Instagram Chefs vs. Instagram Antagonists

Have you ever found yourself sitting at a restaurant and upon receiving your entree, you quickly whisk out your smartphone and start taking multiple snaps from various angles of your meal just to post it on Instagram? Well, just to inform you, you're not alone. Food pictures are amongst one of the most popular snaps on Instagram. Why is this so? Well, Instagram was founded on the principle of taking pictures of your daily encounters either with people, material articles, and now even food. Food is one of the few things that everyone encounters on a daily basis and, that too, multiple times throughout the day. It is also one of the things that can be one's best friend and biggest enemy (hello calories!). For this reason, "instagramming" food has become a popular past-time.


The act of taking pictures of your meals has become so common that some restaurants have even adapted to this new form of entertainment. For example, a New York restaurant, Comodo, has implemented an Instagram menu where their customers are directed to pictures of food posted under their Instagram hashtag (#ComodoMenu) to help them decide what to order. They have placed this instruction on the bottom of their real menu to encourage people to use this form of social media. The owner of Comodo has even stated, "We've been encouraging guests to post pictures on Instagram to spread the word, and the feedback has been great. Everyone keeps telling us how smart and creative it is." This just goes to show that by incorporating Instagram as a part of their restaurant service, they are able to interact with their consumers on a whole different level.

While some have embraced this form of picture-taking, others are completely against it. Some restaurants have even banned taking pictures of their food. They argue that "constantly whipping out your phone to document each course distracts from the meal, your dining companion, and even the chef" (Nesterov). In addition, many people have sided with this sentiment because they feel that it is unnecessary and a complete waste of time. Also, stating that food isn't to be appealing in pictures, but rather a form of filling one's stomach and keeping one healthy. 




 So who do you side with - the Instagram Chefs or the Instagram Antagonists?




http://www.gadling.com/2013/01/26/instagramming-food-fun-or-faux-pas/
http://mashable.com/2012/10/16/instagram-menu/

Are You Snapchatting?

Although this popular Iphone and Android app is not a new release, Snapchat, is taking storm on everyone's smartphone device. Snapchat is a photo messaging application released in 2011 where users can take pictures, record videos, add text and drawings, and then send them to their friends who also have a Snapchat account. Snapchat allows users to set a time limit for how long their recipients can view their photos/videos (max is 10 seconds), and after the viewing time has elapsed, the photo/video is completely deleted and erased from the recipients device.

This application has gained much publicity in recent months, and is only going to gain more. The term "Snapchatting" is becoming acceptable in everyday conversation. People are "snapchatting" on-the-go, in class, at work, etc. It has become an easy way to "beep" someone and give them a short glimpse of what they're doing or just to say "hey."

So the question is - Are you Snapchatting?