Instagram to Reality: Instagram Community & Engagement
Barak and SoomSoom have had an active Instagram account for a number of years. It was originally hoomom’s account, but she converted it to their account after realizing she hadn’t posted a non-dog photo in many months and finding that she enjoyed sharing photos of them far more than anything else. While social media can be an unforgiving and uncomfortable place at times, we’ve found it’s also a place where real friendships and community can grow.
Through Barak and SoomSoom’s account, we’ve met a lot of wonderful dogs and their pawrents. Quite a number of these folks have become IRL friends. While we once admittedly cared about likes and follows, over time we realized that those were meaningless. Now, our enjoyment of Instagram comes from the friendships we’ve built and the potential of meeting new people.
As Instagram can still be an influencer-filled, like-hungry place, we wanted to share a bit about our experience finding community on Instagram in the hopes of helping others find their own.
Be Open
For those of us who didn’t grow up with social media, it can be strange to think that you can be close friends with someone you’ve never met in real life. In order to make friends, you first need to be open to the possibility!
Be Kind
One of the beautiful things about social media is that it can connect people from across the world. The people you meet may come from a variety of backgrounds and have varied life experiences such that they might not always approach topics the same way you would. It’s important to keep this in mind and be kind in your interactions. Judgement, criticism, and shaming are hurtful and damaging, even in a solely digital space. So be kind and embrace the opportunity to learn about different worldviews and backgrounds!
Engage
If you want to build a community and make friends, it’s important to share your interests and show interest in what others share. On Instagram, this takes the form of commenting on other people’s posts and stories and responding to comments and messages.
We’ve built a lot of our friendships on Instagram by finding other folks with dogs, especially Shibas or Klee Kais (like SoomSoom and Barak). Not only was it awesome to find people who could give us tips on treat types, training, and well-fitting harnesses, but it was also amazing to find like-minded people who were interested in talking about all things dogs!
Go Offline
Once you’ve established a relationship online, you may want to turn them into off-line friendships, too. We’ve done this a few times (see below), and we really value the friendships we’ve managed to build. With that said, it can sometimes be a challenge to break out of the digital realm and into a IRL relationship.
Within the dog Instagram community, planning outdoor meet-ups is a great and safe way to start building friendships in the real world. Logistically, this is going to be easiest if you have Instagram friends who live nearby. In our case, we started by going on walks with Instagram friends so the pups could enjoy a stroll as we got to know each other offline. This is a low pressure way to get to know people.
Stay Safe
Never do anything online or offline that you are uncomfortable with and don’t put up with behavior from someone else that you find inappropriate, offensive, or threatening. If you encounter inappropriate behavior online, (a) flag it as offensive using the tools provided by the social platform and (b) block the user. If you’re thinking of meeting up in person, make sure to meet in a public place and, if you can, go with a friend.
Some Friends!
We’ve been lucky to find a wonderful community of friends on Instagram and even luckier to become offline friends with a variety of people. Note: this list is NOT comprehensive! We’ve made so many friends that we haven’t met IRL and have had the chance to meet people beyond this list IRL.
Sirius, Lupin, Tonks (@potterpups.yeg)
Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks are our original online-to-offline friends. When we first “met” on Instagram, we each had a shiba and a klee kai (they now have two shibas and a klee kai). Online, we bonded over a variety of shared dog parents activities and our passion for the breeds. When we planned a trip to Banff National Park and asked for tips (they’re Canadian!), they said they’d actually be interested in taking a weekend adventure and suggested we meet up for a few hikes. We were anxious at first - What if they were boring in real life? Or weird? What if it felt uncomfortable? - but we actually had an incredible time. It was amazing to meet the people behind the Instagram account and deepen our friendship through shared activities. Since then, we’ve visited together a few times (they’ve visited us in New York and our hoomoms have visited one another sans hoodads as well).
Lily (@Lilythebatshiba)
We initially connected with Lily and her humans because she’s a black and tan shiba, like SoomSoom. At the time we started chatting, Lily and humans lived in Boston and we lived in NYC. We met a few times when Lily and her pawrents visited NYC and walked around together, but a few years later we both moved to Los Angeles. We started getting together for more regular visits and dog playtimes, during which Barak serenades Lily and SoomSoom as they play. It’s been amazing getting to know them, talk about shibas, and share our respective experiences moving cross country.
Alpha (@littlealpha.bigcity)
During our days living in NYC, hoodad would often stop at the dog park with SoomSoom on their way to the office. One day, a cute little ginger Klee Kai (Alpha!) was at the park as well. Hoodad started talking to the Klee Kai’s hoomom. They quickly discovered that they actually had a lot of mutual connections through work. Since then, we’d interact regularly with Alpha and his hooman online and offline, meeting for walks or at the dog park.
Romeo (@sterno212)
Romeo is Barak’s brother from another mother (not really, but I can’t help but feel like they’re somehow bonded)! Romeo is an adorable seal pup with soulful eyes and an incredible mother who lives in Seattle. Hoomom first met Romeo and his hoomom on a work trip to Seattle and later the pups got to meet when we visited Seattle over a holiday break (Lily’s grandhoomom even joined for our stroll!) It was awesome to stroll together and bond over Klee Kai screechies and kickity kicks and we’re so thankful we were able to take our online relationship into real life.
Hiro (@iamasuperhiro)
A fellow sheeb, Hiro and his pawrents became IRL friends when SoomSoom and hoomom were living alone in Los Angeles before Barak and hoodad moved out to join them, Hiro and his pawrents are big hikers, so they showed SoomSoom and hoomom some dog-friendly hikes in Southern California. SoomSoom is very lazy however, so hoomom might have enjoyed the hikes more :)
Kooper & Kenzi (@kooper92kenzi)
We first met Kooper and Kenzi’s hoomom when she visited NYC. We took a stroll with the pups and Alpha and his hoomom. Since moving to California, we’ve also met Kooper and Kenzi and have taken a few hikes together. Their an adorable duo and we love watching their sibling dynamic!
