Eight years ago, Instagram had 1 million users and one single, simple party trick. The photo-sharing app revolutionised smartphone photography by giving users a series of filters. You could flick through your options (moody Sierra, cosy Nashville, or nostalgic Valencia?) and in an instant everyone was able to look like a professional photographer.
Now Instagram has 1 billion users – and nearly as many ways you can get things very, very wrong. In a world where influencers can charge £600,000 for a single post, Instagram has become complicated – and no one has mastered the dos and don’ts quite like teens (no surprise, given that a July Tesco Mobile survey of 1,000 children aged nine to 15 found that 41% of them used their phones for social media). So, to help demystify the process for you, we spoke to a number of Instagram experts – the teens who use it all the time.
Don’t ‘over back’ it
“The biggest mistake people make when uploading pictures is effectively ‘over backing’ the image,” explains Francesca, a 16-year-old with just over 1,000 followers. “This is when someone over-edits the photo and the result is tacky.”
This is such a key lesson to learn that if Instagram had a constitution, “Don’t over-edit” would be the No 1 rule, and the punishment would be zero likes. “A lot of people put way too many filters on a picture,” says Vinnie Cohen, a 14-year-old with nearly 2,500 followers.
“I used to want to go out with loads of cameras and stuff but it’s too much, the image looks forced, it looks too professional, it doesn’t look authentic.”
Don’t mess up the caption
A picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes words are worth a thousand pictures (which are worth a thousand words). So it’s important to make sure that you get the caption right.
“Never say ‘cool’ or ‘lol’ – that’s so five years ago,” advises Molly Gibson, a 14-year-old who uses the app to post pictures of her friends. “And don’t like comments on other people’s posts – it makes you look like a stalker with loads of free time.”
Francesca’s most popular post was a simple shot in her family home, but she believes it got so many likes because the caption was about saying goodbye to her friends after her GCSEs. “The best captions tell a story,” she says.
Download editing apps
The Instagram filter is dead – long live the non-Instagram filter. Isla Brewer, a 15-year-old with roughly 2,000 followers, recommends VCSO and Afterlight as alternative editing apps.
“The best filters on Afterlight for me are Woods, Flora and Cape,” she says. “On VSCO, my favourite filters are A6, HB1 and P5.” If that sounds a little complicated, don’t worry – Isla says pictures with no filter are “a huge thing right now”.
If you forgo the filter, Isla recommends Snapseed to make small adjustments for brightness and contrast. “The Selective tool is also very useful if there are certain parts of the image you need to make adjustments to,” she says. “I always try to crop my pictures 4x5, because then it takes up more space on the feed.”
Forgo a theme – and think in threes
A few short years ago, anyone who was anyone had an Instagram “theme”. In short, this meant all their pictures matched a certain aesthetic – the same colours, borders, or angles were used in every shot. Nowadays, however, it’s all about the rule of threes.
“The best tip I can give for curation is to remember your profile shows your photos in sets of threes,” Francesca says, “so it is important to make sure sets of three images look good together and don’t clash – it can ruin your profile.”
The most important thing to remember – Molly says – is that you shouldn’t “spam” your followers by posting too much. “Otherwise people will get bored and you won’t get as many likes.”
Location, location, location
In case it needs stating, the backdrop for your photo is important. “The colours in your picture do have to semi-match,” warns Vinnie. “Obviously you’ve got to match your background with your outfit a little bit.” The teen advises against “random colours all over the place” and “loads of random people in the background”.
Isla adds that angles are everything. “Before I take any pictures, the first thing I’ll do is take a look on Pinterest to give me ideas for poses and backgrounds. Then I’ll take a few practice shots.
“I like to take around 100-200 photos before making a decision.”
Get time on your side
All agree there’s little more important than the timing for uploading your photo.
“It’s important to post your photo when your followers are most likely to be on their phone,” Francesca says. That means first thing in the morning or at night (Isla likes to post between 6pm and 8pm).
“If you don’t do this your post will most likely be ‘drowned’ by other people’s.”
Be yourself
Vinnie worries that popular posts are often devoid of personality, and is working hard to make sure his pictures say more about him and his life.
“I know a lot of people who go out of their way to take pictures, but for me I feel like you get a much purer image of what you want from just finding it in your daily routine,” he says.
“I want to portray an image that I feel is true to what I am, instead of just what people want to see.”
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