The best piece of advice that I got recently was to step back and look at Instagram as an entire city but with three neighborhoods. This resonates with me because in case you don't already know I moved to Portland via Chicago. Chicago is a very neighborhood centered city, Wicker Park, Logan Square and Pilsen to name a favorite few. The beautiful thing about big cities is the many different neighborhoods inside of them, each with their character, their feeling, their vibe.
If you happen to live in a big city, think for a moment about the places that you tend to spend a majority of your time. How many different neighborhoods do you frequent? Obviously, the area that you live in but are there others that you travel to for a particular coffee shop or a one of a kind gift store that you find that unique item for someone?
Keep this in mind as we step back to look at Instagram the same way as we are looking at a big city. There are three diverse neighborhoods within Instagram, the feed, the stories and the lives. However, the one similarity amongst all of them is that they each require a neighborly manner to thrive. You know where you reach out and chat with a person and aren't just lurking neighborhood watching them.
The Feed
This is obviously the epicenter of the city of the Instagram city. The feed is where the perfectly curated posts and thoughtful words live. The space that gets the majority of the friendly neighbor to neighbor chatting.
The Stories
Stories are north of the city center and are a welcoming community that shows a more personal and attainable side. Stories is a place to show more of what your every day looks like and who you are as a person. The problem here is like any neighborhood place you tend to frequent if you get annoyed with the oversharing that someone is doing you turn your head and avoid contact with them. This neighborhood is an excellent place to people watch because everyone is doing their own then but conversations are hardly ever started.
The Live
The Neighborhood that everyone says is up and coming. Realistically this feature should have taken off like gangbusters but over a year later it's still that up and coming place. Some of the neighbors here are still just not sure what to do with it yet.
By now you have undoubtedly figured out which two neighborhoods are your favorites. The two favorites you should be posting to frequently the other it's ok to make a weekly or monthly commute to, but you shouldn't forget about it all together.