Last night I turned to Instagram, to find 300+ notifications ... All likes. Before you dismiss this post entirely - I did not come here to boast, in fact quite the opposite. I must confess, almost all the little orange heartsI acquired yesterday evening were from my mother and sister. It seems in a manic moment of missing me they'd decided to scroll as far back in my feed as they could. I emailed them twice throughout the process but there was no stopping them. My sister even got all the way to beginning of my Instagram days (it's not pretty!)
While the photos were fuzzier and the likes fewer then - there was something real going on. Photos taken and shared in an instant with a filter slapped on top (at the time exclusively X Pro, a little filter-tan never hurt nobody).

Even before my family's bombardment of my feed I'd been actively trying to get the Insta back in Instagram. Colour coordinating a feed and meticulously planning a weeks worth of imagery leaves little to chance. How do those surprise encounters and photo ops fit in when you've already planned your next 3 pics? What do you do with the pic of you casually running into a celebrity after her west-end show?

For those following me on both snapchat (Tyler-Kenny) and Instagram (@tylerkenny) you may be aware that unlike a Super Bowl halftime show my social media operates on more than a 10 second delay . I'll experience something firsthand, snapchat away (or not at all) Then later come home and choose which image to share on instagram.

I wouldn't share anything to Facebook - if it weren't for one (instagramless) person ... my grandmother. I'll share to keep her in the loop - lest she hear from someone else I've taken off to Berlin for the weekend!

Which brings me to facebook,of which I take to once every so often to post a funny anecdote from my day- I don't post those here because most centre around my not so FAB experiences as a Temp.

I'm not one of those people who "Checks in" at every street, I do the occasional check in but only when I'm in London because apparently it's a THING here! I like my facebook a little more guarded as I've got a fair amount of people on there. (a friend recently remarked OMG you have how many Facebook FRIENDS?!).

They've all got a special place and I respect each person and my presence on their feed. Friends, Family, old classmates or coworkers, people-you-added-cause-you-thought-their-pic-was-cute...truthfully I know about 90% of them IRL.

I recall a time years ago, a friend of mine (a party promoter turned successful restauranteur) showed me a trick to invite everyone on my list to a party he was throwing. I declined and instead opted to personally scroll through all 2000+ friends, and only invite those that particular Dim Sum Rave was applicable to. He responded, 'Why do you care so much - it's just facebook!"

Which if anything is the only logical way of looking at things in the Post-Digital Age.

When people get caught up in followers, likes etc ... I find myself wondering what will be the latest social platform to hop on - and will it stick? What happens if instagram disappears tomorrow? Where do all our likes go? What of the online 'brand' we've built?

I strongly feel that each image we share should serve a purpose. For the 50 year old auntie & matriarch, it's to document her beautiful family. For the luxury brand, it's to promote and incite desire. And for those of us who's job is fashion branding + image-making, it's to present yourself as an arbiter of good taste.

If we're all so creative why do our feeds all look the same?

So while I'm not abandoning the professionally shot outfit pics, or the stealth shots I've managed to take inside museums with a no-photo policy - I do plan on continuing posting what I want - when I want sans filler but with filter!

No more of those "in between" photos to segue to the next colour story.

I've seen the apps that'll show you who likes the most of your pics (hi MOM!) and who's the least active / has interacted with the least of your posts (which surprise-surprise is probably someone who's quite active otherwise!). But i'll save all that for part 2 of this post.

Screw your "Optimal times for posting" articles, minimal pics and likes.

I've found there is no secret formula to predicting how "well" a post will do ... I'm endeavouring to express not impress.

Oh and if your still posting pics from something you did in december ... you can shut that down too!