Have you ever discovered something and become obsessed with it, only to learn that millions of others have been using it for ages?
That’s what happened to me with Instagram.
It seems I’m always that last to jump on the social networking bandwagon. Oh well, someone has to be last, right? Or second to last?
Why I love Instagram
It’s free.
It’s fun.
Instagram is an awesome photo sharing app for your iPhone {and those pesky Androids, too} that allows you to take a picture, apply a fancy filter to it, and sharing it to a bunch of other social networking sites. Talk about brilliant! Once you upload a photo, you can use hashtags {like you do on twitter} to put your photo into a special group. Like #handmade, #shoplocal, #blackandwhite, and so much more!
Doesn’t this cupcake look delicious? I used a filter to make it look more appetizing. Is your mouth watering yet?
There are several bloggers who organize month-long Photo-a-Day projects {suggestions below!}. These Photo-a-Day projects inspire you to photograph things that you might otherwise overlook – like a specific color, emotion, or activity. Each Photo-a-Day project is designated by a specific #hashtag, making it very easy for you to network with other participants. I’ve tried to keep up with the prompts, but often fail because I’m working on taking one photo per day for a year as part of my Day Zero project!
Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim is probably the most popular. Everyone is always talking about her. She shares her monthly prompts here and has a great community of participants! New to the Photo-a-Day series is Rita from Mom With a Dot Com. She kicked it off in January 2013 and plans to keep it going for the entire year! 7 on a Shoestring and Days of a Domestic Dad have teamed up to bring you a photo challenge, too! Learn about their fun challenge for January here, and February here and follow them using the hashtag #7SDDPhotoaDay.
If you find taking a Photo-a-Day to be too overwhelming, you will absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE linking up with A Night Owl Blog each weekend for Kimberly’s #ANOWeekend Community Project. Each weekend a prompt is chosen, and you simply post your photo that falls within the prompt and tag it with #ANOWeekend. It’s one of my favorite networking activities each week – and if when I don’t participate, I love checking out everyone’s photos!
Danielle of Framed Frosting has started a fun challenge, too! Each week will be a new theme, you can find the participating photos using the #framedfrosting hashtag.
I find myself popping on to Instagram whenever I have a minute or two to spare. I like to check in and see what my Instagram friends are sharing. It’s a glimpse into so many lives, so many parts of the country, so many activities and adventures.
Are you on Instagram? I’d love to see your photos, please share your link in the comments below!
I feel the same way! I did jump on the instagram band wagon and then forgot about and than remember and then forget…
It’s hard to keep up with it, but I’m enjoying the sense of community there!
I love that Instagram is still more personal than all of the other social media. I don’t see as much blog promotion but seeing the real behind someone sometimes makes me visit the blog anyway!
I agree Janet! The amount of promoting a blog is low, though I do see a lot of Etsy shops being promoted – and I think that’s great!
I’m also a huge Instagram fan! I am always looking for more things to post when I’m out walking around.
I tend to post a lot of pictures of my kid – and food! Once the weather is warmer, or I quit being so wimpy about the cold, I’ll be sharing more sights of Cape Cod!
I have Instagram but I forget to take pictures some times LOL. My name is scentednights2002 if you want to check out my photos though!
I’m already following you Ellen!
I’m 110% addicted to Instagram. I try not and over share but sometimes it’s hard not to.
I feel like I’m the last one to jump on the bandwagon! I do love it, though!
Isn’t it great!? In a few days, I’m going to share my favorite photo editing apps, too. They’re great for manipulating your photos before sharing to Instagram!
I have tried Instagram but always wonder what I should be taking photos of 🙂 These photo a day challenges seem pretty cool…thanks for sharing them.
BTW, I am newlywedsurvive on Instagram.
I take photos of whatever I feel like. Mostly The Boy and food, but sometimes I share other things (not sure what those are).
Have a great evening!
I love Instagram too, we should follow each other? I was doing the photo a day from FatMumSlim too but I got to busy to keep track. I hope your having a great day!
Nikki
I kept up with FMS for a 15 days, then forgot one day & never looked back. I plan to get back on the wagon in February – and I’ll probably keep a screen shot of the prompts on my phone, I failed to do that last time. Maybe having it easily accessible will help me remember?
Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the last few moments of the weekend.
I was excited to see you were writing this post as I’ve looking for suggestions of photo challenges to follow. I’ve failed on the daily ones before…mainly cause I haven’t had a decent camera in awhile. With my recent leap from iPhone 3GS to 5 I don’t feel so inadequate anymore 🙂 I’m thinking of trying one in Feb.
Aren’t you fancy with the iPhone5! Congrats! I added a few other challenges that I learned about after publishing, be sure to come back and check those out too!
I too am obsessed with Instagram which is why I started my IG Weekly Photo Challenge. Thank you SO much Emily for featuring mine in your post above!!
It’s my pleasure! I hope your challenge is a success, I’m looking forward to checking out everyone’s photos.
Enjoy what’s left of the weekend!
Thanks for including me! I’m really excited to continue on with my Photo Challenge. It has been so much fun. I love seeing everyone participate. I even comment on every single photo. Sometimes I even get behind on posting the pics (with life) but then I play catch up and you will see tons of pics 😉
I love Instagram! Feel free to follow me @momwithadotcom and join my challenge! #MomPhotoaDay
I played catch up with my blog comments yesterday, I had 83 to reply to! Being sick really knocked me down!
So happy to share your IG challenge, and hope to link up in February. I have big plans for next month – you know, because it’s a short one!
So I only joined instagram…. Earlier today!
http://instagram.com/MeHimAndTheCats2
YAY! Welcome! I hope you’ll join one of the challenges that I mentioned, they’re so fun!
Oh, and I’m following your instagram feed. Can’t wait to see the word through your eyes.
Thank you so much for the mention, Emily! So very sweet, and I love that you play along! So fun to connect that way! xo, Kimberly
Kimberly, I’ve loved your challenges. It’s much easier for me to commit to something over a short period of time, I can’t seems to stick with the month-long prompts. Though my goal for February is to complete one, you know because there are only 28!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!
I love Instagram too!!! Sometimes I forget to use it with everything else I am uploading pics to. I need to remember more often!
I’m working on building my IG community. It’s so different from other social networks – I like that I’m seeing someone’s life through their eyes, things that they may not share on their blogs/facebook pages.
I just got a tablet back in December and downloaded Instagram. Now I just need to find something interesting to take pictures of, then remember to use it! It looks fun, I just can’t figure out all the settings yet, lol!
Everything in your life is worth photographing!
I am on Instagram, but haven’t used it in a while. I am following Staci and Colby’s challenge in February, so hopefully I’ll get back into the habit of using it!
Hooray! The IG community is very different from other social networks, I really enjoy seeing the “every day” moments that so many people share!
I still need to get an Instagram account. I just got my first Android phone {ha!} in December specifically to do Instagram, but I still haven’t set it up, lol!
Dawn
What are you waiting on? It’s so much fun!!