Why We're NOT Going to Ask You to Turn on Instagram Notifications

We've seen it everywhere. Instagram post updates with arrows of all sorts of shapes, sizes and types as brands, bloggers and the girl next door telling you to turn on post notifications right this second so you don't miss out on their posts. 

But to be honest, we haven't turned on notifications for a single page - and we're not going to ask you to turn them on for us either. 

Why? Firstly because I know you're probably just like us.. You put your phone down for a second and the next time you glance at your screen, there's at least one notification that's popped up, trying to grab your attention right this second...

• Your aunt needs a new life on candy crush. 
• @ilovedonutsandpuppiesandglitter is following your on Instagram. 
• That random kid from high school commented on your Facebook update. 
• eBay is trying to take all your money. 
• Groupon is telling you that you REALLY need a voucher for all you can drink kale smoothies.
• That game you played once and never deleted is BEGGING you to come back to it because you have 9,999 lives. 
• And your Mum probably sent a text to remind you to do your taxes or take your vitamins or something mum-y. 

Whatever it is, our phones are already beeping at us enough - you really don't need Instagram telling you every time we post a photo of our dinner! 

Everyone seems to be freaking out, but this new algorithm update really isn't that big of a deal. It's something that's been in the pipelines for quite some time - and something that really isn't going to end the world! 

If you're a follower, you'll see the posts from the pages you engage with the most (though, if you're a lurker you might have a bit of a problem there!).

If you're an "influencer" (I hate that term because it sounds like you're pushing drugs or something), the people who comment and like your Instagram posts are still going to be seeing them! If  you're posting content that interests people, it's going to be seen - that is what you need to be focusing on!

Facebook, who now owns Instagram, is pretty clever at figuring out what people want to see. Whilst social media is becoming more and more pay-to-play, it still relies on these algorithms to work out what you see. 

Whilst it may potentially be an issue for brands who rely on Instagram to sell product (if they're not engaging their audience - but that is already an issue in itself as they need to engage people to do that!), it's not going to be an issue for you and me. 

So instead of signing up for notifications on our posts, we'd much rather you;

• Connect with us! Comment on our Instagram posts, send us an email, share our Facebook posts. Blogging without interaction is like playing a game of "wall ball" - it's fun for about five seconds and then the ball hits you in the face and you realise you're throwing a ball against a boring ol' wall and that's definitely not even close to playing catch.
  
  If you're worried about missing our posts, connecting with us on Instagram through likes or comments is going to ensure that you don't miss them - so you'll see all the photos of Chanel and Trixie and all silly things we share as well as a whole lot of delicious food too. 
• Use your free time to cook something delicious!
  Instead of spending all your time answering your 55 million notifications, do something you love! The reason we work so hard on sharing these yummy (or so we think) recipes with you is so that you can create them too!
  
  If you want to, share your creations with us on Instagram (#southerninlaw and @southerninlaw), on Facebook, through our blog comments or via email.

There's a million other things I could suggest you do other than signing up for notifications on your post, but no one likes a bossy boots - so I'll stop there! 

But tell me, what's the last delicious thing YOU cooked?
Kind of off topic, but there's already 92 billion other people talking about Instagram so let's talk about something better!