Social Climbing
Dear @instagram, Even though as a fan I’m a touch conflicted, I still want to say thanks; thanks for changing my life. Now, where shall I begin?
First of all, even though Mum taught me to send only handwritten thank-you messages for any gifts/ blessings received, I typed this one out with my thumbs. That’s how much my life has changed, thanks to you, your parent Facebook and pretty much every app-maker out there.
You are frequently my first source of news in the morning and the friend I check in on before bed. It wasn’t too long ago that Channel Newsasia had your honour. Most days, Lance Alexander has to wait until I know at which LA spot @hungry.md dined at last evening before I hit the remote. I don’t even know the hungry doc’s name. But he did show me — in one of his posts — that three bottles of Burgundy fit comfortably into a Birkin (with its flap folded in). I’m also fairly certain he takes his pics on a Leica. But I need to figure out which model before I hit the store.
That’s the influence you wield. Hermès must love you.
Thanks to you I can’t even begin to estimate how many times I’ve sat at a conference table where terms like “social influencer”, “key opinion leaders”, “likes”, “views”, “how many followers?” and “yes, but what does that person do?” dominated conversations. Thanks to you, I deepened my frown lines when pictures of a visiting @garypeppergirl wearing the same blue Dolce&gabbana dress we had just put one of our cover girls in flooded my feed some months ago. That’s 1.6 million of her followers and untold thousands more who’d seen that dress first.
But, really, what you’re doing is keeping us print media agile — even as we sift through the countless pale imitations of the EJ Johnsons and Margaret Zhangs of the world. And boy, are there many.
Whereas our annual September anniversary ball is traditionally covered in November, now you see it play out live on social media. Thank you for giving us a platform to connect with a wider audience. I can’t begin to tell you how chued I was when a clip from the evening doubled our last viewership high (which, I realise, isn’t remotely in the same realm as the fi ve million views you received for your last Boomerang post — but just you wait ).
I heard you’re celebrating your sixth birthday this month. Congrats. Share some pictures, will ya? Your follower,