Why is Instagram the first app I open in the morning?

There is a lot of noise on social media.

Everybody is complaining about it but, also, everybody is making it. Myself included.

Could I say I’m guilty about this? Maybe. Why? Because I have a personal Facebook account? Several other business pages that I manage on Facebook? Because I have a Twitter account? An Instagram account? A Google Plus account? A Linkedin, Slideshare, Pinterest, Snapchat or Medium one?

Is this too much? Maybe. But I’m not sorry about it, since this is my job. I’m not on social media just to make noise, but I’m also curious regarding what others are talking about. I’m curious about the community’s behaviour and sometimes I keep up with the news just on social media. Exactly. I don’t have any other news publisher that I’m constantly reading. I read everything online and that’s enough for me.

However, sometimes there is too much noise for me, too. And I just want to relax. I feel like I need a simple platform where I can find the basic information I need. Sometimes I use Flipboard just to look around and sometimes I’m on Medium just to stay away from the noise that Facebook or Twitter is making. But most of my time, I’m on Instagram. Instagram, for me, is the place where I can find inspiration and peacefulness. Or some other times, nothing.

Exactly. Nothing. I might find nothing on Instagram. Because sometimes we all need to look at just nothing, in order to keep our mind in rest and forget about all the deadlines, targets and other points we need to check at the end of the day.

In these past days, I found myself opening Instagram as the first app in the morning. Even if my morning routine is not a business-related one, since for me there are far more important things than social media or business, as my wife and family.

But when I’m on my way to work, I open Instagram. I look at my orange notifications, reply to my followers and look at a picture. And then scroll down a several times, stop at a picture, look at it, double tap it, then close the app and open the other ones: Gmail, Facebook, Twitter.

But why am I opening Instagram? Why do I put the Instagram icon on my iPhone screen down, in the right corner?

1. Creativity & Inspiration

The industry I work in needs creativity and I’ve found myself several times looking at a picture or a video on Instagram and a simple idea poped-up in my mind. Even if it’s a landscape picture, a coffee cup or an ad. Instagram is all about creativity and constancy. The instagrammers I follow travel a lot, are wake up in the morning just to shot a picture or talk to strangers to find out great stories. This is Instagram and I need this kind of inspiration. I think everybody needs it, right?

2. Less noise

Like I said before, I like to open the Instagram app first thing when I go to work because I want to start my day in quietness and far away from all the noise I know I will get during the day. I already know that when I start my computer and open all the browsers I will be bombed with titles, headlines, visuals and other hooks just to steal my eyeball. Another day, another noise, another fight for a view. Instagram is doing a great job, me staying closer to the user’s attention and less to the attraction of the extra noise we can see on Facebook or Twitter.

3. Simpler notifications

I recognize the power of Facebook in the social media industry, but sometimes it’s too much for me. I get notified in almost everything my friends are doing: from their birthday, to what event they are attending or what they said in a picture I commented yesterday. But with Instagram is much simpler, I know that when I get notified, I have just a few options: a like for my picture, a comment for my picture, a tag in a picture or a direct message. Only 4 options in the notification system. And that’s enough for me.

So here are my 3 reasons why Instagram is the first app I open in the morning and why I’m more in this photo sharing app than other social media channels.

Now I would like to know: what is your first social media app you open first thing in the morning?