Speed Dating Workshops

Catching Up with Classmates

An obviously staged photo of our group during speed dating

Meeting (I stopped keeping count): Getting Feedback from Peers

We took our questions to the speed dating workshop. We got 20 minutes to pitch our idea, briefly describe what we’ve done so far, and ask the speed dating group about their opinions on Instagram.

What is your relationship to Instagram? Can you give an analogy and elaborate?

• First thing you wake up with in the morning and last thing you use at night
• When you’re a child and you need your mother’s milk to survive/addiction
• I like to look at Instagram as my personal feed is the best version of myself
• I feel like it’s almost like I don’t want to miss anything so making sure that I’ve gone through all the stuff
• I look at it as the best friend who is giving you words of encouragement

How is Instagram reflective of yourself?

• If you look at someone’s feed — if they’re an active user, you can get a feel for who they are, what they like to do, who their friends are, what they like to wear who they are
• I started it for myself so I could document all the Boba places I went to
• I follow a lot of celebrities and people I aspire to be like (musicians)
• Yes this is about image and stuff but it helps make things seem relatable

How much is Instagram for you or for your followers?

• I know for my sister (HS), it’s a big deal. You know the times you post to get more likes, if you don’t get likes it’s the end of the world
• Personally, I use it as a tool to remember and for documentation. I have a bad memory. Where I’ve gone, what I’m doing
• I want likes on every photos. If it’s just for me and aesthetically very nice, it won’t get anything
• I wish that Instagram would not only curate selfies and push good, artistic content
• I set these rules for myself so now I can’t post anything that’s not my face

Have you had experiences where people form a persona for you based on your Instagram and then they meet you and you’re someone totally different?

• I get the idea that people make an assumption about you before knowing who you really are
• I’ve had people come up to me and say that I’m shorter than I really was
• I had someone say I’ve been following you on Instagram for 2 years…Now I’ve met you in real life

Do you have a finsta? Do you follow someone’s finsta?What made you decide to get a finsta?

• I feel like I seem whiney when I post stuff on it like I’m bitching into the void
• This is for me and my friends who want to go back and look at it
• My regular instagram is people I know but I don’t really talk to
• I wanted to take more photos. It was a way to do that
• I don’t really have one but I follow them. It feels a little awkward because I don’t think you would share this with me in person.
• Some people follow too many people with their finsta and it defeats the purpose of their finsta

What would have to change about Instagram as a platform so that you don’t feel a need to make multiple accounts?

• I don’t think it’s Instagram’s problem
• I guess you could hide photos from specific people
• I use the separate accounts as different albums in a way
• Even if Instagram is supposed to be used to curate memories from our everyday lives, their life is so much better than mine.

Photos from speed dating