‘Insta’nt fame!

Thousands of ordinary people across the globe have mastered the practice of becoming “instafamous,” or well-known on the social media site Instagram. How can the average Joe grow a following of 50,000+ users? It’s not luck; it’s apparently science. With their glamorous lifestyles, they are even being hailed as, wait for it, Instagram socialites! Kim Kardashian has over 23 million Instagram followers. Online sensation Janice Joostema revealed how she went from a struggling model to an Instagram star with a whopping 1.1 million followers. The model earns thousands of dollars for just one sponsored Instagram post and makes six-figures as a social media star.

Closer home Arpita Khan Sharma, Sophie Choudry and many others boast of a huge number of followers, that’s only growing by the hour.  “Human beings are voyeurs by nature. And they are attracted to people who have exciting stories to tell through their pictures. Be it themes of food, fashion, fitness or travel, a picture does really speak a thousand words. With the right pictures, tags, regular updates, one can become popular. The HUDA beauty is the biggest and best example. She has more followers than most actors and singers,” shares Sophie Choudry, the British film actress, who has lots of Instagram followers.

Although Bollywood and theatre actor, Ira Dubey confesses that social media is something she has to grapple with all the time and even though she enjoys clicking pictures, Instagram is something that she’s started using only recently. “Unless it’s useful, vital, a forum for professionals and thinkers, I find the “wannabe” or desperate desire for attention painful and it reflects a need for affirmation constantly. It’s a futile exercise to make your life public constantly just for seeking attention. What’s important here is the way we use it that matters.”

Social media expert Pavithra Natarajan opines, “The thing about people who are active on social media is that they are looking to spot these insta socialites. What is good or bad on social media is a very objective question. Keeping famous instagramers aside, I think there’s a piece of social media in all of us. Whether we like to admit or not, the new-age gen-next thrives on social media. When we meet our friends, it’s more about clicking pictures to get that perfect profile or display photo or share on instagram with all the possible hashtags. You do something absolutely unique, like the mannequin challenge or photographs taken by Murad Osmann and Natalia Zakharova leading him around the world, then social media is definitely going to make it go viral and for good reason.” Welcome to the age of Instagram Socialites!