Instagram: A portal, like all other social media, into people’s lives. With each photo posted, we are given a glimpse into people’s worlds—or at least the world they would have us see. With the advent of this particular outlet of social freedom, however, the birth of a couple phenomenon were also spoken into existence.
The likes/minute ratio, otherwise known as likes per minute (LPM), has become real and terrifying for some. If the picture does not get one or two likes per minute in the first thirty minutes after posting the photo, some will consider deleting it. As sad as it is, it is an eerily valid depiction of what high school and college-aged people endure every time they post a picture on Instagram.
Another phenomenon that plays into the LPM is the prime Insta time. Believe it or not, there is a prime time to post pictures so as to ensure the maximum likes possible on any given photo. Weekday nights are usually a secure time to post, because when friends return home from school or work or their respective day time duties, many of them lie back, relax, and check their social media. What will they see then now that they are finally checking their phones? They will see the lovely picture you just posted of you and your absolute best friends or the delicious coffee you had this morning. Sundays are the exception to the rule. If you “Insta” a pic on Sunday, especially at night, you are almost guaranteed a fairly decent number of likes.
Sundays are chill so people tend to check their social media more, therefore ensuring you more likers. Friday and Saturdays are a standard no-go for posting pictures, because most people are out living their lives and hopefully forgetting about their phones and the world of social networking.
Finally, we have special posts. Birthday shout-outs are all over Insta. On average, I see about three a day. If someone shouts you out on Insta on your birthday, they really love you because, generally, birthday posts get fewer likes—with the exception of a few clever collages that reel in 100+ likes. Alternately, on your birthday, likes will line up for you. If you dress up for something like Prom, formal, Mardi Gras ball, an exchange, and so on, you will secure an above average number of likes. It is not guaranteed that special occasions warrant a special bout of Insta fame, but it is generally accepted as such.
In uncovering this side of the Instagram world I cannot speak for everyone’s personal accounts, but this is true information that my friends and I have experienced throughout our Insta careers. It is not a science, but it might as well be. I would also like to impress upon all of you readers that you worth is in no way, shape, or form measured by your Instagram likes.
You are infinitely more valuable than what you see on any social media outlet, so I ardently beg you NOT to take the amount of likes you get on a simple picture and let that dictate who you are and how you live. Sure, commandeering likes is nice and I’ve given you some simple insight into the inner workings of the liker world, but in the scope of this life that we are all living with verve, it is a minuscule phenomenon.
Therefore, relax and enjoy the editing fun of Instagram, but do not get absorbed in the liking craze.
