Friends, I’ve had an Instagram account for maybe seven years now, but it’s always been the poor stepchild of my social media accounts. All the action seemed to take place on Facebook and Twitter, with LinkedIn and Goodreads functioning as my “second tier” hangouts. Instagram, like Pinterest, seemed little more than a silly diversion, a chance to see (or post) amusing cat pictures but not much more. Even when I grew disillusioned with FB and Twitter (thanks especially to watching The Social Dilemma), I still wasn’t quite sure what to do with Instagram.
But then, this year I discovered #bookstagram — a hashtag that the booklovers on Instagram use, to highlight their posts that feature books, more books, and still more books, often very tastefully/artfully photographed.
I fell in love. And I immediately saw how I could make Instagram my own. So this year, for Lent, I tried an experiment: every day I committed to posting one “bookstagram” image on my Instagram feed each day. This includes books that I have owned/cherished for years, to books recently acquired and not yet read, to the occasional book that publishers send me in the hopes that I’ll share them with others. The only common thread is that (even for the review books) the subject matter is of interest to me, and therefore I assume to folks who interact with me online as well.
So as Lent draws to a close, I’ve decided that this was so much fun that I will keep doing it. I’m not sure that I will post every single day (in fact, I’m sure I won’t), but I’m sure I’ll post something new at least several times each week. Plus, since it won’t be part of my Lenten discipline, I’m sure that my cats will start showing up on my Instagram feed again!
Here’s my feed as it currently stands (this will be updated every time I post something new). If you’re on Instagram, I hope you’ll follow me!
