Welcome to Day 27 of 31 Days of Connection! Stop by Day 1 if you have missed any posts – all the the links are there for you.

Connecting on Instagram

We’ve covered Facebook and Pinterest, so how about Instagram? How can we connect through Instagram? The connection happens through our photos, of course. But connecting through our photos can only happen if we reach out to people. Here are some ways to reach out on Instagram.

Follow people. When you are on Instagram, you should follow as many people you know as possible – this can happen by letting Instagram check your contacts for friends to follow. If you tap the upper right icon in your profile, you’ll find where you can let Instagram find contacts for you to follow. The more people you follow, the more connections might happen. Though if you keep your profile private, you will mainly connect with people you already know. If you want to connect beyond your circle of friends, it’s better to have a public Instagram profile (I don’t recommend this for young people) but then keep in mind that anybody can see your photos. That may limit what you decide to share. It’s completely up to you how you want to use Instagram.

Find new people. You can find new people to follow and connect with by tapping the icon (+ and a person symbol) in the upper left of your profile. It will give you a long list of suggestions. You can tap each one to check out their profile and see if they are somebody you would like to follow. Tap Follow for each on that you want to add. Some of these people may follow you back and you will also start appearing in more suggestion lists which will lead to new people following you.

Post, comment, mention, tag. The more you post pictures on Instagram with a caption or explanation and the more you comment and like others’ photos, the more connection can happen. If somebody comments on your post, be sure to comment back and mention them when you reply. To mention them, you need to put @ followed by their user name.You can also tag photos with users if appropriate and use hashtags in your text to help even more people find you. Search for hashtags to use by tapping Search, tapping inside the Search box, and then selecting Tags. Start typing in the subject you’re looking for in the search bar and a list will populate of possible hashtags along with how many times they have been used. When you tap on a hashtag, you will see the posts that have used that hashtag and you can go look at any that interest you.

Direct message. You can Direct Message on Instagram. You can send posts, profiles, and more. You can also message people that you are not following (it will show up as a request), so this yet another way to reach out to new people to build relationships. To directly send a post to somebody, tap on the arrow underneath the photo. It will bring up a list of people that you can send it to and after you select them, you can add a message. To review direct messages, tap on the icon in the upper right of the feed, and then you’ll see them listed. If you’ve been sent a message, you’ll see a notification.

Stories. Instagram also has Stories. Stories are the opportunity to record a bit of video to post instead of a photo. These very short video posts work very similarly to Snapchat in that they disappear automatically after 24 hours. You’ll see a selection of them across the top of your feed and can tap on any one to watch.

There are a few ways to find people and interact on Instagram and you can always use it improve your connection and relationships with your current circle of family and friends.

Day 27 Daily Connection Challenge:
Search for suggested people to follow on Instagram and follow at least a couple of new ones. Also search for people and pages that you enjoy following on Facebook to see if they are on Instagram and follow them. Add at least one hashtag to the text of the next picture you post on Instagram. Comment on at least 3 Instagram posts this week. Try direct messaging a post to a friend. If you’re not already on Instagram, check out some FAQ here and see what you think about joining!

Thank you for stopping by for Day 27 of 31 Days of Connection! Are you an Instagram user? Have you tried reaching out and connecting with new people? What other ideas do you have for connecting on Instagram? Let me know in the comments! See you again for Day 28, friends!