Hello everyone!

I hope you've been well and life has been kind to you. I have recently been reading/watching a lot of content on how to disengage from social media, how that's not reality and how we find ourselves addicted to social media. I can fully, wholly, completely agree with the fact that we, especially bloggers/influencers/social media persons (if that's a thing!), are hopelessly addicted to social media. Everything we do, everything we wear, the amount of videos/photos we take have, sub-consciously or consciously, all been a part of our social media strategy. That has somehow driven us to have an OCD about obtaining the perfect picture for our social media account, so much that we have been worrying more about the presentation of the content than the content itself. But let me tell you something that I've recently come to learn as a blogger. It doesn't and shouldn't matter! (And just to prove my point, I have used images I took using a self-timer on my Pixel 3 on a chilly day at the park where I wore this kurti as a dress with a leather jacket and no make-up on because why would I wear make-up to the park?! (although I have done that in the past, but that's besides the point) :D)



When I first started blogging in 2016, I would get my besties to take ten million pictures of me during a night-out or on a girls' trip to Goa. It was that simple! But gradually, I started watching what the rest of the bloggers are doing, how everyone else is editing their pictures, basically, the process everyone else is following and started doing the same. Of course, the one thing that set me apart from the others was my personal style and that applies to my other blogger friends as well, but my marketing strategy was pretty much the same as everyone else's and my real purpose of blogging was somewhere lost. I became a part of the rat race. I spent hours and hours of my time putting on make-up, chasing every other brand for collaborations and most importantly, investing a massive amount of time and money in getting photographed. (Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to all the photographers who helped me build my profile and all the brands that put their faith in me.) I would work really hard on trying new poses, hunting for new locations to shoot at and while the pictures may ooze out creativity and beautify my feed, is the focus really on fashion?



I have heard a blogger write off another blogger's content just because she would upload pictures she took on her phone and did not invest in fancy photography. I have been told that my engagement level on Instagram has suddenly dropped because the glamour that used to be there is now missing. Is that what blogging has come down to? Are we all now models and need to keep up with Kendal Jenner and Gigi Hadid? We, as bloggers, should be focusing more on conveying our personal view about fashion, clothing, affordability, style, whatever we actually chose to blog about with a tinge of exoticism. But let me remind myself and all other bloggers out there - we are not models. We could be models, but that is not our sole goal. Generating good content does NOT mean applying tons of make-up, six inches of heels and posing like Priyanka Chopra would for Vogue magazine just for the camera while in reality you could be a couch potato who's always lazing around in her chocolate stained pink pajamas. I would much rather follow bloggers/influencers who upload their daily OOTD pictures they took on their phones while they were rushing to work, because I know for a fact that what their feed/blog is showing me is what they are really wearing and a million girls could relate to that. We are here to influence girls like us, real girls, to be more creative with their fashion. We are here to empower women by helping them enhance their wardrobes. We are here to tell our story and we need to tell people our story in a way that they can relate to it! While it's absolutely important to be presentable and sometimes maybe even slightly glamourous, we need to ensure that we make this effort in real life and not just for Instagram. Along with the glam factor, we also need to focus on creating content that's real.





Do you guys agree with me? Do let me know in the comment section below!

Love,
Hand On The Hip