Let's Chat Apps: Instagram

I'm a bit slow when it comes to technology - I totally admit that.
Prime example:  Netflix was first founded in 1997.  It's 2015...we JUST got it about 48 hours ago.

While everyone had Instagram for months (years?) - I only got it less than a year ago.
Now I'm borderline an Instagram skank.  I don't do selfies but I do take a lot of photos throughout the day and think, "I'll post these while I'm trying to fall asleep/waiting for the kids to fall asleep onto Instagram!...Oh this will look good....oh this even LOOKS like an Instagram photo...."

Yeah - mega nerd.

Anyway, I figured I'll do a blog post about my favourite apps (there aren't many yet - but I'm totally open to suggestions!) and rate them and whatnot.

Guess I'll talk about Instagram!
I debated for months whether to download Instagram.  Mostly because at the time, I had a Windows Lumia 620 and wasn't sure if Instagram was downloadable on anything but a snazzy iPhone.  Turns out it was and I became ADDICTED.

There are certain things I take photos of when I travel for example:

• Emergency vehicles
• Gardens (my mother in-law is a green thumber)
• Animals
• Mail boxes (I have a wonderful aunt that works for Canada Post!)
• Food
• Icons of the town
• Toilets - only if they're super weird (i.e. China's hole in the floor style - but I haven't been there in years!)
• Local crafts or yarn shops etc.

Anyways, the reason why I downloaded Instagram wasn't for selfies - haven't posted any actually. But because I think it's a great way to share little photos without having to get into Facebook and find a specific folder that this picture would belong to.

So easy.

And I try to be conscious of taking photos when at a restaurant.  I won't post it on Instagram immediately - unless the restaurant is really empty.
It's a courtesy thing and after reading this article about slow service and poor ratings from a popular NYC restaurant - it makes sense to post photos at a later time, to help speed up the service of the wait staff.

But that's just me.

I've since upgraded to an iPhone 4S and convinced hubby to use my iPhone 4 so we don't have to pay for text messages anymore (iMessage - did you know this?  It's a huge selling point for me that nobody seems to tell you about...) and since he won't use internet on his phone - Whatsapp is out of the question. :)

Anyway, I like that I've bonded with a lot of people over photos and I've been able to share some pretty funny photos too of stuff my kids and I do use hash tags quite a bit.  

For example my daily juices I've been making for the past 26 days have hash tags like: "#juice, #juicing,  #vegan (because it is even though I am not), #30daysjuicingchallenge" and so on.

I recommend Instagram (especially if you travel!) and I personally don't post photos of my kids' faces on Instagram because there's no control (either your account is "private" or "public") over who sees your account or who can follow you.  And some of my followers are spam bots - bit annoying, but ah well.

It's easy to use and I do use the filters they've provided and have recently discovered another app for making photo collages (and a separate one for making memes...again - super nerd)  - so a lot easier to combine photos into one instead of posting 2-6 photos individual of the same thing but different angle. :)

Until next time!
BIMU

PS Not sponsored - just really enjoy these apps I'll share!  Here's my Instagram account by the way!  I'd love a follow!