Today’s discussion is going to be about Bookstagram, for those of you who don’t know what Bookstagram is, it’s the book community on Instagram. And no, I’m not going to discuss the new algorithm because it would defeat the purpose of this post, but if you must know, I’m wicked pissed about the new algorithm. The new algorithm makes finding recent posts from my favorite Bookstagrammers wicked difficult. Yes, I am fully aware that I used the word “wicked” three times in three different sentences, but I’m from Boston so either get used to it or get the hell over it.
There are things that I love about Bookstagram, things that I don’t like, and I’m gonna talk about how I run my gram. I’m gonna start off with what I don’t like and find annoying. First of all, I get spam liking photos if you haven’t been on in a while and need to catch up, but that’s different from spam liking posts and expecting a shout out, I’m sure there are people that do this. I’ll expand on this when I discuss how I run my gram. The second thing that I find annoying, is this notion that if you want to be popular you have to have a certain theme or aesthetic, and have all these different props and make your pictures extra. Not everyone has the time, or money to do this, which another annoying thing about this, is some people don’t get the concept that some people don’t have the time or money. And no, I am not saying that the people who have themes and aesthetics shouldn’t do that, if that’s what you want to do, you do you. Another thing that annoys the hell out of me is these long ass, life story captions. I don’t need your life story on Instagram, I just want pictures of books, with captions relevant the picture, but again if that’s what you want to do, you do you, I just think it’s annoying.
Now on to the things that I do like. I love the pictures that are brightly colored, they make me happy and are pleasing to the eye. I love the accounts of Etsy shops that sell bookmarks, I love looking at the bookmarks these shops sell, and if you’re wondering what my favorite bookish items are, bookmarks are my favorite bookish items. Another thing that I love, is accounts that are all over the place and don’t have any theme or aesthetic, I do like some accounts with themes and aesthetics, but I like the ones that don’t more. Fandom accounts that post edits, the only ones that I follow are Harry Potter, because well it’s Harry Potter. I love accounts that post pictures of library books, libraries are so important and it makes me happy to see that people use them.
I’m now gonna discuss how I run my gram. I feel what makes my Instagram unique is that it doesn’t have a theme or aesthetic, I don’t have time for that. I like that my feed is all over the place and unorganized. I just take pictures of my books with relevant captions. I love playing around with the filters and effects to make my pictures look cool. I have this one picture that I really love where I just used the effects and the effects made it look like my reading journal was underwater when it really wasn’t. I don’t do shout outs on my Instagram, at all, so don’t expect one. If you spam like my posts looking for a shout out, it won’t happen. It isn’t how I run my Instagram. If I win a giveaway, I will thank you, but that’s about it. I also love posting pictures when I’m blogging or reading outside, I am a book blogger after all and I think it’s nice to give glimpses of my processes on the gram. I also love posting sporadically when I feel like it, it goes with my Instagram being unorganized, themeless and kind of messy. I like my gram the way it is.
What are your likes and dislikes with Instagram? And if comments get out of hand especially with what annoys me, which are my opinions I will turn the comments off. I don’t need negative comments on my blog.
Inside My Minds 
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Spam followers…who follow for a day and then disappear if you don’t follow back. (my follower count is low enough, and okay..maybe I’m a little obsessed with it so I notice these things 🙂 ). I also don’t like being constrained to a theme- however I try to keep some continuity between my posts but they aren’t all just the same lay out with a different book featured.
I’m sure I’ve had some of those spam followers. But I think it’s a foreign concept to people that if I don’t like what you post, have any books in common, or you post books that I wouldn’t read, I’m not gonna follow you. My Bookstagram doesn’t have any continuity, it’s all over the place but I like it that way.
I love your bookstagram! I just followed you a bit ago bevause it’s awesome 😃 I will keep following no strings attached.
I personally take a very simplistic approach to my bookstagram posts. If I have a fitting prop, I’ll throw it in. However, I’m pretty sure I’m an account that annoys people because I don’t strictly post about books. But of course, I don’t promote my instagram like it was book-related only, so I hope that helps! 🙂
I post strictly about books and bookish things, I have another private, personal Instagram for other things.
I like the pretty pics, but they make me feel…how to explain it? They make me feel…inadequate. All I have is a wood table or my hand to try to capture the light. Recently I did get cool lenses for my iPhone that I want to play with (ok, Christmas may not be recent, but I forget stuff in my old age!). But my biggest attempt is to capture the beauty of the cover. The colors, the shadows, the art. Mine sometimes look yellowish and I wish I could get them whiter without bleaching them out, you know?
I could never do some of the crazy ones I have seen…I did once try to be a little artsy with Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, bug to me, Bookstagram is just showing off pretty books or book-related items! Authors and events, too!
My pet peeve? I saw a girl ask another friend of mine to link to her account. I guess that’s what you mean when you said shout out and I never had that happen myself. My personal pet peeve is the junky random comments to get me to follow and then the account is private or for sex or something weird.
No thanks! I’m only into following book-related accounts. I don’t want to see what you ate for dinner. That’s why I stay off Facebook, lol!
The really pretty pics with all the fairy lights and all these other extra things make me feel inadequate too, but I feel like if you want to have a popular account you have to have all that shit. I feel like some people don’t realize that there are people who can’t afford to buy all this extra shit just for Bookstagram photos. And no, that’s not what I mean with shout outs. I’ve had people go through all my pictures and like them, as if they were expecting me to shout them out for going through and liking all my pictures, I’m not here for that shit. I’m also not there for the follow for follow shit, which I think people expect too much, same with blogging too.
Yeah…I only follow when it’s an account that looks interesting to me. Now on Twitter I have this app that tells me who unfollows me because I don’t want these people to follow me and expect me to follow them, and when they realize I don’t follow just anyone back, they unfollow lol. I’m not even sure if I have followers on my Bookstagram: it’s really plain with my pics as it is usually just my book mail or something book blog related. 🤷♀️