Now a major social platform for both businesses and individuals, Instagram is threatening the likes of Twitter to take the throne as the most used social media site, recently surpassing Twitter in terms of the number of active monthly users. This means that your photos of pets, scenic sunsets and just about everything else are potentially reaching larger audiences than ever before.
If you are regular Instagram user, I’m sure you are aware of the foodie insta-spammers. Whether it’s a photo of a restaurant meal or a homemade culinary feat, foodie insta-spammers are concerned with one thing and one thing only… Getting that perfectly lit, angled and artistic food photo! The question is, why are people feeling the need to share these photos of what is essentially a human necessity? And is this impacting our experiences of dining out?
For some, myself and the Escapade food and drink PR team included (guilty… evidence above!) taking a quick snap of your food if it is particularly artistically presented or homemade is becoming a natural instinct. Eating out with a foodie insta-spammer is likely to be a nightmare, (unless of course you are one also!) as the first two minutes of a meal are no doubt spent getting the best photo and choosing the right filter. Sounds ridiculous right? Well yes, but yet the trend is only increasing, with the commonly used #food accumulating 167,604,523 posts to date.
So the real question is why? Because they are proud of the meal? Because they want to record an occasion centred around food? Because they want to make others jealous of their mouth-watering dishes? Because they see it as a form of art? Ultimately, it’s a mix of them all. People are engaging with what has become somewhat of a social phenomenon. Whilst some people would deem food photos somewhat menial, others insist upon sharing their social life and subsequently the food they consume.
But just as food takes over Instagram, Instagram threatens to take over food. Surely getting out your camera and fashioning a photoshoot for your dish is going to ruin the experience? I don’t know about you, but that seems to take a lot of self-control and willpower as well as leaving you with a luke-warm plate of food. A luke-warm meal, strange looks and a sigh from your boyfriend as you postpone the eating process doesn’t exactly scream perfect ambience. But yet we still can’t help but try and get that perfect shot!
However, this is great for the food establishments who will get a source of free advertising. A great example of this is Starbucks. Those famous white cups crop up all over Instagram, racking up 19,915,037 posts to date. As if they need any more advertising hey?
So whether you are a serial food insta-spammer yourself or an inevitably hungry witness of this drool-worthy trend, I think it’s fair to say that this trend shows no sign of stopping. So as long as you can suppress that food envy and bear to face the foodie spammers, sit back and enjoy the photos!
Our consumer lifestyle PR team specialise in connecting everyday brands with everyday people across four core sectors; Consumer Lifestyle PR, Food & Drink PR, Consumer Technology PR and Sport, Health & Wellbeing PR. More information on these areas of knowledge can be found at www.escapadepr.com/about-us.
