Are you on Instagram? No? Well, you should be! It's my favorite form of social media. In contrast to the Facebook
prison
world we all live in, Instagram is a private island where you decide what you want to bring with you. Don't want to bring your crazy Great Uncle to the island, don't bring him! Don't want to bring your high school friend and her never-ending stream of baby pictures, you don't have to!
There are no rules on Instagram. Unlike Facebook friend requests, you can't solicit follows on Instagram. Follow who you want; like what you want. That instant validation that's so easy to get on Facebook, isn't so easy on Instagram. If no one likes your post, it doesn't mean no one likes you, it just means your picture didn't tell enough of a story. Try harder!
Instagram is a place for creativity, entertainment and fun. Instagram is so fun! The trick is to find the right balance of people to follow. I follow all of my friends, probably every celebrity that exists, that isn't private, I'm looking at you, DA24HRS, and a mixed bag of things that make me laugh. Here a few of my favorite Instagram accounts.
I'll start with The Rock, because duh, but also because he's the king of Instagram videos. The best thing that can happen to me on a given day is The Rock posting a video of himself having a conversation with an elliptical machine named Bertha, which luckily, he does on the reg.
This account is new to me. I don't even remember how I found it, but LOL Kanye Doing Things. It's cut-outs of Kanye's head held over a picture of someone doing something really pedestrian, like sitting at a bus stop. I can't stop (won't stop).
Amy Sedaris' Instagram is pure lunacy. I bet if you looked at all the posts I've liked, a great majority of them are from Amy Sedaris. It's not for the faint of heart, but it's real good.
There is some connection between Todd Oldham and Amy Sedaris that I'm too lazy to research. Most of her pics are taken by him and most of his pics are of her. Maybe they're besties? I don't know. But I follow both of them. Their feeds have a similar feel. Also, apparently Todd just released a line of crafts at Target that I'm interested in.
Lyle Reimer is one of my first Instagram loves. I've been with him since the beginning. The creativity and artistry that go into his posts blow me away. I can't imagine how long it takes him to do this. Bonus: his captions are hilarious, and no one does hashtags like he does.
Saint Records is Solange Knowles, and her Instagram game is on point. She's gorgeous, high fashion, and in most of her pictures, which I like.
In the same vein as Solange is Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear. Ed and Solange are friends and show up in each other's posts from time to time. I'm a Grizzly Bear fan, which helps, but Ed travels a lot and takes great pictures. He's also how I keep up with current vernacular of America's youth.
Speaking of travel, brilliantly, the US Dept of the Interior is on Instagram. And they're doing it right. I think I "like" every picture they post. They recently posted a video of two bears catching fish in a stream that I watched for 5 minutes.
If you're on Instagram, you already know about this, but Fashion Dads is hilarious. It's basically a parody of the infamous OOTD (outfit of the day) post. They post a pic and in great detail, tell you what's he wearing and where he bought it. It will run its course, but every time one of these shows up in my feed, I chuckle.
I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about this one because it's so January 2015, but it's still one of my favorite Instagram feeds. It started as a play on the annoying "Omg, I literally can't even" phrase that I'm just going to go ahead and blame on Rachel Zoe. But they took it further by creating an account based on a skeleton, who is a skeleton because 'Omg, she couldn't even; she's literally dead'. It's genius and I fully expect this to go to development to become a sitcom. Fingers crossed!
Last one, Thrift Store Art. If I have to explain why I like this, you don't know me.
A good way to find new Instagram users is to click on the profiles of people you like, or think are funny, and scroll through who they're following. I find a lot of new users this way. I also follow a lot of companies, and by companies, I mean stores, magazines, bloggers, websites, chefs, bands, etc.
For my Nashville readers, there are a ton of local businesses on Instagram:
Billy Reid Nashville
White's Mercantile
Pony Show Nashville
Vinnie Louise
Dino's Restaurant
Red Kite Bikes
Hattie B's
3st of the Month
Belcourt Theatre
Eli Suzann
Noble Springs Dairy
Biscuit Love Nashville
Good Wood Nashville
Hail Nashville
Mas Tacos
Riffs Fine Street Food
H. Sean Brock
Holler Design
Hey Rooster General Store
Husk Nashville
Third Man Records
Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint
The Peach Truck
Otaku South
PR Butcher
Yeast Nashville
Parnassus Books
Barista Parlor
Ryman Auditorium
Imogene + Willie
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
Rolf and Daughters
Now, go forth and 'Gram!