Tots100 Instagram news- my thoughts.

I was delighted to see the Tots100 announcement this week that they are unharnessing their algorithm pixies from Kred, the slightly bizarre organisation which apparently tracks everyone's social media interactions even if you haven't signed up for it and getting them instead to harvest magic chart-rising points on Instagram.

I love Instagram - I was late to the game with it really, with my teenage son patiently teaching me the way to get most from it in 2013. Like many people I thought it was just an app to make your pictures look prettier, or more professional, or to use a filter to hide your pale and pasty legs and face under a false retro glow. I particularly like the frames you can add- can you tell?

madmumof7 with just some of the children
hiding my pasty skin with a filter.

But used properly with hashtags and by following other people and getting them to follow you in a similar manner to the other networks it's a cool, quick and easy way of promoting out your blog, your product, your service, as well as covering up your pale and pasty face and legs while you are doing it.

Product review pic Instagrammed

Right after the announcement like most of those like me (who try not to care about charts but actually covet a precious "Top 500" place or dream wistfully of making it into the heady heights of the actual Tots100 top 100) I got busy adding people to my Instagram account and watched with delight as my phone pinged and flashed as people followed me back.

The cynical among you might say this proves how blooming ridiculous the whole scenario is - bloggers following bloggers to falsely inflate their own score.

'grammed -Tots100 Birmingham BlogCamp

And to an extent that's true but the unexpected side effect has been that obviously my Instagram stream has got much busier and I have really enjoyed watching snippets of people's lives pass by. Happy faces, tasty-looking meals, gorgeous gardens....all in a  quick and easy slide of my thumb.

And for those of us who review, an easy way to spot people reviewing the same products as we all post pictures of whatever it is in a variety of imaginative ways.

For those of you who don't blog and don't use Instagram for anything but food porn go and look again - there's a wealth of creative talent rolling past on that stream from photographs to poetry and it's well worth a proper look. You could start here with my account and feed the pixies working on my chart position she says with a cheeky grin.