Experiment #3

Welcome to...

"Let's Get Instagram Famous"

Proposal:

Typically, in most romantic movies and books, there is a cliché romantic relationship structure. The relationship starts with the “meet-cute”, a zany, unlikely scenario where the main characters meet. Movies like “The Holiday” and “The Big Sick” reinforce these meetings as the perfect start to any relationship. My first experiment addressed a “meet-cute” through the medium of a short story. However, during the creation of my second experiment, I realized that I wanted to keep addressing these “meet-cutes.” I wanted to use these stories to showcase how important friendship can be within a person’s life. Friendship, in my opinion, is typically under-valued in comparison to romantic relationships.

My third experiment will be a photo sequence of real-life stories on Instagram. This will be similar to the account @thewaywemet, which I further analyze in my genre analysis. My Instagram account will use submissions from the general public about the cute ways best friends have met. These posts include a few photos from the friends and a short story describing their “meet-cute.” Hopefully, this account will gain a large following and I will have many submissions to choose from for my posts.

Genre Analysis:

Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. It gained rapid popularity because of its mobility, user-friendly interface, and ability to connect with people around the world. Instagram’s intended use is sharing photos and videos with one’s connection, or followers. Those followers then choose to like (with a little heart) when scrolling through their feeds. Instagram also provides a bunch of filters that can be used to enhance the look and style of your photos. Instagram also recently updated the platform to allow multiple photos per post, which can be a useful tool for my photo sequence.

To gain further engagement and followers on Instagram, I found a few articles with recommendations and synthesized the information into a few guidelines (because we can’t all be Selena Gomez with 135 million followers).

One, posting high-quality photos and videos with lots of colors tend to get the most likes on Instagram. Food Instagrams typically follow this pattern and have high-levels of success in doing so. [1]
Two, photos that evoke emotion- happiness, humor, motivation, and nostalgia. Fitness Instagrams use motivational before and after photos to gain recognition for their accounts. They post their workouts and meals to help their followers achieve the same results. [2]
Three, one needs to post new content on a regular basis. Typically, accounts do not post multiple photos a day. Once every day should be frequent enough to keep followers interested.
Four, the use of hashtags can extend one’s reach on Instagram, encourage engagement, and attract new followers. However, too many hashtags can be distracting for some users so keeping them to a minimum is key. With hashtags, using relevant language is also important. You want your audience to connect the hashtag back to your account.[3]

Models

Since I will be creating an Instagram photo sequence, I wanted to look at a popular example on the platform. One of the main inspirations for this project was the account @thewaywemet. The Instagram posts submission stories about the cute ways couples met alongside their pictures. The account has just under 400,000 followers and has recently started a website to showcase more stories. They post every few days on both platforms. @thewaywemet was started by a woman who used to reside in Detroit but currently lives in LA. She started the Instagram to help people around the world appreciate the love. In her biography on the website, she says “Every couple meets, somehow.” I want to use this approach with my Instagram, however, I would just be showcasing a different kind of love.

I also chose a Buzzfeed article titled “24 Ways Strange and Wonderful Ways People Met Their Best Friend” as my second model. This article addresses the same content that I want to address. Written a few years ago, this article focuses on how “meet-cute” stories that people submitted about how they met their best friends. While it does not have pictures, it can be noted that the listicle format of the article is important to the readability and reach of the content. The information, in this case, the stories, are presented in a thematic structure and form a list. These articles tend to get the most reads because it is an easy way for the current reader to consume information. It does not require a long attention span nor a block of text that can sometimes turn readers off. By presenting my content through Instagram posts, I hope to use the shorter format and pictures to draw in my audience. A follower does not have to read every story but can choose based on the pictures and the length of the submission. This will help my account's reach as there will hopefully be a story for everyone at the end of the project.

Sketch:

For my Instagram photo sequence, I need to design:

Handle
1. I chose @howimetmybestfriend
  1. This handle seemed appropriate for the content. It is a user-friendly and informative title.
Biography
1. Happily providing the best BFF “meet-cutes” on Instagram. Please contact us at howimetmybestfreind@gmail.com to see your story here.
  1. Additionally, for the final project, I will add: “Written and submitted by real people (or friends all over the world)” to express and clarify that these stories were not written by me
  2. Find a caption that fits
  3. 150-word character limit on Instagram bios[4]
  4. If this Instagram is built on submissions from others, having an email attached to the account would be ideal.
Biography Picture
1. The small circular picture that accompanies the Instagram handle
2. Currently a photo of words best friends in white on a wood background
3. For the final project, I will design a logo with the handle’s name
  1. It has to be easily recognizable but simple
Release dates for the photo sequence
1. in the beginning, with little to no submissions, post every few days
2. with more submissions, every other day to once a day
Planning Submissions for Final Project
1. Reach out to my sorority
  1. I can probably get 5-10 submissions
2. Reach out to the Minor in Writing for submissions
3. I can add 2-3 more meet-cute stories to the photo sequence
4. Reach out to my grandparents, parents to get a wide range of relationships and friendships
  1. 1-2 photos with friends who have known each other for 40+ years
  2. 1-2 photos of friends who have known each other for 20+ years
  3. Want to achieve the “something for everyone”
5. Interview
  1. If participants do not want to type up their own answers, I can interview them in person or over the phone and type up the story myself
Standard formats for photos on account
1. 1-2 photos per submission
  1. No nudity or alcohol, it has to be edited out sorry J
2. Instagram has a 2,200-character limit
  1. Between 50-250 words per submission
3. Submissions will be edited for length and clarity
  1. Somewhat family friendly, minimum language or suggestive commentary
4. Submission will be reviewed by the owner before posting to the account
How to gain recognition and followers for the account?
1. Follow other accounts that are similar
  1. Try to get shout-outs
  2. More submissions from other people
2. Start a hashtag
  1. #howimetmybestfriend
  2. #meetmybff
3. In the future, hold a contest[5]
  1. Offer a prize for the cutest story
  2. Increase subscriptions and follower engagement
  3. Voting will be on the Instagram story, where there is a built-in feature for poll

Sample:

The homepage of my Instagram: @howimetmybestfriend

Post #1:

Kate and Jessica

We were in the same kindergarten class but we were never really friends. She used to bully me (which is very true but you can leave that out if you want). She used to tell me my clothes weren’t cool enough and she didn’t like my hair. I always wanted to be her friend though. Anyways, I was on a soccer team and one of the girls, Bailey, had a team party at her house. She was my closest friend on the team. So I was at her house for the party and guess who else was there. None other than the girl who bullied me at school, Jessica. I found out that Jessica and Bailey are cousins. Bailey told Jessica about how we were friends so she hated me less. We hung out at that party when we were 6 and 14 years later she’s still my best friend. ~submitted by Kate B.

Post #3:

Julia and Rachel

We met at a little church camp up in Northern Michigan called Camp Arcadia. My other best friend Liz spoke highly of the sleepaway camp so my mother signed me up to go during the first week of June before my freshman year. We were each assigned an activities group. In my group, there was a girl named Rachel. We briefly talked during the first few days. But, during the shaving cream fight, I really got to know her. She took no prisoners and it came down to her against me with a bottle of shaving cream in each hand. There was no clear winner (me), but we really opened up to each other after spraying a whole bottle of shaving cream over each other’s heads.

After that day, I found out that she lived 20 minutes away from Liz and I, was going to a neighboring high school and had the same circle of friends The picture above shows the aftermath, however, the empty bottle of shaving cream was the start to more years of laughter. For the next three summers, Liz, Rachel, and I were roommates and the trio is still the best of friends today.

~ submitted by Julia S.

Post #2:

Ellis and Liz

My other best friend, Monica, moved from Michigan to Seattle to go to the University of Washington. There, her freshman year, she met Ellis Jordan Hyman. When I visited Monica in Seattle after my freshman year of college, I very briefly met Ellis.

Ellis hated the University of Washington, so he left after his freshman year, and spent his sophomore year living at home and going to community college. Throughout this terrible year of his life, he started reapplying to schools and was considering the University of Michigan. Once admitted, Monica put Ellis and me in touch. We texted, and I told him about all of the ~~amazing clubs & opportunities at U of M (bait & switch, b*tch).

He was then doing college tours throughout that summer, and when he and his dad were visiting the U of M campus, I helped tour him around.

THEN HE CHOSE MICHIGAN AND I BECAME HIS MICHIGAN MOM AND HE, MY MICHIGAN SON. NOW WE ARE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER LIKE SPONGEBOB AND PATRICK, LIKE PHOEBE AND OLIVER, LIKE ARCHIE AND JUGHEAD.

That is all, thank you. ~ submitted by Liz A.

Experiment #3 is continued in my final project! Click here to see more posts!

Reflection:

Throughout all of my experiments, I have struggled with the question of why my project matters. Often, when I write, I lose touch with the original purpose of my words. For this project, my original idea was supposed to address the romantic structure of relationships seen in movies: the meet-cute, falling in love montages, the break-up, and the reunion. My launch piece was a short essay about the importance of friendship within one’s life and how it is unvalued in comparison to romantic relationships in society.

From my launch piece, I was going to take the romantic structure and impose a friendship relationship in its place for my three experiments. I followed the structure with my first experiment with the “meet-cute” short story and the falling in love portion of the structure during the creation of my song in the second experiment. However, I was stuck with my third experiment. If I was to follow the romantic relationship stepping stones, I would need a break-up scene and reunion that show how the characters how important these relationships are to them. But I feel, in relation to friendships, that most people already know how important their friends are to them and they rarely need a huge break-up scene to show for it.

So I decided to keep going with the meet-cutes. Everyone always says that you will find the “right person” at the right time. Why does this always have to mean romance, a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse? Why can’t you meet your best friend at the right time? I want to use this Instagram platform to influence people to think about why their friends matter so much to them. I wanted to question why we can recite the cute way we met our partner to our friends but rarely the cute way we met our friends, especially since the friends will be there when that partner is long gone. I hope through my Instagram project my audience will learn that everyone has a different meaning of friendship. The posts will be real and honest because they are written by the people in those relationships. The “meet-cute” posts will emphasize that when you meet someone they make an immediate connection with, you should appreciate it because that could be your best friend forever.

[1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-use-instagram/

[2] https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-for-business-tips/

[3] https://later.com/blog/get-more-instagram-followers/

[4] https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-character-counter/

[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/06/18/50-free-ways-to-increase-your-instagram-followers/#6a8e7f35b108