The Need To Post Before You Eat and The Unknown Consequence It Has.
Snap! Filter and Post. Rue Allan, Student at Moraine Valley Community College is one of the many following the major trend that continues to grow in the world today. The trend is “foodstagramming” which is this overall process to post these pictures of food that you are eating on social media. The question is why has this become such a craze among so many individuals from all over the world. For some it might be when you are on a date at a high end restaurant and setting your plates together to take an appealing image to post on social media and for others it’s this well thought out idea to make their Instagram pictures follow a theme and to make the account itself be visually appealing. “I like to take pictures of the food I’m eating while I’m out with friends or family because it looks appetizing and I like to be able to edit them to follow the theme on my Instagram account which gives it an artistic feel with a mixture of visual elements.”, says student Rue Allan.
However, this trend to take and post pictures may be coming to a fast end and it may come to a surprise to many of the foodstagrammers out there. The big surprise is not only why this will be a fast ending trend but who is behind this future decrease in what was once a fast growing phenomenon. This won’t be the cause of Social Medias but in fact because of a number of restaurants who have already decided to ban taking pictures of the works of art presented on those white plate canvases. This is already seen in a number of restaurants in New York who wish to remain anonymous based on an article from Gothamist.com. Based on that same article, “Restaurant Finds Phone Zombies Slow Down Service, Keep Taking Photos”, it states, twenty-six out of forty-five customers spend an average of three minutes taking photos of the food; and fourteen out of forty-five customers take pictures of each other with the food in front of them or as they are eating the food. This takes on average another four minutes as they must review and sometimes retake the photo. Although some may believe that by taking and posting these pictures on social media would help promote businesses and restaurant owners, Saed Qreini mentions that when people take pictures and post it they don’t always carry the same skills as professional photographers causing the food to look mediocre and sometimes unappetizing which overall hurts the restaurant business. When one takes all these thoughts from numerous restaurants and owners and puts it into a business perspective it may make sense to why they are the reason there may be a decrease in what was once a growing trend.
As consumers start to realize the cost of foodstagramming they too might begin to agree with restaurants. Doing the math and putting it into that business perspective and consumer perspective, a couple may spend the first seven minute of their dining experience trying to keep their Instagram page updated with their latest meal. With that first seven minutes it can turn what was once thirty minutes wait time to thirty-seven minute wait time and that next couple may take that same extra seven minutes before they eat to also keep their Social Medias updated. Within a whole business day each of those seven minutes can quickly add up to hours, hours that could have been used for customers dining but lost to update Social Media. So as business owners see their numbers of customers decrease, consumers begin to notice their wait time to be seated, overall increase. It may not seem like posting your pictures of what is being eaten can have such an effect on these restaurants or on the consumers experience, but just like many other problems that start fairly small can easily grow into a terrible end, and in this case an end to numerous high end restaurants that people truly enjoy and love.
For Tiara Bella, one fourth of the singing girl group Lylas, she tweets, “How am I supposed to enjoy a meal if I can’t get likes on it?” Just like many others, she too follows the growing foodstagramming trend and is not ready to have it be over. For such a complex trend, with so much good potential it may have or with so much possible damage it may be causing, it’s still very unclear to where social media users will see it go. For Rue Allan she isn't quite ready to let go of this still growing trend. With over a thousand followers she still hopes to share those great meals while continuing to keep that overall artistic appealing Instagram account.
