Being featured on Instagram

Ten days ago, something happened. Something unimaginable but exciting. A post I created a few months ago was featured on Instagram’s official account. For those who do not know me outside the blogging world, I have an Instagram account (@thebooksatchel) that mostly focusses on books, slow living, creative life and bits and pieces of my day. On a Saturday, one of my old posts was pulled from the archives and featured on Instagram’s page as part of its eighth birthday celebration. This meant technically, it had an audience of 257 million people scattered all around the world; something I cannot even grasp in totality. The video has since then gathered 6.7 million views (pinch me, is this real?). So the last week went off in a bit of a haze, a ‘head in the clouds’ situation if you please. I’ve been swimming in the congratulatory messages both from old followers as well as bigger accounts that I look up to.
Absolutely magical!
In all fairness, every comment and every like on a picture/video is like a tiny hug. I am not exaggerating when I say each one is a big deal because how kind is that someone takes the time to write a comment or tap a like in the middle of their busy day? So what makes a feature different? It is like an acknowledgement for your work by a bigger party, like a star card from your teacher or a bonus from your boss or maybe a proud pat on the back from your coach. As someone who often has bouts of low confidence, such a pat is a big boost, no kidding. Having my work chosen as part of Instagram’s birthday posts was prestigious too; after all, Instagram is the platform that let me explore my creative voice.

It started with books

My Instagram duet started with pictures documenting my reading life, almost at the same time that the blog was born, and later grew into a place for my creative pursuits. I was a complete novice when I started out and soon got interested in different aspects of photography and experimenting with my pictures. I started participating in the WHP challenges recently but I’ve never been able to be a regular contributor every week to be honest, though I’d very much like to.

If you are new to this, the weekend hashtag project (WHP) is a weekly challenge by Instagram where they suggest a topic every Friday (depending on your time zone) and you have to post your interpretation of the theme over the weekend. Many months ago, the theme was ‘oddly satisfying’ which got me thinking about the loves of my life – food, books and of course scrolling through Instagram. I was mulling over the theme in the kitchen; one thing led to another and soon I was filled with nostalgia for the things I loved as a child such as candies (Gems and Smarties) and painting. Putting it all together, I created a post (link here ). The week passed. It was forgotten. I had forgotten about it too.

BUT imagine my surprise when Instagram contacted me about the post! Now, I’d be honest with you here – I did not think they will actually feature it as I was filling out the questions for the interview. There was a sentence in bold that said ‘feature is not guaranteed’ so I kind of assumed it would be for the Instagram’s website and not for the grid because after all it was an old post (Did I mention something about self confidence a while ago? Don’t be me!)

Perhaps good things come a bit late for some. To me it wasn’t just a feature but a golden one at that. To be featured as part of Instagram’s birthday celebrations especially since the platform had paved the way for my creative journey was an honour indeed. Side note, if you don’t make it in the first cut, don’t feel dejected. You never know what nice things await by the bend in the corner.

The big day

I was fast asleep when I received a phone call from my husband. It was 1 am on a Sunday morning, so all I could think was there has been some family emergency. He says, “Hey, you are featured on Instagram” and I respond in my sleepy voice, “Nice. Okay, talk to you tomorrow morning.”

That’s it!
I looked at the featured post, felt happy about it and tried to sleep again.

Then it began to sink in. It was out there! What I created was out there for people around the world to see. I was in half shock, half asleep and I couldn’t stop smiling. So there I was, alone in a dark room, face lit by the light from the phone screen, till the early hours of morning.

The afterglow

The next day, it was another world altogether. Comments were pouring in; my notifications were going crazy. Innumerable kind messages filled my inbox; some from friends, some from strangers, many from those who are usually silent on Instagram and some from the people whom I’ve admired for long. I was touched by the confidence many of my online friends had in me. Some friends decided to celebrate the occasion with a coffee or cake. Imagine that! It is the best feeling ever.
The numbers on the featured video kept climbing. In less than a day, it had 3.4 million views, something a new and small creator like me cannot even dream of. Not to forget, the feature paved way for a stream of new followers. I am so grateful for the way the account grew but to be honest, what gives you more happiness are the words from (I think I need to repeat what I am saying. I don’t mean a rise in followers is no big deal. It is! It puts me in a trance every time I think of it. It made me happy too. I only mean to say all the messages and comments from people who have supported you before this, mean much more. And also, the kind messages from those who came to know of your work through the feature. The follower count is a number (and it definitely makes you feel good, I repeat) but the fact that people, real people who are busy in their own lives, took out time to message me, encourage me for more and were genuinely happy, that too for someone whom they know only in the online world, spreads a joy that is unparalleled. If it was, let’s say a bigger increase in the follower count without any of the wonderful messages I received, I doubt I would be this happy. I think that makes my point all clear now).

Being featured has its lows too

The most prominent one is the crash in followers soon after the rise. It makes you nervous because you have no idea what you are doing wrong. The unfollows keep adding up. The fact is you are doing nothing wrong. The crash is an inevitable part of the sudden influx of people but it does mess with your head a bit.
While on one hand a feature is a huge boost to your creative power, an unexpected exposure has its dark side too. You suddenly feel crippled with self doubt and end up being very confused. You have no idea what to post next – What are the new people expecting? Why is my brain at a creative block? Are they expecting posts exactly like the featured post? So many questions and none have answers. It was important to convince myself that I have to just keep going without being affected by these nagging questions at the back of my mind.
Another bad surprise was the number of bots and sex accounts that started following me. Are book pictures that sexy? I don’t know. I spent a good amount of time blocking the ones I noticed.

Perhaps one thing that made me feel a bit sad was how some friends whom I interact on a daily basis on Instagram chose to remain silent. It hurt a bit then but maybe they’ve just been busy with life. (In case you are overthinking, we are all still friends and chatty and the world is a good place). I admit there have been a few silly comments too, not exactly hate comments but more on the lines of belittling. But that hardly made any difference because the kindness of a large part of the community was overwhelming.
It doesn’t end there.
When I started writing this piece, this last section was not part of it. Thanks to the delay on my part, it is. (Do we call this perks of a procrastination?). The week after, there was more good news in the form of a feature in The New Indian Express penned by Jeena Jayaraman.

Me. In a newspaper.

It was surreal to see your picture in the paper and to read about your work. I have not got a physical copy of the paper yet since but I’d be getting one soon. Perhaps I’d relive the moment again when I do. Here is alink to the article if you are interested.

So that’s the story. It was glorious being in the limelight for a few days. It was trippy, giddy and dizzying. I’ve been treating myself by making allowance for as many cups of black coffee a day as I fancy. Now back to thinking about new ideas and creating more pictures. And also lesser cups of coffee. Before I end the note, here is a big thank you from me to you for being there.

Much love,

Resh x

Here is my Instagram handle (@thebooksatchel) if you’d like to follow along. I am also on Twitter tweeting away on most days.