Instagram is today the perfect challenger for Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. With more than 300 million monthly active users, it has became the strongest alternative to the mainstream social networks. Of course we all know it belongs now to Facebook, which is always a big deal (like WhatsApp) but we can see a true community sharing over millions of images every day. One interesting fact is that Instagram is bringing sexy back. Here is how.
From Self-Portrait to Selfies, a new way of self-expression
The usage of photographs in the internet and the democratization of photography through smartphones and digital cameras, have developed new ways of self-expression. The first of them are the (in)famous Selfies. The first time the word “Selfie” was used is 2005 by Photographer Jim Krause. When MySpace was popular, a new kind of photos appeared, most of them during music concerts and festivals. It was an evolution of the self-portrait that suddenly was democratized. 2013 dictated the word Selfie as the world of the year. Smartphones and digital cameras allow a huge flexibility in terms of photography, so millions of people use it to produce images (a lot of themselves) and publish them in the internet.
You might wonder then, the difference between a Self-Portrait and a Selfie? Well, the Self-portrait is artistic, every single detail is built and managed by the artist. Cindy Sherman is the contemporary reference in terms of self-Portrait techniques.
Selfies are not Art. Selfies are spontaneous pictures self-made in which the main topic (the photographer) adapts to the surrounding conditions. Of course each Selfie is supposed to give the best image of yourself but there is definitely a big difference between the “work” of Cindy Sherman and Kim Kardashian.
Historically speaking, the first selfie was done in 1839 by Robert Cornelius. So this is not something new.
Today, thanks to Instagram, Facebook and other snapchat, Whisper, Thumb or Ello, the social media landscape became a field of Selfies. According to stylecaster.com, there are 1 million selfies taken every day and published on social media.
On Instagram, a selfie will perform 38% better (interactions with users) than any picture about something else. So people tend to post more and more pictures of themselves. The more you get “personal” in the content you push online, the more “chicky” things can be. For this, Instagram brought sexy back.
Instagram, Super stars are sexy like hell
One of the most exciting points about Instagram is that celebrities are present in the platform and sharing personal photos. This creates an amazing excitement from fans who can follow more “closely” their idols on a regular base. They also can see pictures of their preferred stars that normally they would never see. If we tend to believe these pictures are all spontaneous, please note that most of the Instagram celebrities have “Instagram managers” taking care of the natural side of things. They do not hesitate to show themselves in any kind of situations like behind the scenes, holidays and many other events. Some of these shots are pretty much sexy and fans get even more hooked in. 2 stars are ruling in the art of sexy selfies: Kim Kardashian and Rihanna.
Ms Kardashian West has more than 25 million followers on Instagram. She is by far one of the most popular celebrities in the platform. She got this popularity thanks to the sexy pictures she started sharing of herself in very sensual postures. Naturally millions of people are pretty obsessed by the way she looks and this is something she cultivates.
Another huge sexy star on Instagram is Rihanna. The Barbados singer and star has now crossed the line of 14.5 million followers and you can understand why by looking to her Instagram profile. She shares loads of personal moments and most of these are sexy selfies. Rihanna completely understood the power of social networks and the attraction she generates.
Every celebrity is following that route and more and more “personal” moments are shared. Some of them found on Instagram a powerful tool to recruit young generations. It is the case of Madonna. With almost 3 million followers, the ultimate star of the 80’s started a process to recruit young generations. Fans can follow all the hot news from her as well as her sexy pictures and even family photos.
Instagram became a dream machine for fans who can follow their preferred fans almost 24/7. The interesting thing about these sexy shots is that anyone can become a celebrity on Instagram. You just need to share sexy selfies from yourself and the fan base will grow. Fortunately most of these people will never meet face to face their fans. Some of them sound a little creepy. A good example is Rosa Acosta. She has more than 640’000 followers on Instagram and you can understand why by looking into her account.
As we can see celebrities do not have the monopole of sexiness on Instagram. Non-famous people can also compete in that league. Here below 2 interesting sexy trends that are big hits on Instagram: #TighGap and #Squat .
Instagram, showing my thigh-gap
What is a Thigh-gap? This is what you can read on Wikipedia: “A thigh gap in women is a space between the inner thighs when standing upright with knees touching. Some women aspire to have a thigh gap because they believe it will increase their attractiveness, with some considering it a sign of femininity and fragility”. Some people also believe that it is the symbol of a perfect body. So several teenagers believe the bigger the thigh-gap is, the better. Some of them became pretty famous on Instagram by just showing pictures of themselves with Thigh-gaps.
To make it very clear, thigh-gaps are part of your body morphology. Some people have them more open than others. Si this has nothing to do with the beauty of your body or that you are too fat or too skinny. Most of these pictures are anyway either photoshopped (remember Beyonce on holidays?) or taken from a specific angle that makes the space between your thighs wider.
Instagram, sports are sexy – the squat team
Another point of interest in this sexinization of Instagram is what we would call the squat team! In strength training and fitness, the squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, quadriceps, hamstrings, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body. So when people get pretty proud of their results after squatting, they publish it on Instagram. Female sports fans and fitness teachers became very famous by publishing their buttocks on Instagram during or after a squat session. Some of them are sexy enough to drive people to their profiles and many of them get hundreds of thousands of followers. Sport is sexy!
In conclusion, Instagram replaced the old Playboy magazine subscription of grandpa. There is a sexy attitude within the Instagram community and it is all about putting yourself under the limelights. Naturally, pornography is banned by Instagram and everyday hundreds of people are “censured” because of inappropriate content. Just type #Selfie in the Instagram search and you will find loads of inappropriate content.
Info sourced at the Instagram platform, wikipedia and Forbes. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.
