Packaging Life Into Instagram Posts

Wait, wait, don't eat that! How many times have we been poised to dive face first into a hot, cheesy pizza when someone at the table orders everyone to put it down because it has to go on Instagram first. 

"What makes a place Instagram worthy" is a fascinating episode on how Instagram museums, deliberately designed "Instagrammable" spaces, pop ups, and experiential showrooms are driving where we go, what we eat and how we spend our free time. 

Most of us scroll through thousands of lunch/dinner, party and holiday photos every day. Every one wants to stand out, every experience needs to be unique, but as we know, thousands of people also throng to the same exact places for the same exact photos just because someone else took one – an inherent contradiction.

Social media, especially Instagram, has ruined many an experience by driving hordes of people to places that have gone "viral" online. One of the many examples is of a sunflower farm in Canada which had to finally ban visitors because they were ambushed by Instagram zombies, all of whom wanted the same photo. 

Companies, shops, restaurants know this very well and are using Instagram-hungry people as veritable marketing props by curating spaces which people are tempted to photograph and hashtag. But does this work? Or are some people pushing back against it? What makes us photograph an experience? This episode of Why'd You Push That Button has some answers.