If you’ve set up any social media account for your dog, then I’m assuming you’ve had the question of why?! When I first started Winston’s I had a handful of people quizzing me, why was I doing it, did anyone really care (well as it turns out over 5000 people do) what was the purpose of it?
Now don’t get me wrong, if you have an account, you’ll understand how hard it is keeping everything up to date, figuring out new algorithms, researching the best hashtags and planning your posts. It can be very easy to turn into a full time job!
So why did I start an Instagram account for Winston;
- Because he was so damn cute
- To avoid the puppy spam on my personal accounts
- That’s about it
Social Media has a lot to answer for in terms of mental health and in all honesty, it doesn’t have to be your personal account for this to effect you. When I first started the account I gained a lot of followers very quickly, and then they all started to unfollow. I began questioning myself what I was doing wrong, where the photos not cute enough, was it the wrong angle, was the lighting wrong? Turns out, nothing. Its the way Instagram works and people ‘following’ accounts to unfollow later on (and hoping you don’t notice).
Two years on, I’ve learnt a lot about social media techniques (by all means I am not the fountain of all knowledge), a lot about myself, my own mental health and also a lot about others! Because of his account, Winston has been fortunate enough to be ambassadors for some amazing companies
He’s also had the opportunity to model for Scruffs (you’ll find Winston on the website) and we’ve had numerous products for us to test and review.
It’s important you do any social media account because you enjoy it and it makes you happy. Not to use it as a platform to ‘make it seem’ like you’re happy. Instagram are due to remove ‘likes’ from photos in the UK shortly and I’m extremely interested in how this works and effects people.
If you’ve got a dog Instagram, let me know you’re reasons for starting it and what your thoughts are about Social Media and Mental Health.
Winston Woof 