Fun & Famous

Why does someone else always have more followers on Insta?

Yes guys, here I am again. I'm really wearing out the door here! But all jokes aside, I have a new confession. And I won't beat around the bush, because we really don't have time for that. Because goodness gracious, we are all so busy. I mean, my weekend was for example so hectic it was almost screaming, and today I also have to be rushing—okay, I'm getting off track. Here it comes.

I have a disappointingly low number of followers on Instagram. Namely 509.

And no, there is no K missing.

Yes, we are a bit speechless, aren't we? Me too, I am too. In fact, I'm slowly but surely going completely under because of it. I mean, just take the people (I won't name names) who work here in the editorial office. Josselin, May-Britt, Jet, Kiki all have a ton of followers. And actually, I see people around me everywhere with more followers/friends on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It's enough to drive you crazy. You would think you'd just start reading books?? So I went looking for the big secret. And I have unraveled it. Or well, there are a few things I can hold on to.

The first and most mega important discovery is that it is most likely all scientifically explainable. And that's good news, because that makes it all just a little less personal, right? Here’s some explanation (you really need to sit down for this): there is something called The Friendship Paradox. A phenomenon that was discovered back in 1991 by sociologist Scott Feld. The friendship paradox states that there is a greater chance that someone with more friends is your friend than that someone with fewer friends is your friend. Just like there is a greater chance that you are in the supermarket during peak hours or that the people in the gym train more often than you do. And you can feel it coming, well they have now discovered that this Friendship Paradox also applies to Twitter.

”Small point: I’m personally not much of a Twitter fan. But… I wouldn’t be surprised if it also applies to Instagram? It just HAS to”

The idea in a nutshell (and if you really have an obsession with math you should just here click): everyone you follow on Twitter probably has more followers than you do. Yes, I had to read that twice too. But then you have something. Small point: I’m personally not much of a Twitter fan. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it also applies to Instagram. It just has to. It must! And anyone who is going to complain that you can’t compare apples to oranges is a jerk.

And there’s more. Because what I also discovered is that there is no Great Secret. No: others are just better at using The Tricks. And they are quite simple. Which is fantastic, because I always say that others have it better than I do, without being able to do anything about it. Seriously, it’s a thing. For a hundred years. My brother-in-law once made a surprise for me for Sinterklaas. Well. That was—he had really put in a lot of effort—a small street with a few cardboard houses. They all had cozy front gardens made of green cardboard, except for one house. You guessed it: that was of course my house. What everyone could easily see because there was a disappointed passport photo of me stuck on the house.

Damn, I got sidetracked again. And I actually don’t know what I wanted to say with this anecdote. Or what my brother-in-law wanted to say with the surprise. How terrible! Well, back to the subject: I can and will get to work myself. And this time my little garden will be just as green as all the other gardens. Or greener. Some online research shows that you need to use more and better hashtags, you need to choose one filter, (because that looks nicer, and it quickly makes it clear ‘what you stand for’) and as fast as possible you need to download some moet kiezen (want dat is mooier, en het is op die manier snel duidelijk ‘waar je voor staat’) en als de wiedeweerga wat help apps. Then you should really quickly have a few more followers. And… also our moet downloaden. Dan zou je toch echt snel wat meer volgers moeten hebben. En… ook onze Kiki knows what’s what with Instagram, so I’m going to take a good look at her post as well. So that I can see that one true K on my account in the foreseeable future.