a peek inside the fishbowl

… share it with the whole world, of course. :)

I wrote about family social media accounts awhile back on MediaSmarts.ca and I wanted to post an update on what has become a truly enjoyable project: our dog’s Instagram account.

Each family member was invited to manage Piper’s Instagram account. At the outset we all agreed on the premise: this is Piper’s account (and we were only posting on her behalf) so everything had to be from her perspective: photos, comments, and follows. What would she show her friends? What would she say? What point of view would she take on this issue?

Out of the four of us I’m the one who contributes the most, but everyone is reading and enjoying the project all the same.

Piper is almost at 500 followers now, and they come from all around the world. Some of the comments from her fans are truly hilarious and adorable. It’s a never-ending source of amusement for us, and it continues to be a really great shared family project.

Every once in awhile I like to look at Piper’s collection of photos as a whole. Although I know full well that WE are the ones who are putting words in her mouth, she is such a funny little creature. Her feed is full of fun and family jokes. Add to that the comments and the interaction… it all makes me so happy.

Some dog accounts have a staggering number of followers: ichaity, thiswildidea, tunameltsmyheart. Not that I expect Piper to ever reach those kinds of numbers but I am amazed at what we’ve reached at this point. I’ve been thinking about how and why pet accounts get to be so popular. Some of these have fabulous photos, others have endearing story lines, but I think it comes down to the subject matter. Dogs are lovely and innocent, and people love their dogs unconditionally. Perhaps it’s this love that forms the basis of the wild success that is #dogsofinstagram. Is there a pet account you follow? If so I’d love to hear about it!