Top Nine 2020
Top Nine 2020
Formerly known as Best Nine, the Top Nine of Instagram results are in. The top 9 posts on Instagram, based on likes, are selected for the year. I haven’t seen anyone post these this year so I’m guessing it’s not cool anymore. I still enjoy seeing my grid at the end of each year though so here we are.
2020
2.2k likes in 44 posts
50 likes/post
The amount I posted this year decreased by 50% & with that likes/post decreased. My Instagram account was completely private in 2020. I didn’t use it as a portfolio or blog aggregator like in past years. The numbers fairly reflect that. I’m more private about my daily life as of late. I thought less app time meant less influence but I’m sad to admit that wasn’t the case. Instagram is a consumerist machine now, by design (eww.), & I no longer wouldn’t or couldn’t keep up with the rat race. Working in marketing for a retail brand made it hard to leave entirely. It’s a key indicator of our online audience which affects my role on the team. I engaged with it less this year personally though due to pregnancy, new mamahood, & the pandemic. It was a relief to think for myself again; my self-worth was attached to Instagram success a lot in 2017-2018. Since then I’ve worked hard to intentionally & routinely set stronger boundaries with it. Creeps up on ya if you’re not careful!
About 40% of top photos were pregnancy photos, 30% about discovering my family values in real-time, with another 30% of photos related to having a career during early motherhood. That’s 100% of photos related to a woman’s journey to motherhood. Very accurate because motherhood is all-consuming. It affects everything from the woman as an individual to her marriage, her relationship with her family, how she wants her immediate family to grow in partnership with her partner, & her career.
Most of the posts I wrote during my maternity leave this summer were deleted but if they hadn’t been, they were some of my top posts. It suddenly felt too personal to have my daughter’s face with my tender thoughts meant for her only, displayed for everyone to peer into. I was getting to know her for the first time after 10 months of anticipation. The blue light glaring in her nursery felt exploitative so I put our photos with my words elsewhere for safekeeping. Not before Mamas sent notes of love, encouragement, & optimism that only one Mother can give to another though. I leaned HEAVY on the Mama IG community of mine in the final weeks of pregnancy & the first months of Mamahood. I have no regrets. If it wasn’t a pandemic, I probably wouldn’t have but my Mama friends are the one thing about Instagram I’m truly grateful for this year.
“Together” | Artwork by Quentin Monge
My 2020 IG goal was to follow accounts with unpopular opinions, strong messages, & inspiration. Girl did I. If 2019 was about minimizing who I followed to under 100 accounts, 2020 was about maximizing my followship double-fold. I followed more people who don’t look like me, AKA basic white bitches. I renewed my childhood love for the WNBA, am here for intersectional environmentalism, oogling over Pattiegonia, & getting my white privilege checked by Dr. Kiona. Following doesn’t do much by way of tangible change but reading people’s stories changes the landscape of our minds and from there new worlds are created. I’m hopeful for what’s on the horizon by way of empathy, compassion, & sensitivity. This is really for no one but me, just happy to recognize a personal goal realized.
2021
I honestly wonder if I’ll even have an Instagram in 2021. I’ve been holding onto it because I put so much work into it in the past that I thought deleting it completely would feel like a waste of all my time. But now, Instagram is just in the way of my actual life. An added obligation on my already endless list I can’t keep up with. The ROI on friendship, connection, & self-worth sucks.
The real world just wins every. single. time.
Even the shitty, ordinary parts of the real world win over the glossy parts of Instagram. I’m fatigued seeing curated lives online & then talking with people in real life where what they’re saying doesn’t line up with what they’re posting. It doesn’t bother me that they post the highlight reel, I do the same. I just prefer the conversations I have with them in real-time. If the lack of time with people this year has shown me anything, it’s that the time we do have with another is the most valuable – in the most essential way, time is the only most valuable thing we have with people. And I’m tired of throwing that all away for appearance’s sake.
Maybe I won’t delete IG but I’ll have an account that has to do with something other than myself. Ha, what a concept!
2019
5.2k likes in 90 posts
55 likes/post
2018
15.5 likes in 177 posts
88 likes/post
2017
9.2k likes in 113 posts
81 likes/post
2016
3.1k likes in 95 posts
33 likes/post
Enter your Instagram handle [here] to see your Top 9. What are you most proud of this year?
