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Young talents thrive in Instagram community
Instagram users have fun on Kenawa Island in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara
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Instagram users have fun on Kenawa Island in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Courtesy of Malin Fezehai
It all started with 15 seconds of fame. Eight creative people in their 20s were making a series of comedy videos on the photo- and video-sharing platform Instagram for fun and later put #indovidgram as their mark on the platform.
Now, the account has attracted some 1 million followers and become a lively forum ' where filmmakers, inspiring musicians, comedians and young chefs across the nation share their passions.
'It turns out many Instagram users post their videos using our hashtag. Thus, on April 6, 2014, we created the account, @indovidgram, where we showcase curated videos with the hashtag,' said one of the founders, 25-year-old Vendryana.
From being a comedy video account, @indovidgram has also set up weekly schedules to screen art films, as well as community-themed, food, travel and music videos. Its members now come from 24 cities in the country, as well as from groups of Indonesians living in Japan and Bangkok.
It turns out that within 15 seconds ' the maximum video duration in Instagram ' viewers can have fun watching the videos, from girls making jokes about their excessive makeup, a boy's combined video of him singing and playing guitar to a flash tutorial on how to cook pukis taro cakes.
'The majority of our followers are categorized as watchers and not video creators. So, we hold free coaching clinics to encourage them to produce videos,' said Vendryana.
One of the events utilized by the @indovidgram founders to share their video-making skill was the recent Jakarta's Worldwide Instameet (WWIM 11), where 1,115 Instagram users had a chance to meet and get to know friends and figures they had only met in Instagram.
The Jakarta event, jointly organized by @indovidgram and some local Instagram communities, was one of hundreds of WWIM 11 events held worldwide.
For Galuh Tennes and her friend Genies Vinonda Wilhelmina, such an Instagram gathering events have helped them to expand their networks and establish their careers.
Galuh, a university student, is known for her flair in crafting interesting Instagram photos, prompting some brands to hire her as a social media specialist.
'Now, many big brands have utilized Instagram as a promotional tool. They created an Instagram account and hired users who have many followers to promote their products. My job is to manage attractive visualizations on their accounts,' the 21-year-old said.
Genies started her account @skinnyalien for fun. Little did she know that each of her photos would garner a flood of likes and comments, giving her some 51,800 followers.
With her popularity, many local and international brands have collaborated with Genies to produce promotional content through Instagram. 'My fee depends on the products,' said the 21-year-old, who is willing to adjust her fee to meet her client's budget and, on average, earns around Rp 5 million a month from the endorsement deals.
Young doctor Tirta employed influential Instagram users ' known as buzzers ' to promote his shoe-cleaning service, Shoes and Care. 'Three of my friends, who happen to be buzzers, helped me to promote @shoesandcare and increase my followers,' said the 23-year-old.
Starting his online store in 2014, Tirta now has two real stores in Yogyakarta and one in Jakarta, which clean and repair some 1,500 pairs of shoes each month. He gets many of his customers from his Instagram account, which now has 12,000 followers.
Apart from hiring the buzzers, Tirta and his crew diligently post before-and-after cleaning photos of sports and leather shoes, coupled with interesting hashtags. They also hold quizzes on the account, which attracts not only Indonesian customers, but also those coming from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Germany.
'A UK-based @shoeshineUK saw my shoes and was amazed how we can clean the shoes with limited tools. This prompted them to teach their shoe cleaning techniques to us,' Tirta said.
Freedom to tell her own stories has drawn Myanmar-based American documentary photographer Lauren DeCicca to Instagram. She shares the dynamic life in the country that just opened up through her snapshots shared on @everydayasia and also her personal account @deciccaphoto.
'You don't have to pitch what you're doing to newspapers, magazines or websites. You can just put up a story and it is going to several thousand people at a click of a button,' said DeCicca.
She plans to hold a workshop to teach high school students to tell stories in their community through Instagram.
Swedish-Eritrean photographer Malin Fezehai said that by posting her work on Instagram, she gains exposure to media editors, future clients and the general public.
Fezehai, a contributor of Instagram account @everydayafrica ' a collective project to show the different side of Africa amid the war and disparity issues ' has traveled the world to cover African refugees in Israel, sinking islands of Kiribati and underage workers in Ethopia aside from her commercial works for Budweiser and Nike.
'When you are a photographer what you do is go to a lot of editors and you show your work and there is only so much you can show in a 30-minute meeting. But with Instagram, the editors get to know you overtime and kind of build this relationship that's kind of virtual in a way,' she said.
'The idea behind @everydayafrica was just to show the everyday kind of thing and people become more familiar with different societies through images that we don't see through mass media.'
Travelers have also used the app to discover hidden paradises.
In a WWMI 11 on Kenawa Island, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, a member of Instagram community team, Teru Kuwayama, met some of Instagram users who snap the island's beauty through Instagram.
'[An Instagram user] became a professional tour guide because so many people contacted him after seeing his pictures and asked him to take them to these places,' he said.
He was in Kenawa to spend time with dozens of Instagram users. 'I get the sense that the Instagram community in Indonesia is really like a reflection of Indonesia, so it's a warm community of people,' Kuwayama said.
Indonesian celebrities have also joined the platform, garnering millions of followers.
Actor Mario Lawalata uses his account @lawalata13 to share his moments of life, passion for basketball and also business.
'It is become my photo album to keep moments of my life. I often post about my sport activities, in particular when playing basketball. It is good to know that the pictures motivate some of my followers to work out,' Mario said.
He also put photos of his restaurant Pong Me! and a gym that gives him a free membership in return for promoting it in Instagram.
But some are not 'true' accounts or followers. In December last year, Instagram deleted millions of fake and inactive accounts, causing many international celebrities to lose a big chunk of their followers, with pop sensation Justin Bieber the hardest-hit ' losing a whopping 3.5 million followers.
Mario has no worries over the move ' widely dubbed the Instagram Rapture ' saying he has also reported and blocked some accounts that made bad comments or overly promoted their products through comments on his Instagram photos.
He said he is happy with his small number of genuine followers.
'I'd rather have a few followers that create a positive atmosphere on my account,' Mario said.
