Instamums 3, 2.0

[blackmirror1]

Seeing as the original 3 got zapped.

@isthisawindup I’ve definitely also reduced photos and posts on FB about DS as I felt annoyed by other mums’ posts (school certificates, parents evening glowing reports etc) so figured they’d maybe feel the same - and I have a history of infertility so I am aware of my childless friends on FB some of whom have told me how painful it can be so I wanted to reduce it down.

@Fruitbowl this thread is making me consider taking it all further. I just love using the Instagram filters and I like having far off family and friends seeing photos (which would have had to be posted to them when I was a child) but that is laziness/convenience not an actual valid argument.

Time and again it seems, that in her working role as a midwife (she did initially return from maternity leave for 2 shifts a week) she is highly respected and a very caring lady to have for your birth. I had a dreadful midwife for 1 of mine who has featured on a series of One Born and if she was being discussed I'd be the first to say how awful my birth was and how terrible she made it. No one has ever said anything negative about her in a professional sense. So it's clear on one level she is lovely. Her new role of influencer is completely different, and while I'm sure she's a lovely person, she seems to struggle with managing the necessary communications with being in the public eye, selling yourself and your family as a brand. If she just was an actress, then I doubt there'd be any issue. But she isn't. She's selling her family off the back of a blog. And perhaps one reason she doesn't engage and deletes is her management advising her that she really, really should not risk it.
It is somewhat unfathomable to give up or put on the back burner, great jobs that pull in good money to sell your kids.

Fruitbowl and Biro I am wondering the same and if that's why after disastrous stories and screenshotting things she didn't like in stories whether her 'team' have just said 'don't do it'.

Ah good to see you Biro. Thank goodness you said it. I think she's thick.

It’s been explained to her so many times, in multiple different ways. I fail to see how she still doesn’t get it.

It’s like she can’t understand why everyone cant just be happy for her that she’s got all this amazing stuff and stfu.

Scipio I was the same, putting the pics online for rels in Oz. But I can email or whattsapp them of course.

@NotASingleDamnBiroInTheHouse once again you're spot on.

@wishwish that is true, but there are lots of definitions of control - using a specific hashtag, reviewing the content, using specific words, specifying the context, specifying the timing.

If it really does fall outside of any level of control by the brand, they come under general consumer rules and just basic ethics.

This explains it quite well. I really think a lot of the issues are now coming down to a breakdown of trust between followers and influencers >

mcsaatchipr.com/news/influencer_marketing_regulations/

Yep agreed mumofkids, every comment I've read has said she's a good midwife and nice person IRL. Doesn't mean she's a bright spark though. Her responses are so childish.

Fruitbowl I’ve just been having a cull on instagram and see that one of my far flung cousins has unfollowed me anyway! And it’s funny, even though she’s young I still feel a bit piqued because I’ve been following her for ages and assumed that she had an interest in seeing our family too. Social media has such an emotional element to it as also seen in many of the issues in this thread with ‘hater’ terminology etc.

I’ve been using and aging about FB anyway since Cambridge Analytica. My DH works in stuff to do with the internet and has always been against social media. Only had a Twitter a/c as part of one job where it was required and never had FB etc. I think the more you know the less you like.

Ah thank you windup I was going to say I think the phrasing in my link is poor. 'Control' doesn't just mean writing the content of the post.

been umming and ahhing

Scipio I agree totally. Back to the Nokia brick! Sorry about your errant cousin!

@fruitbowl2 when next to MP, the bizarre, childish messages and even the confidante 'darling Anna' just so off point. To be honest some of the others are coming across a bit like that too. Perhaps herein lies the fundamental difference between those of us questioning the use of children and those who use children...

@fruitbowl thanks!

the main issue I hate is that this whole ‘we’re all learning, we all make mistakes’ thing is such an infantilising and feeble argument. These instamums are making money from what they do. Ergo, it’s their job. Ergo, they should actually read and follow ASA guidelines (not act as if it’s something that can’t get their pretty little heads around

This is a really good point. The advertising industry is massively regulated for a reason.

What else is the point of advertising apart from attempting to persuade people to do something they wouldn’t otherwise, or didn’t realise they wanted to, do? Brands, advertisers and influencers must behave responsibly towards consumers. It feels like a lots of the instamums are just playing at it. Like if I decided to put on some scrubs and turn up at a labour ward to try my hand at midwifery. Or bought a calculator and set myself up as an accountant.

For those people who've said they find Instagram or FB useful for sharing photos of your children with relatives - I have deleted my FB account completely and cut back massively on Instagram use and now use the Lifecake app to share photos of the kids.

I’ve been lurking in these threads and the ‘bloggers and brands’ ones and it’s been a real eye-opener about the amount of gifting and lack of transparency.

One thing I try to bear in mind in the decisions I take is what kind of role model I am to my kids. It seems to me that MP is a fantastic role model in that she’s using Instagram as a platform for talking about an issue she genuinely cares about and wants to make a difference. (BTW MP-sorry, before you engaged on these threads I thought you were v annoying, i now really admire the way you’re trying to spark debate). On the other hand many on the instamums just seem to be teaching their children that other people’s opinions are what matter, the continual seeking external validation is worrying. It seems terribly sad that MOD is on a wonderful holiday with her 2 oldest daughters and yet she’s spending ages responding to comments on Instagram. I wonder what messages her daughters are picking up about who and what is most important to her.

Biro raises a good point, it does seem to be the cleverer instamums who are engaging with the debate (ED, DMBL40, MP) and I do wonder if some of them simply don’t get the complexity of the issues on an intellectual level.

Biro Someone made a really good point about this attitude MP's post, I'll go dig it out.

Google "Social media influencers are so last season" and you should be able to access the FT article. Tis indeed an interesting read.

ImTheMary that app sounds like something I may try; thank you.

It comes up on Google with no subscription, but screenshot of one part here

WindUp - Thanks for the link.

Since the old threads (bloggers & brands etc.) we have seen more ads declared, but it is the gifting which really doesn't seem to be catching up. It is one part of the advertising that I feel is so much more subliminal.

The ASA are slow and I don't see any enforcement.

And title page

Not sure if that last one attached?