Insta-Lurking Myself

My favorite form of social media is Instagram. There's just something about the simplicity of a single picture and a typically short caption that I really enjoy. Since you can only post one photo at a time, people usually pick their best pictures to post. So, instead of getting spammed with albums of  100 pictures of a Facebook friend's vacation, you get to see a single, neat picture that sums up what the user wants to post! I've always loved my Instagram without really analyzing my posts, so I decided to take a deeper look at my profile.

view upon opening my profile

Looks pretty standard. Let's peep at my bio and data!

Let's start with my username: prettykitty44. Upon inital viewing, someone may think that I created this account a while ago. Most people my age will use their name or a combo of their name and some numbers, but mine just seems immature for a person of my age. After actually looking at my posts it becomes apparent that the name is probably ironic. At first glance, however, someone may be confused. 

I have posted 359 pictures, and if you go through my profile, you will realize that I don't post more than a once, maybe twice a week. I've had the account for roughly 2 and a half years. 

I have 459 followers and am following 351 people. I have more followers than people I follow, so that means I don't follow every single person that follows me. I guess some people think I post entertaining pictures-- otherwise I wouldn't have any followers. 

My name reads "kt J Gorzek." I feel like this is a sort of hint at the fact that my username is ironic.

You can tell I'm a young adult because of my use of emojis in my bio. I am obviously a college student. Basic research will tell you that Augie is in Rock Island, so we can assume from the first emoji that my hometown is Rockford, IL. The second line starts with "sewin" following a scissor emoji. Usually people write about things they like in their bios, so this tells us that I enjoy sewing. Next is a heart with the link to another user, @fujiko08th's, Instagram. It leads to the profile belonging to Mark Salstrand. This person is most likely significant to me. "Houseplantz" follows the same "if you like it put it in your bio" rule; I probably like plants. 

If you tap on the location button, a map appears of places I have taken photos. I spend a lot of time in Illinois and Wisconsin. This confirms the assumption that I go to Augustana and that I am from Rockford.

If you tap on my tagged photos, you can see that I appear in photos posted by @mcgovnaa @comrun4 @jacgrygiel and @sarahgorzek most frequently. These people are probably very close to me! In most every picture that I am tagged in, I appear with friends! This tells you that I like to hang out with my pals and to take pictures with them. I appear mostly with other ladies. 

Now on to viewing my own posts:

Tagged in these pictures is @fujiko08th. Two pictures show us in 2011 and in 2015. From this and other posts, it becomes pretty clear that @fujiko08th is my boyfriend, and that I have been dating him for quite a while. Now it makes sense as to why his name was in my bio with a heart emoji!

Besides @fujiko08th, a person frequently tagged in my posts is @mcgovnaa. This picture makes it obvious that we are roomies! Since she shows up in a lot of my photos, it can be inferred that we get along pretty well. And that we live in Andreen Hall. And really like Christmas. 

Who am I on the gram? I like to post pictures of my friends and am tagged in pictures with friends. I really do enjoy spending time with other people. My friends and family and social life are a very important part of who I am. The people I am closer to tend to be in more pictures that I post. In this aspect, I feel that my true personality comes across on this form of social media. 

My usage of hashtags emphasizes my personality as well. I enjoy using a lot of #ManCrushMondays, #TransformationTuesdays, and #ThrowbackThursdays (#mcm, #tbt). My boyfriend and I are pretty great friends, so I use #mcm on a lot of pictures of him. I think that change is very important, so when I post my side by side comparisons of pictures with a #transformationtuesday in the caption, it accurately reflects my attitude towards change. I'm a pretty sentimental gal, so you'll see a pretty regular #tbt on my gram. 

What doesn't come across on my insta? I like things other than just sewing, plants, and my friends & fam. I love to paint and draw, but I don't really like to post my work online, so some pretty big hobbies of mine are hidden from those who don't know me personally. I guess people will know the basics about me-- who my friends are, some things that I'm interested in, what my face looks like, but they don't really know what my voice sounds like, or anything really intimate about me. I could smell really bad and nobody would ever know from insta. I like to meet new people and make friends and talk, but that isn't really obvious and can't necessarily be inferred from my captions or photos. 

Get to know me irl. My pictures are important to me, but not as important as human to human interaction!