My Dog Has More Instagram Followers Than Me: A Social Media Experiment
- Roslyn Wertheimer
- Apr 28, 2020
- 5 min read
My dog has had an Instagram account for just over one year and has more followers than me.
I’ve had my account for 10 years.
There were a lot of reasons to start my dog’s Instagram account. I know that sounds like a joke, but it’s true. You see, about a year before I decided to create an account, my coworker had been constantly posting pictures of her dog on her own personal Instagram. I half-jokingly told her that she needs to stop with all the dog pictures, and just create a separate account for the dog. As of today, that dog has 43.5K followers. He has become an Instagram-famous dog (@littleboybru), with celebrities following him, brands reaching out to send free merchandise, fans sending Brutus-artwork, and most recently, his owner started a fundraising campaign. The campaign raised funds for Second Chance Rescue, and all the owner did was put the dog’s face on some shirts with a quote around his head, and sure enough, she has raised over $6,000. Just based on his social media presence.
But before the fundraising campaign, and when my co-worker’s dog only had about a measly 21K followers, I came to the realization that I wanted to start an account for my dog too. Of course, it was partly because I saw my co-worker start getting online recognition and free things, and let’s be honest, I’m a millennial that wouldn’t mind seeing a couple of more ‘likes’ throughout the day, and maybe some free things too, even if it’s through my dog’s account. But there was also another aspect of wanting to start this account. Before I started Gigi’s Instagram (my dog’s name), I was managing three other Instagram profiles. My personal account, my professional photography account, and as a professional social media manager, I was also running the account for the non-profit organization that I work for (I still manage these three other accounts). I kind of follow a set of rules for each account, more like -- rules that I think should be followed, but nobody is pressuring me about this. On my own personal account, which I’ve had pretty much since Instagram began in 2010, I’ve been following the most common of Instagram etiquettes. I don’t post too frequently, I use Instagram stories quite often, I rarely use hashtags (if ever), the amount of followers I have outweighs the number of people I’m following, I only like the posts I actually care about. The list truly goes on. For my photography account, I follow similar rules, but I follow a lot more people, and I always use the maximum amount of hashtags. The account I manage for work has its own set of rules, similar to the ones mentioned above.
But starting my dog’s account gave me an idea. What if I broke all of these Instagram ‘codes’ that somehow have been set by the social media gods, and just go wild with it. I was just so curious about what was going to happen. [Side note: I understand that this excitement and motivation is NOT universal at all. My job is rooted in all things social media, so this experiment truly excited me. I get how this is really not a thing in normal people’s lives.]
So I began.
My first post was actually a video that I have of when Gigi was on one of the morning talk shows. She’s a cute, small, fluffy white dog, so she was a good mascot for the SPCA to let people know that adopting dogs is the way to go. After that, I started breaking all Instagram ‘rules’. Soon I was posting 3-5 times a day. A big no-no in the social media community. But the thing is, not only did I have a huge backlog of content that I could choose from, whenever I needed something fresh, my dog was right there. A new picture or video could be taken in a second.
Then came researching the hashtags. I already had some experience with researching proper hashtag use when it came to my photography account. But, it really consists of finding other popular accounts and seeing what hashtags they use. You take some of those, create some new ones that are specific to your content, and voila! (Along the way you might find some new ones that you can use to replace).
I started posting and posting and posting. Soon I started posting two times a day. Then once a day. Maybe then I skipped a day. I started following hundreds of accounts. And sure enough, her followers were growing. More people, dogs rather, were commenting on her posts. Her followers interacted with more exciting content. Gigi drying off after a bath, or when she posted that she had recently killed a bunny (this post garnered a lot of comments...), or everyone wishing her a 'happy gotcha day' - signifying that it was her anniversary of coming into our lives from the SPCA. Accounts started messaging me with pictures of their dogs that looked like Gigi, or the occasional question about her shedding because they were interested in a similar dog.
It was obvious what was happening.
I came to realize that there was a very interactive community waiting for me, or rather, waiting for Gigi. The biggest surprise, although it really shouldn’t have come that way, was the immediate connection I had with people that had a dog that looked similar to my dog. How obvious! Pitbull owners and lovers stick together. Why shouldn’t white terrier-mix owners and lovers stick together too? I found just a small handful of dogs that look like her, and it just felt so special to be a part of it. I really didn’t see that coming. That strong feeling of connectivity to these dog accounts on Instagram.
But yet again, it reminded me why I have directed my career in working with social media platforms. If you remove the idea of Facebook and Instagram being these jumbo organizations, you are left with the fact that these platforms are means of communication -- and that’s it, no matter if it's used for good or bad. We use social media to connect with others, whether we know them or not, to ultimately feel a sense of connection and inclusivity that we might not be able to foster so easily in person. Sure, Facebook and Instagram have created a set of algorithms to navigate in order for certain people to make it to the top of the social media pyramid. But for the moment, I’m going to keep posting content of Gigi, write the captions in her voice, and whenever I need a moment of levity, I have a whole Instagram feed I can scroll through that’s filled with dogs, just living their dang dog lives. (This is a common pastime for my boyfriend and I. Just scrolling through Gigi's newsfeed of dog content from around the world.)
Here are some of my favorite posts of 'hers':
Comments