Slightly Off Center

My Instagram now has 203 followers. 

I've been on Instagram for three weeks now. It's been kinda fun, a little stressful. Posting is faster than here--I can pop a picture on my phone and have it up in minutes. On the other hand, there's a pressure to post all the time that I don't have on the blog, where I feel like I need to wait for something cogent or interesting to say.

You in the back! Stop snickering!

I also have to watch myself for a tendency to judge my self-worth by my number of followers, currently around 80-odd. It is kinda cool to have followers from around the world: England, Spain and Turkey, so far.

But I seem to be getting the hang of it, mixing older pottery pix with studio works-in-progress, even a few--very short--videos. (Their limit is 60 seconds, so they get impressionistic stream-of-pottery, as opposed to the polished music videos I give you guys.) I've got some consistent hashtags to use, and am even learning how to tag in people properly.

Case in point: Yesterday morning, during set-up, I shot my usual "Today's theme is" picture. Sea life, in fact: salmon, octopus, dolphins, whale, sea turtle. Uploaded it to Dreamwidth, of course, but I also posted it  to my Instagram, with the caption, "Making waves @saturdaymarket." Which has an implied pun (of course) but also makes it show up on the Eugene Saturday Market feed.

Shortly thereafter, a comment appeared: @(person_one) Are those butter dishes in the background? @(person_two), Look! 

They were indeed, and the folks involved showed up later that morning to purchase their very own, rooster-patterned French butter dish. Person one has also started following me on Instagram.

Huh. Maybe there's something to this social media thing after all.