Author: Brittney Vinet-Williams

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Canada FINALLY Gets Instagram Music!

My fellow Canadians! Our time has finally arrived! 

No longer do we need to receive the dreaded (i.e., irritating) pop-up when watching the fun, musically-filled Instagram stories of our international friends. 

Instagram first introduced the feature on June 28, 2018 in certain countries… meaning we’ve been without this feature for over a year and a half! I think as Canadians, and being so close to our U.S neighbours to the South, we’ve become a little used to receiving features either at the same time as them, or not too terribly long after, but a wait of a year and a half seems incredibly long… so why did it take so long? 

Why it Took so Long to Get the Feature

In using content that doesn’t belong to you on social media, it’s important that you have permission from the creator to use it. This is why it took so long for Canadians to have the ability to use Instagram music, in an article by CNBC, they acknowledge that Instagram needs to have the correct licenses in order to be able to play this music. This is also why the feature was muted for regions where the feature wasn’t available. 

Essentially, it took way longer for Instagram/Facebook to conduct their legal proceedings in Canada so that they would be able to obtain the correct licensing. In doing so however, Facebook and Instagram worked with Canadian artists to ensure that our own artists can receive the recognition they deserve with access to a rich library of Canadian-made music.

How Do You Use It? 

I took the liberty of making a short screen recording showing you how to use the feature here. 

  1. Open the Instagram App on your device
  2. Tap on your stories to add a new story 
  3. I decided to use an old video I took at the Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada this summer, so I clicked on the bottom left corner to open my photos app  
    1. You can always choose to start a new video using the Instagram camera and add music to it afterwards. 
  4. My video was a little long, so I decided to delete the second portion of the video, as it didn’t add much overall. I then muted the sound in my video, but this step isn’t necessary.
  5. Now, you’ll want to click the button at the top of your screen, that looks like a little square with a smiley face on it.
    1. A new screen will pop-up, and from here you can choose the “music” option in the second row. undefined
  6. You can then search for the song you want, my video is of sharks, so I decided to use the Jaws theme song. You’ll notice that when I click on the song I want, there is a little pop-up that says “lyrics aren’t available for this song” – the song I chose ultimately has no lyrics, but if you chose a song that does, here’s what would happen: 
    1. The lyrics are helpful when you’re looking for a certain part of the song, as you will see in the next step, when you scroll through, the lyrics will display what part of the song you’re currently at, making it easier and simpler to find the desired section of the song you’re looking for.
    2. The lyrics will show on the screen, giving you 4 different options in how to display them. 
      1. The first option has the individuals words of lyrics pop-up on the screen as they’re said in the song and emphasizes certain parts in bigger writing.
      2. The second option is sort of like a typewriter that has the individual words of the lyrics appear typed on the screen as they’re sung in the song.
      3. The third option displays one line of the song at a time as they’re being sung.
      4. The fourth option is similar to the third, but it displays the line of the song that came before and after the current line, with the current line displayed in white, and the other 2 lines grayed out.
  7. Next, I swiped through the options for how the cover art for the song will be displayed in the story. Right beside these options is where the lyric options will also be.  
  8. I then scrolled through the song using the bar at the bottom to try and find the part of the song that I wanted to include in my story. 
  9. Once I was happy with the section of the song I had, I clicked on “done” in the top right corner, and then as you can see, I was able to move the display of the song around the screen to anywhere I wanted it. 
  10. Once you’re happy with the placement of it, you can hit “Your Story” at the bottom left of your screen to add your new video with music to your story! 

Are you guys excited to finally have this feature? 

Please share if you have any other tips and tricks for using Instagram Music! 

The feature you’ve all been waiting for is finally in Canada! Learn how to use Instagram music here: http://bit.ly/37UpEgF

You’ve all waited so patiently… But why did it take so long to get Instagram music in Canada?? http://bit.ly/37UpEgF

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Instagram vs. Reality: Why Your Pose Matters

I think at this point we all know how social media can influence our self-worth and self-confidence. We constantly see photos of everyone else’s perfectly curated lives, which leads to unease within ourselves when we forget that Instagram isn’t real life. 

All of this posing creates a false sense of reality, not only for others, but for yourself as well. As a teen, once I learned that all it took was some sneaky poses, I would start doing all of these poses myself because I felt as if my reality wasn’t good enough. Once I saw how good I COULD look if all I did was pose properly, it became addicting, and would start to warp my own view of myself, because I started to see myself as this person I was trying to be, instead of the reality of who I really was and what I really looked like.

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Chasing perfection 🌿 Before I went on holiday I fell back into old negative thoughts and kept seeing photos of people in bikinis and wanted to look like them. I started disliking how my body looked because it didn’t look lean and toned 24/7. Don’t allow social media, or anything, or anyone else make you think you aren’t good enough. You shouldn’t have to suck in your tummy and make your body look a certain way to be happy with a photo. You shouldn’t feel the need to delete a photo of you having fun and making memories because your brain convinced you that you don’t look good enough. I can make my body look smaller from certain angles, by sucking in and flexing ridiculous amounts. But that’s not how I really look 99% of the time. Society has convinced us that this is “aesthetic”. But we need to realize there is beauty in everyone and in being human. You are not the negative thoughts that your brain tells you. You deserve to be comfortable in your skin and not worry about what you look like when you sit down and have your tummy touch your thighs. Don’t hate and punish yourself for things that are completely normal and human. Don’t think that your body needs to look any particular way, because its amazing the way it is now. You don’t have to change yourself. —————————————— . . . . #instagramvsreality #mybody #flatstomach #loveyourbody #selfesteem #loa #thankyourbody #youareworthit #youareunique

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A few years ago though, I saw a post on before and after photos (I can’t remember at all where I saw this, but if it sounds familiar and you know the source, please let me know!), specifically for detox teas, and how those before and after photos are often faked. The before photo was made to be purposely unflattering, while the after was strategically done with camera angles, and different poses to make the model look thinner, and as if the teas had worked a miracle. Here’s an article from the Huffington Post written by a fitness coach that shares a similar sentiment. He says his transformation photos are often taken 3 HOURS apart.

After I saw this post, it really opened up my eyes to the fact that not every post you see is reality, to the point that I would start to pick out these poses in before and after photos – and it gave me a sense of gratification almost. As if I knew better. But the truth is that I didn’t. I was aware that these poses were faked…. But it didn’t make me stop doing these kinds of poses myself. 

I was visiting some friends back home in Winnipeg this past weekend, so naturally, we took some pictures together, when one of my friends asked how I always pose so well in photos and she asked for some tips. I was immediately excited to give her some pointers, when I got to thinking about all of the things I think of in the span of the few seconds it takes for the photo to be taken. I was listing things off such as “stick your forehead out, touch your tongue to the top of your mouth to lift your chin, smile with your eyes, suck in your gut, angle your hips so your butt looks bigger, stand up straight.” How can one person possibly focus on all of this stuff in such a small amount of time? And why was it my posing that mattered in that moment, and not in visiting with the friends I get to see once or twice a year? 

Here is the photo in question (I’m on the right). In this photo I wasn’t thinking about how happy I was to be with my best friend for the first time in 6 months… I was thinking “okay tuck your shoulder back and down, suck in (even though you can’t see my stomach at all??), chin up, forehead forward.” 

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there is anything wrong with posing in ways that are flattering on your body and that make you feel beautiful. The heart of the issue is the deception that is at play in trying to fool not only your followers, but also yourself, that that is what you really look like. The key here: being self-aware that you are doing these poses, and also being open about the fact that you don’t always look the way you do for posed photos on Instagram. 

There are a few influencers that I follow who I think do this really well. The first one is Allana Davison (@allanaramaa)  while she does post a lot of flattering and perfectly curated photos, she doesn’t hesitate to show posts that are a little more unflattering. Her Instagram stories are also constantly filled with images or videos of her with no makeup. 

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Always tired 🥱

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Another FANTASTIC influencer, is Sarah Nicole Landry (@thebirdspapaya). She’s gone through a lot of fluctuations in her weight, from being overweight, to severely underweight, as well as having 3 kids, but due to this she struggles a lot with stretch marks and loose skin. Rather than try to hide these things, she is very open about sharing those parts of herself and exhibiting self-love, while showing others that their bodies are beautiful too. 

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“It’s because I’ve lost 100lbs” “I’ve had 3 kids” “My son was like 10lbs” “I’m genetically predisposed” “I just carry weight in my lower abdomen”. ⁣ ⁣ I’ve said these lines more times than I can count. I will say them again, I’m sure.⁣ ⁣ So why am I bringing it up?⁣ ⁣ Because they’re reasons. They’re whys. They are me asking permission for my body the way it is. Answering questions that I’m assuming are being asked. ⁣ ⁣ In the steps to self-acceptance these words helped pacify the feelings of self hate. They gave me reasonings. They gave me some peace. They helped settled my anger and resentment towards my body. ⁣ ⁣ And now I’m moving past them. ⁣ ⁣ Because I don’t want my body to come with fine print. ⁣ ⁣ My body is how she is. Whether I show her or not. She’s doesn’t need explain herself. She’s not open for a discussion beyond the ones I open up. ⁣ ⁣ I recognize that these images help normalize things we’d not quite seen before, and subject matters we were quietly suffering in. ⁣ ⁣ Just know while you digest the normalcies of the skin, the body, postpartum, weight loss, genetics, medical conditions or otherwise, we deserve to exist without the “I’m worthy because and even though…” sentences. ⁣ ⁣ We are worthy. Period. ⁣ ⁣ Full stop. ⁣ ⁣ The sentence can end there. ⁣ ⁣ As we move past the words that once followed them. ⁣ ⁣ The ones that asked permission. ⁣ And answered questions we assumed were being asked. ⁣ ⁣ Exist. Your worth is without question.

A post shared by Sarah Nicole Landry (@thebirdspapaya) on

Are there any other influencers or celebrities that you look to for inspiration on this topic? Please share their names below, if you do! I’d love to follow them.

Are you aware of how your pose in photos affect your self-worth? #SelfWorth #IGvsReality http://bit.ly/IGvRL

Does the way we pose in photos impact how we view our own bodies?
http://bit.ly/IGvRL

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Oversharing on the Internet: When Authenticity Goes Too Far

I recently listened to a podcast episode called “The Age of Oversharing” by Approachable (Samantha Ravndahl & Alyssa Anderson). Sam is a pretty popular beauty influencer with over 2 million instagram followers, and Alyssa is her best friend from high school. I love their podcast for this reason, because I think it’s super interesting to hear the different sides and different views the two of them have over topics such as this one, of oversharing on the internet.  

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Coming soon… 💕

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In the episode one of the big things they referred to was that you’re almost in a sort of catch 22 with how much you share on the internet. Followers always want you to be open and transparent with them about things that are going on behind the scenes and to know every detail that is happening, but then sometimes when people overshare they’re seen as narcissistic or full of themselves. You really need to find the balance in pleasing your followers and giving them some information about your life, without sharing too much and still having the ability to keep certain things private.

Photo by Fauxels from Pexels

One of the things Sam brought up really resonated with me. She’s recently been a lot more open on social media about her mental health and dealing with depression, but she acknowledged that it’s still a battle, and she doesn’t exactly want to talk about it sometimes. Yet, because she was open and talking about it, people now view her as a sort of advocate for mental health, so she’s been thrust into this mentorship role whether her mental health is in a good state or not. It’s hard when you see that the things you’re sharing are helping people, I know personally that Sam’s conversations about mental health have helped me to realize that I wasn’t alone in the way I was feeling, but then you have to wonder if sharing all of this information designed to help people was to her own detriment. 

Photo by Tofros.com from Pexels

Personally, I would like to brand myself as being authentic, and not purposely being fake for the camera, and things like that, but I do think there is a fine line between being authentic and real and sharing too much with others. There is the struggle of trying to figure out where this line lies. All of social media is new to the whole world, and different generations are adapting differently. The truth is: nobody has the answers and we’re all still learning. That said, there are some things we can do to try and mitigate the risks of social media. 

PsychCentral has a blog post by Paula Durlofsky, PhD, discussing the benefits of not oversharing on social media, and she’s offered some tips on how to prevent yourself from sharing something you may regret later. 

  1. Don’t post when you’re feeling emotional 
  2. Use private messaging to resolve conflicts 
  3. Prepare yourself for negative responses 
  4. Protect your privacy 
  5. Be aware of social media overload and internet addiction 

Please make sure to check out Dr. Durlofsky’s post for more details and information! 

If you haven’t heard it already, please make sure to check out the Approachable Podcast wherever you listen to Podcasts! (Spotify, Youtube, Apple, Google, etc.)

So I’m curious: how much are you willing to share about yourself online? Do you think there are some things that should never be shared on social media? 

Are you sharing too many private details online? http://bit.ly/2usqAuX #Privacy #Overshare #TMI

How do you choose how much of your life to share online? Check out this post for some tips! http://bit.ly/2usqAuX

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3 REASONS INSTAGRAM WOULD BE BETTER WITHOUT “LIKES”

A white Ipad opened on Instagram displaying an out of focus image with the words "22 likes" displayed underneath
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

In 2019, Instagram announced that they would be testing the removal of “like” counts, so that when you made a post – only you would be able to see how many likes your post received. Anyone else who viewed the post, would only see “liked by ___ and others.” They began this test in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, Japan and New Zealand, and to this day in Canada, we don’t see the number of likes that others’ posts receive.  

I think that this is a great step in the right direction, but I’d like to argue 3 reasons that Instagram would be better if they hide their like counts altogether, including from the original poster.

1. Less comparison to others “superior” lives 

In removing the “like” counts from the posts of others, it will certainly help people in their comparisons to others. No longer will users be able to compare how many “likes” their own post got versus another user. But don’t think that they will let it stop there. The user will still be able to view their own “like” counts and they will still fight tooth and nail to earn those “likes.” 

Instagram has more than 1 billion active users per day… think of all the people you could possibly be comparing yourself to on a daily basis. 

Users tend to use “likes” as a sense of validation and of their own self-worth – “likes” act as a sort of reward system, basically like achievement medals. Like, “Hey, good job!” As humans, we inherently seek validation and getting these likes as rewards reinforce our behaviour. So when you post a boujee photo and that gets a lot of “likes”… you’ll keep posting similar boujee photos because that behaviour has now been reinforced. 

The problem with this, is that it leads to people creating fake personas on the internet, and they curate these photos to make their lives seem extraordinary. Unfortunately, people only tend to post the good things and not the bad… It’s not news that Instagram and other social media is damaging to individuals’ mental health. When others see influencers living such extravagant lives, it’s hard to not feel jealous, and we frequently feel as if we’re not good enough, because our lives aren’t like that. It’s no surprise that depression is on the rise in teens, now that they are constantly comparing their lives to other “successful” people. We need to find a way to reduce the constant consumerism competitiveness on social media. 

2. Higher quality content 

When users, particularly younger ones, notice their post is not getting enough likes as they would expect, they have a tendency to delete these posts and act as if they never happened – because they’re embarrassed and ashamed of the fact that they didn’t get enough “likes.” 

This has led to many users creating “finstas” – as discovered in a study by Scott Ross. He found that many of the users he questioned had created a main account with a perfectly curated persona of how they wanted to be perceived online, but that they have also created secondary “fake” instagram accounts. This “finsta” allows these users to be themselves on these accounts instead of the perfectly curated person they’re trying to be. 

If Instagram removes the “like” feature, then people will be able to focus on posting whatever they please instead of just posting whatever will earn them their precious “likes”. Without the ability to view the “likes”, they wouldn’t delete their posts after only a few minutes, and maybe that content would actually get to see the light of day. 

Not only would regular users be able to post whatever they’d like, but there would be an expectation from influencers to post higher quality content to maintain their present levels of engagement. 

3. Increased engagement 

Simply put – most people consider “liking” a post, to be engaging with that post. Take away the “like” feature however, and users will need to turn to other means of interacting with those individuals or businesses they follow. This could mean an increase in the number of comments, allowing for companies and influencers to engage with their followers. This would open that process of communication that has been closed to the ease of just simply “liking” a post. 

If you take away the simplicity of just “liking a post”, people will pay more attention to the content and focus on the things that they actually like, not just what it seems like everyone else likes. Marie Mostad said it best in an interview with Insider:

“If you think of an art gallery, you will stop and take a closer look at paintings or photographs you really like, and it doesn’t have anything to do with what other people like — it’s just your personal taste,” she said. “A gallery would never have a counter showing which pictures people spend the most time on. It’s just the subjective taste that matters.”

Photo by Cristian Dina from Pexels

Challenge

We need to pull Instagram and other social media away from this competitive atmosphere where people associate their content with their value and self-worth. We need to get instagram back to its initial purpose: a way to share what you want to share. I think one of the best ways to do this would be to get rid of the likes feature altogether. 

Here’s a challenge for you! When you’re on social media and you go to ‘like’ someone’s post… try to think about WHY you are liking this post. I think it’s pretty eye opening to explore these. Leave me a comment with some of your thoughts or reasonings! 

Sources

Barrow, A. (2019). What the removal of Instagram likes means for Influencer Marketing. Retrieved January 27, 2020, from https://www.scrunch.com/blog/what-the-removal-of-instagram-likes-means-for-influencer-marketing 

Dodgson, L. (2019). How removing Instagram likes could help influencer mental health—Insider. Retrieved January 27, 2020, from https://www.insider.com/how-removing-instagram-likes-could-help-influencer-mental-health-2019-11 

Galbato, C. (2019). I’m an influencer and I hope Instagram gets rid of “likes” for good (Opinion)—CNN. CNN. Retrieved January 27, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/13/perspectives/instagram-removing-likes/index.html

IZEA (2019). The Consequences of Removing Instagram Likes. IZEA. https://izea.com/2019/08/26/instagram-likes/  

Ross, S. (2019). Being Real on Fake Instagram: Likes, Images, and Media Ideologies of Value. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 29(3), 359–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12224 

Tiggemann, M., Hayden, S., Brown, Z., & Veldhuis, J. (2018). The effect of Instagram “likes” on women’s social comparison and body dissatisfaction. Body Image, 26, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.07.002