I’ve been hearing a lot of negative talk swirling around the interwebs lately about the basic premise of the social media platform Instagram. Despite the fact that Instagram’s user base is growing in leaps and bounds while some other platforms, such as Facebook, are declining, Instagram still hasn’t reached nearly the massive size that Facebook has. Consequently, how Instagram is used, or better put, how it should be used, is still up in the air.

As a social media professional, I am constantly using these tools, as well as contemplating the ways that the general public uses them and interacts with them. And for some reason, the way Instagram users are using the platform is getting a bad rap lately.