Social Network and Dangerous New Form
Instagram can be a dangerous new form of social networking. Smart phone users now have an option to download an app called Instagram. Although it is the new, trendy thing to do, it can be an issue. The basics of Instagram are to post only pictures. Users can put a small bio about themselves, but it is nothing like the other social networks where users will post all sorts of pointless information. When a picture is posted, users can put a caption for it and the caption is often followed by things called ‘hashtags’.
Examples of these include #pretty, #somuchfun #beach, or whatever it is pertaining to the photo. In the search section, users can search for words or phrases that have been hashtagged. There are choices to “follow” other Instagram users, but the main issue is that of the user doesn’t want to be followed by somebody, they have no choice. On other social networks, there is an option to accept or decline followers, but on Instagram there is not. Instagram is generally used by people between the ages of 14 and 25, which makes it a lot worse that there is no way to keep away potentially dangerous users.
When somebody searches for a hashtag, every use of that hashtag by every Instagram user pops up. There is no need to be following a person to look and “like” their pictures. Although there is an option to set your Instagram profile as private, only a minority of people actually do it. I have and use my Instagram every day. I love it. I think it is great to be able to only post pictures and to only be able to see pictures that others have posted.
My main stream of pictures doesn’t get all crowded up with people posting pointless statuses about their life and annoying political references. I do have negative thoughts about it though. I hate it when strangers like or comment on pictures that I post. I am being followed by people I have never met and no nothing about and I cannot do anything about it. I am sure to only post pictures that don’t show where my location is or put any captions about there I live. I would hate to see some horrendous things happen to users of Instagram because of ignorant mistakes like that.
