I have more than one (1) Instagram account.

We actually do have those metal things in our garden

Since you’re reading this blog, that one (1) Instagram account is @shareyourkape which was started in September 2017. The others include my personal (private) account, two (2) food related accounts, one (1) travel account, two (2) mobile photography accounts, and even one (1) “stunting” account where I just share my sneakers (currently, I can wear 5 pairs while the rest need fixing). You’d think I have thousands of followers already, right? I have just above 1,000 across all these accounts.

I also have 4 blogs, but that’s another story altogether. The main thing is I like sharing pictures. It all started with one of the food related blogs in 2014, after a friend made a comment that I kept sharing pictures of my food in my personal IG and jokingly said no one wants to see what I eat. I took that as a challenge.

I started that food blog without telling anyone about it at first. I made it public (of course) and just kept posting pictures of food that were already in my (then) iPad Mini’s camera roll. Lo and behold, likes and followers started trickling in. I had amassed 100 followers in less than a month and got to 200 fairly quickly. My friends found out about it eventually but my little experiment was already a success – I found out that pictures of food do draw people’s attention, as long as they don’t know who is sharing the pictures. Well not all the time but for my case, yes it was.

Buffet coffee looks better than it tastes

Have you ever heard of the social media debate about the people who overshare vs people who get overtly jealous? If I kept posting pictures, in my own personal account, of me eating at restaurants, drinking expensive coffee every day, me staying at these hotels or going to these places, of my shoes – well, what would you think? Remember, all that in just one account. I have this hope that there are still some, like me, who would just be happy seeing somebody doing well in life. However, most users’ behavior in social media makes it hard for anyone to think otherwise.

Take this, for example. Disclaimer: It’s not me posting something on my facebook to just be seen by my friends but it is me using my personal FB and posting something on a food-related FB group (lodi). I was amazed by the size of the chicken I got from Jollibee. It was a huge piece, bigger than my old iPhone SE. So I posted in, comparing it to my old iPhone SE. My caption was “Mas malaki pa sa luma kong SE (Bigger than my old SE)”. It was pestered by comments of people bashing me for having the gall to classify my SE was an old SE. I know, they mean that some people can’t even afford an SE but here I was saying I have been using an SE so long I consider it old. Also, that I was obviously shooting that picture with another phone. Only a handful of people actually commented that the chicken part was indeed huge.

Should I have been more sensitive? The Philippines is a third world country. But dude, you can’t even buy a brand new iPhone SE around the time I posted that picture. They were probably commenting using an android phone that was more expensive and performs better than an SE nowadays. It’s a really old phone. The only reason I’m still using it is because it makes me able to read my office emails anytime, anywhere. Why fixate on that?

I mean, why shouldn’t someone be allowed to go to Paris because they’re fat and have curly hair (kulot)? What’s the connection?

Now, I have an IG account curated for coffee (and coffee related) grams. It has 283 followers as of this writing. The people I actually know (friends) account for about 30 of those. I have been invited to join some coffee-related activities but still haven’t shown to anything. I order coffee as my actual self and don’t even mention my IG (same with my original food IG thing, that accounts for majority of my followers). I share my kape (coffee) because I want to.

I love coffee. I can afford expensive coffee, but I cannot afford to eat at fancy restaurants every day. I’m happy there are more specialty coffee shops now than when I started my food blog in 2014. I want to share this happiness further and in the process improve my mobile photography skills. I do not have a proper camera (DSLR or mirrorless), I just have my phones (two, one is the old SE).

Sharing these pictures, and the ones my followers tag with #shareyourkape, help spread awareness about good coffee. I’m not an expert, thus I leave all the technical stuff to the pros. I just share pictures of the coffee I drink and enjoy.

When you see an iced gem beside a cup, you know where it’s at

Do I do it to be famous, to be an “influencer”? Not really. If it happens through the process, I will be happy. But I am fine with my anonymity so far. Living vicariously through other people’s pictures is actually a good exercise. I hope someday more people do that instead of trying to bring other people down because they cannot afford that lifestyle yet.

Also, in no way are we supposed to judge anyone that their lifestyle is not for them just because of superficial reasons. I mean, why shouldn’t someone be allowed to go to Paris because they’re fat and have curly hair (kulot)? What’s the connection?

Doge’s mind got blown by the fact that black coffee isn’t actually black

I do have one pet peeve about the “influencer” society. If someone is going bankrupt or adversely affecting other people just to be “Instagram famous”, then I cannot support you. It will be difficult to prove that, and accusing somebody goes against what I just talked through in this article – but if you are one, please reconsider. You’re only adding charcoal to the toxic social media flame that’s already blazing.

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