Kelly takes on Instagram
“Yo.”
With that, Toronto’s favourite Twitter dad announced his presence on a new platform.
After five years of tweeting, Councillor Norm Kelly has taken his social media talents to Instagram.
Posting his first image to the app Monday afternoon, Kelly racked up more than 300 “likes” in less than an hour under the username “normkelly.”
The succinct message accompanied a photograph of a smiling Kelly sitting in shirt sleeves at his city hall desk.
The missive is notable for its brevity compared with what appears to be Kelly’s first tweet in July 2010: “Hello Twitter world. The Kelly is among you!”
Since then, the city councillor has amassed more than 200,000 Twitter followers, with a blend of jokes, vital civic information and forays into rap beefs.
The 74-year-old’s following probably includes scores of young hip-hop fans who barely remember 1997, the year Kelly was first elected to city council, thanks to Kelly’s involvement in a feud between Toronto’s own Drake and Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill over the summer.
The comments kicked off a bond between the representative for Ward 40, Scarborough-Agincourt and the hip-hop community, and helped ratchet up Kelly’s social media following.
For those who don’t get retweets from Drizzy, Kelly has counselled anyone hoping to reach his heights to aim for authenticity, visuals and being brief.
“Twitter is just me having fun, sharing my sense of pride in Toronto and the humour of everyday life,” Kelly told the Star after reaching 100,000 followers. With files from David Bateman