Early on in my first semester of freshman year, when I was attempting to make new friends and exchanging phone numbers, Snapchats and Instagram usernames left and right, there was one question that I was always asked in relation to my social media:
“What’s your ratio?”
Rough translation: how many followers do you have compared to the number of people that you’re following?
My general response to this was to roll my eyes. Then I respond by saying that my ratio is roughly 300 to 500 -- which, by the way, isn’t that bad. But inevitably, I get the ashamed head shake and a sympathetic, disappointed:
“Aaawww, buddy.”
So this begs the question: Why is my ratio so “bad?” Well frankly, it’s because I follow a lot of blogs. Beauty blogs, TV show blogs, fandom blogs -- and that’s before you add in the people I’m following because I actually know them.
Why follow so many Instagram accounts, thereby messing up my ratio? Because they’re fun. Because I like engaging in communities of people who share the same interests as me. And because it’s kind of fun to open up my Instagram and not only find out what all of my friends and acquaintances did last Friday night, but also see a screencap from one of my favorite shows and catch up on the latest trends according to Vogue. Who knows? I might even get some outfit inspiration while I scroll.
I want my newsfeed to be filled with pictures of the people I like and the things that interest me. It’s kind of the point of social media -- stay connected with your friends and find communities of likeminded individuals all in one easy-to-access place. Tailoring your ratio means restricting how much of this you’re exposed to. Why miss out on that just because you might not look as cool to your friends, who probably think you’re pretty cool anyways, or random strangers whose opinions are largely inconsequential to your day to day life?
The same thing also applies to Twitter, and I would throw the exact same logic out again. I don’t need lots of people to validate my social media existence. Frankly, my Twitter is largely a conglomeration of slightly snarky thoughts that seem pithy enough for me publish on the internet. I don’t particularly care who feels compelled to read them, I’m more interested in the snarky-yet-pithy comments of the people I follow.
Some might also argue that this extends to cultivating an Instagram aesthetic. For me, aesthetic is slightly different. Yes, you should post what makes you happy, regardless of whether or not it matches the overall theme of the rest of your page, but an aesthetic relates more to cultivating an image of yourself that you want to show to the world, rather than being constantly vigilant about maintaining your popularity.
Both of these things also tie in to the bigger debate about social media’s effect on our generation’s self-esteem. And I’m not going to make the claim that we should just collectively decide that ratios and the number of likes we get don’t matter. It’s just not that easy. Inherently, social media is a kind of popularity contest, and I’m certainly guilty of obsessively watching how many likes my photos get and waiting for peak times to tweet or Instagram something.
But at the same time, we often overlook the fact that social media is not a reflection on our real life. In fact, it’s often more like looking in a fun-house mirror. Some people like the mirror that makes them look short and squat, some people prefer the mirror that makes them look tall and thin. And then there are the people that would rather use the “Your Face Here” cut-outs. My point? We’re not accurately representing our day to day lives on Instagram, so why does it makes sense that our popularity would be represented accurately either?
Take a second and think about your Instagram scrolling habits. Do you actually look at each individual photo that you like, or do you flick through quickly, double tapping on the photos that were posted by people you know very well? I know a number of people who use the latter technique when looking at their social media. In fact, one of my best friends once liked my photo, and only several hours later realized what I had actually posted when it came up in conversation.
Maybe this sounds like the ranting of a girl with a “bad” Instagram ratio, but I can promise you that while you’re busy unfollowing that kid who unfollowed you a week ago thereby messing up your ratio, I’ll be scrolling through a newsfeed that represents the various facets of my personality and interests of my life.
And I’ll be thoroughly enjoying it. Ratios be damned.
