It is up to us to utilities it in the most appropriate manner.   

References:

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2012) Statement on use of social media by pharmacy professionals, 69(23): 2095-2097 at: www.ashp.org/DocLibrary/BestPractices/AutoITStSocialMedia.aspx at Accessed 16/03/2024DOI: 10.2146/sp120011

Bernhardt M, Jay and Alber, J and Gold RS (2014) A social media primer for professionals: digital do’s and don’ts, Health Promot Pract,15(2):168–172 at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24396119/#:~:text=When%20used%20wisely%20and%20prudently,recognition%20and%20improve%20one’s%20reputationaccessed date 16/03/2024 DOI: 10.1177/1524839913517235

Braun LA, Zomorodbakhsch B, Keinki C, Huebner J. (2019) Information needs, communication and usage of social media by cancer patients and their relatives. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 145(7):1865-1875 

Chen, Junhan and Wang, Yuan (2021) Social media use for health purposes: systematic Review, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5) doi:10.2196/17917

Deuskar, Nachiket (2023), Why are so many Indian politicians giving interviews to social media influencers? at https://scroll.in/article/1052678/why-are-so-many-indian-politicians-giving-interviews-to-social-media-influencers accessed date 17/03/2024

Dewing, Michael (2010) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament.

Dewing, Michael (2012) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament (Revised)

Fogelson NS, Rubin ZA, Ault KA (2013) Beyond likes and tweets: an in-depth look at the physician social media landscape, Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56(3):495–508. 

George DR, Rovniak LS, Kraschnewski JL (2013) Dangers and opportunities for social media in medicine. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56 (3): 453–462. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0b013e318297dc38

Global social media statistics at https://datareportal.com/social-media-users accessed date 16/03/2024

https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/#topicOverview accessed date 18/03/2024 

https://backlinko.com/youtube-users accessed date 18/03/2024

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/social-media-seen-as-mostly-good-for-democracy-across-many-nations-but-u-s-is-a-major-outlier/accessed date 16/03/2024

Jha A, Lin L, Savoia E. (2016) The use of social media by state health departments in the US: analyzing health communication through Facebook. J Community Health 41(1):174-179.

Jose, Jelvin (2021) The Politicization of Social Media in India, South Asian Voices at  https://southasianvoices.org/the-politicization-of-social-media-in-india/ accessed date 07/03/2024

Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010) Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.

Kaur, Surjit and Kaur, Manpreet (2013) Impact of social media on politics, Gian Jyoti e-journal, 3(4): 23-29.

Kudumula, Durga (2022) What Are the Types of Social Media? at 

https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-marketing/what-are-the-types-of-social-media accessed date 17/03/2024  

Kumar, Krishna (2023) The Role of Social Media in Shaping Indian Politics athttps://medium.com/@krishnakumar10000/the-role-of-social-media-in-shaping-indian-politics-960a38ebfb37 accessed date 07/03/2024

Mayfield.Is blogging innovation journal? at http//www.innovationjounral.org//archive/INJO Baltaziz,pdf. Accessed date 16/03/2024

Moorhead SA, Hazlet DE, Harrison L, et al. (2013) A new dimension of health care: systemic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health care professionals. J Med Internet Res. 15(4): e85. 

Mucha, Sarah (2020) Biden harnesses influencer star power to ramp up digital outreach, CNN, 17 June 2020 at CNNhttps://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/politics/biden-campaign-influencers/index.html accessed date 19/03/2024

Peck JL. (2014) Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use, Journal of Nursing Education, 53 (3): 164–169 at https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20140219-03

Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)

https://digitalismedical.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-healthcare/ accessed date 16/03/2024

Robinson, Lawrence and Melinda Smith, M.A. (2020) Social Media and Mental Health 

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Social%20Media%20and%20Mental%20Health.pdf accessed date 17/03/2024

Singhmar, Nikhil Kumar (2024) How important are social media influencers in Indian elections? at https://thewire.in/politics/how-important-are-social-media-influencers-in-indian-elections accessed date 17/03/2024

Social media and its impact on society – positive and negative impact

at https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/social-media-and-its-impact-on-society accessed date 17/03/2024

Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election at https://theconversation.com/why-biden-is-investing-in-influencers-to-help-with-this-years-election-224912 accessed date 17/03/2024

[1] Peck JL. (2014) Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use, Journal of Nursing Education, 53 (3): 164–169 at https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20140219-03

[2] https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/#topicOverview accessed date 18/03/2024 

[3] https://backlinko.com/youtube-users accessed date 18/03/2024

[4] Global social media statistics at https://datareportal.com/social-media-users accessed date 16/03/2024

[5] Kaur, Surjit and Kaur, Manpreet (2013) Impact of social media on politics, Gian Jyoti e-journal, 3(4): 23-29.

[6] Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010) Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.

[7] Dewing, Michael (2010) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament.

[8]Mayfield.Is blogging innovation journal? at http//www.innovationjounral.org//archive/INJO Baltaziz,pdf. Accessed date 16/03/2024

[9] Kudumula, Durga (2022) What Are the Types of Social Media? at 

https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-marketing/what-are-the-types-of-social-media accessed date 17/03/2024  

[10] Social media and its impact on society – positive and negative impact

At https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/social-media-and-its-impact-on-society accessed date 17/03/2024

[11] ibid

[12] Kumar, Krishna (2023) The Role of Social Media in Shaping Indian Politics at https://medium.com/@krishnakumar10000/the-role-of-social-media-in-shaping-indian-politics-960a38ebfb37 accessed date 07/03/2024

[13] Jose, Jelvin (2021) The Politicization of Social Media in India, South Asian Voices at  https://southasianvoices.org/the-politicization-of-social-media-in-india/ accessed date 07/03/2024

[14] ibid

[15] Singhmar, Nikhil Kumar (2024) How important are social media influencers in Indian elections? at https://thewire.in/politics/how-important-are-social-media-influencers-in-indian-elections accessed date 17/03/2024

[16] ibid

[17] Deuskar, Nachiket (2023), Why are so many Indian politicians giving interviews to social media influencers? at https://scroll.in/article/1052678/why-are-so-many-indian-politicians-giving-interviews-to-social-media-influencers accessed date 17/03/2024

[18] ibid

[19] ibid

[20] Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election at https://theconversation.com/why-biden-is-investing-in-influencers-to-help-with-this-years-election-224912 accessed date 17/03/2024

[21] Robinson, Lawrence and Melinda Smith, M.A. (2020) Social Media and Mental Health 

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Social%20Media%20and%20Mental%20Health.pdf accessed date 17/03/2024

[22] ibid.

[23] Chen, Junhan and Wang, Yuan (2021) Social media use for health purposes: systematic Review, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5)doi:10.2196/17917. Also see Braun LA, Zomorodbakhsch B, Keinki C, Huebner J. (2019) Information needs, communication and usage of social media by cancer patients and their relatives. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 145(7):1865-1875 

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid. Also see Jha A, Lin L, Savoia E. (2016) The use of social media by state health departments in the US: analyzing health communication through Facebook. J Community Health 41(1):174-179.

[26] Bernhardt M, Jay and Alber, J and Gold RS (2014) A social media primer for professionals: digital do’s and don’ts, Health Promot Pract,15(2):168–172 at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24396119/#:~:text=When%20used%20wisely%20and%20prudently,recognition%20and%20improve%20one’s%20reputationaccessed date 16/03/2024 DOI: 10.1177/1524839913517235. Also see Fogelson NS, Rubin ZA, Ault KA (2013) Beyond likes and tweets: an in-depth look at the physician social media landscape, Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56(3):495–508.  See Moorhead SA, Hazlet DE, Harrison L, et al. (2013) A new dimension of health care: systemic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health care professionals. J Med Internet Res. 15(4): e85. 

[27] Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)

https://digitalismedical.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-healthcare/ accessed date 16/03/2024

Will facebook Rival Instagram give tough competition to Tiktok after the launch of feature “Reels” in India

After the banning of Tiktok and 58 other Chinese apps in India, the demand for short video apps is increasing. This is the best time to grab this opportunity for the existing app companies as well well as to launch the new apps which provide a short video creation feature.

Though after the government banned TikTok in India other homegrown apps like ShareChat, Roposo, Chingari are also being used by the people of the country more, Instagram also takes the advantage of this situation and launches a feature of short video creation named “Reels”.

In Brazil, Germany and France are the countries where this feature is successfully tested. India is the next one.

This feature will be rolling out in India after 7:30 IST today. Just like IGTV, users will also have a Reels section on their profile page, where all their content can be viewed at once.

The feature Reels lets users create a video of 15 seconds or less. Users can also use creative filters on it, can share it beyond his/her followers. Similar to TikTok, Reels provide options like audio from Instagram Music library, speed, effects, and timer.

Shah says the product comes from the realization that 45 percent of videos on Instagram are 15 seconds or less. “We also realized that stories are not the only place where they wanted to share these videos as they wanted them to stick on for longer and be distributed beyond their followers,” he said in the video call.

The new feature lets users shoot video, add filters and music from Instagram’s catalog and share it beyond the platform. Users will be able to share Reels in Explore, and also on Feed with followers. There will be no monetization avenues for now.

To create Instagram Reels, a user would need to open the camera option in the app. After clicking on Reels from the bottom of the screen, the app throws up several easy-to-use tools to record and edit a 15-second video.

Creators can choose to use the in-app music tracks, or even use custom audio for their videos. There are also options to speed up or slow down parts of the video. There’s an Align option that helps creators maintain their position in front of the camera while recording multiple cuts in a single video. It also has an array of augmented reality effects that can be used to make videos more fun.

According to Facebook India Vice President and Managing Director Ajit Mohan, videos make up a third of all Instagram posts in India. Out of that, around 45 percent of the videos posted are of 15 seconds or less.

Calling Reels as the “future of entertainment,” Facebook’s Vice President of Product Vishal Shah said that the superior goal of Reels was to push Indian content creators and help them become potential “global stars.”

Instagram says that it has been working with popular content creators and public figures to populate Reels content. When the test starts rolling out, users can check out content posted by the likes of Ammy Virk (3.3 million fans on TikTok), Gippy Grewal (1.7 million), Arjun Kanungo (1.5 million), Radhika Bangia (5.4 million), RJ Abhinav (1.6 million) and Indrani Biswas aka Wonder Munna (630K subscribers on YouTube).

As of now, Instagram plans to learn more from the testing phase and from creators themselves. Monetization options are also expected to be introduced once Reels takes off in India. No official public rollout date has been announced yet.

Top 7 kinds of Instagrammers



1) The PDA-Grammers

The lovey-dovey duo of Instagram is 24/7 found engaged in PDA and some of their followers find it “too cute to handle” “OMG you both are just perfect together” etc while the others who are single and ready to mingle find it very annoying but again who cares?! Cause the couple that grams together stays together!

2) The FOOD-Grammers

Commonly found, Foodies have earned a name in the industry for capturing every single ounce of spice flavoured in each and every exotic dish they’ve eaten since Instagram was presented in 2010. As much as 70% of the Foodie’s financial plan goes to sushis, momos and what not. They don’t leave any stone unturned in posting mouth watering dishes specially at late night so as to give rise to the cravings in their followers and then replying back as “tum bhi banakar kha lo na”.

3) The Travel-Grammers

This couple/ girl gang/group of friends is consistently on an extended get-away, continually posting pictures from those excursions. For sure they may be some secret agents? How on earth, do they manage to bear the cost of these numerous get-aways? You detest them, their appealing appearances, conditioned bodies and flawless lives. And they have their story highlights named with endless number of countries and you just speak to your phone screen and desperately want to switch lives with them. Haha! But it’s only because of them, that we visit such lavish countries virtually.
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4) The perfect Photo-Grammers

They have an account on Instagram at the make another account to plant or not coming to offensive Mega showcase their photography skills everything ranging from clouds flowers butterflies to building Sun Le Sun their own house the bridges they are accustomed to clicking picture of this everything from n number of angles and what’s the purpose of it cause there in everything that we do something is also give me some places to a heart so go ahead you photo grammars.

5) The Selfie-Grammer

On Christmas day, on New Years Eve, the evening of her best friend’s neighbour’s wedding and so on— this Instagrammer takes selfies constantly. Be it a pout, the smiling face, resting bitch face or a duck face to all sorts of tooth-flashing faces, this lady is a pro at clicking selfies with all of the multiple poses and that is the reason why she has so many followers and is termed commonly known as selfie queen.

6) The Bad-news Grammer

Doing drugs, selling firearms, recording 15 seconds of his latest poaching trip; this Instagrammer is always out there on Instagram, posting stories about the bad which is happening in the world. An animal being shot, a person dead at the accident, the government not functioning in a proper way, any other mishap happening etc. You want to get a daily dose of negativity? Go head to his profile!

7) The Meme-Troll Grammer

Did you take a social media detox for a week and so you are not well up-to-dated with the latest kind of memes. Don’t worry this kind of instagrammer’s profile is going to serve your purpose. Just go ahead to his profile and check out his stories filled with the memes and mockery everyday. There might be 0 posts but will get a number of memes posted everyday so that way you are never outdated in your Meme knowledge.

Instagram Envy

Today’s world is full of influencers. What you eat, what you wear, where you go on holiday, and even what you speak is heavily influenced by social media. Although people today are smart enough to realize that it is not okay to compare yourself to other people, social media still provides you numerous opportunities to do just that.

Recall that heavy feeling in your heart when you see your friends and celebrities posting photos doing exciting things like going on long drives, attending glamorous parties, and visiting rare places. This sinking feeling is known as Instagram Envy.

Instagram is all about unadulterated voyeurism. You will not find Facebook’s messiness or Twitter’s relatable content in the posts here. Instagram is almost a photo site with built-in vintage filters idealizing your every moment. It encourages its users to create these perfect layouts of their lives, almost as if everyone is living their fairy tale.

Why Instagram Envy Happens

There is an unspoken rule adopted by the users worldwide to avoid populating the feeds with any mediocre or unedited pictures. Now you might feel that it is all about showing off to your followers, but that is not the case here. It is trying to level with everyone else posting one amazing picture after another; it is trying to feel good about yourself that you are in no way less than any of your friends. Owing to this rule, people often end up spending hours in hopes of composing an image of food as simple as a glass of coke over a dish of pizza worthy enough for their Instagram feed.

envy

The followers, on the other hand, are expected to indulge in the ethics of impress rather than confess, all the while being swept away from the sumptuous photos and chipping in with beautiful comments. Even the likes are shaped like little hearts, reinforcing in the minds of the viewers, the idea that each shot is a performance worthy of applause. Every last image is an advertisement for the self.

In a society focused on physical appearance, this is perhaps no surprise that there is an element of narcissism to Insta-bragging. People with a higher level of narcissism post more self-presented photos and update their profile picture often.

Dealing with Instagram Envy

One approach to counteract Instagram envy is to showcase love, not luxury. People who generate Instagram envy can also use the same platform to demonstrate that they understand and embrace the value of citizens of all social and economic strata by posting about them. They will gain more followers than foes by showcasing love.

instagram

Another aspect you need to understand is that living through the lens is not all bad. Social media has made us all social, without a doubt. You catch up with long lost friends in no time because you already have an idea of what is going on in their lives. But you need to accept social media for what it is – it is social and it is, after all, media. You really shouldn’t blindly believe everything you see. You learn through experience that it is better to know how to post than to boast.

Image Courtesy: Google

EXECUTING SUCCESSFUL BUDGET-FRIENDLY COLLABORATIONS WITH CELEBRITIES.‎ How to do and Why is it required?


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For a large-scale promotion of the campaign, say a physical activity driven campaign which would emphasise  the benefits of regular exercising & staying fit and is less about preaching the nutritional value of particular foods. I reckon that we should use TV and Social Media preferably Instagram or Facebook. Nextly, we need to lookout for affordable and successful collaborations with a trending or in-buzz celebrity. The contact details including the email id and phone numbers of their managers are rightly mentioned in their Instagram bios and Facebook official pages. We can shortlist a few celebrities and then finalize one or two of them as per the budget. We can create illustrative posters, banners and post it on our social media handle under the brand name “play to slay the calories”,  “stay fit to be hit” etc.
Once we have officially communicated our needs to the celebrity, we can ask the him to repost our posters on his account and encourage his audience to engage in physical activities. We need to hand over short scripts enlisting the agenda of our mission to him and ask him to make videos to be uploaded on Instagram story campaigning for our brand and helping it grow eventually. I am sure the active followers upon his advice would record the videos of them exercising or playing an indoor/outdoor sport along with all the members of the family which includes both the young and the older generation and when they would put up those videos on the social media then the the celebrities should be asked to repost the best entries on his page. We are well aware of the fact that whatever a celebrity does tends to attract a lot of media attention so automatically the videos would reach other platforms like TV news and articles by leading media portals i.e Pinkvilla. When people would see others gaining overnight fame and becoming a sensation just because a celebrity posted their exercising or playing video on their page then people would get enticed and also motivated to be promoted on the official page of celebrities like Asim Riaz of Bigg Boss 13 who was trending almost everyday on Twitter. I witnessed people going mad for him. They even overcrowded a mall in Mumbai because of a rumour that he was going to visit as a part of a big boss task.
‎As per the budget we can also go for a young sporting athlete preferably from the Indian cricket team or any IPL franchise because if sportspersons promote fitness then the whole idea is accepted more widely and they have a larger fan base, not confined to any particular age group. Meanwhile on our social media handle, We will keep posting stats like 1 out of 3 people haven’t done any physical activity in the last year to appeal to their emotional conscience. And you never know, people might actually feel motivated to step out. We can use catchy captions like being active on social media isn’t being truly active. We will also keep posting regular videos i.e yoga tutorials or in other ways that would tempt them to make videos by going out and playing so as to get featured on a celebrity page. This way without the expenditure of much money or resources our job would also be done, people would exercise as well, our campaign would also get promoted and our brand name would also grow by utilising the fame of a particular celebrity.
‎The reason this idea popped up in my head was because I checkout Alia Bhatt’s Instagram stories of June 5 where she asked people to upload a selfie with plants on the occasion of World Environment Day and within 4 hours social media flooded with so many of them because 7-8 lucky peoples’ stories got mentioned in Alia Bhatt’s stories. Liked the idea?