Discovering social media feels like searching for a needle in hay at times. Have you ever felt envy peeking over your friend’s should at their Instagram feed full of interesting content? Would you like to see Instagram through the eyes of your favorite movie star, sportsman, singer, tech genius or a visionary? It’s not such a superficial idea, as it may seem at first. Wait till you try it a couple of times.
Being – Experience Instagram from another perspective
Developer:Â Pressto, Inc.
An innovative approach to discovering Instagram, Being is not a feed reader, but rather an interesting and unique extension of what Instagram is. In a perfect world, Being functionality would have been built-in into Instagram. What Being offers is a voyeuristic insight into how Instagram looks for other people, provided their accounts are not private. You get to see their feeds, what accounts they follow, and get a better idea of what makes them.. you know, tick.
While Instagram lets you see what other people share, Being lets you see who they follow. Understand the difference?
When you think of a limitless possibilities Being gives you to discover what your favorite celebrities are seeing when they launch their Instagram it makes your head spin. It’s not that much of a stalking, but Being makes discovering new and awesome people to follow all the more accessible. It has a neat button that takes you to your Instagram to let you follow the accounts you find interesting in the feeds of other people. Thus, you get to diversify your own feed quality-wise.
At the same time, you might discover even more depth in peeking at Instagram feeds through the eyes of your friends, loved ones, secret crushes. That’s some valuable intel that lets you understand them better, and borrow some of their cool personae to follow.
In its entirety, Being is rather simple, elegant, intuitive and, ultimately, addicting. There is not a single person out there who does not have paragons to follow. You might look down on Belieber, but there has got to be some special persona you look up to. Chad Kroeger maybe? Or Elon Musk? Adele? I know – Emilia Clarke! You can, of course, opt for your favorite politicians like Donald Trump, if you are that kind of person. Techies, fashionistas, chefs, famous YouTubers, game developers – you name it.
The appeal and potential of Being is so immense it’s a wonder no one has done this before. If you are a frequent Instagrammer, it’s a must-try and a clever way of not only seeing what others see, but also discovering more Instagram users to follow and add more color to your own feed.
Notably, Being works for those who don’t have an Instagram account, too. You don’t need to be an Instagrammer to harness the wealth of intel Being offers while the private accounts remain private, so it only seems fair you get to see what Lady Gaga likes. If you want to browse Being and keep your impressions to yourself, it’s ok. At the same time, you can share who you’re viewing on Twitter and Instagram, spreading the word about the curious accounts and peculiar findings.
Being has communities, too, and you get to see what Instagram accounts are trending across Being network, which adds more discover-ability value to the app.
My only concern is Instagram, since it once expressed an intention to cut off third-party apps that let users browse its feed by killing off its Instagram API. In the long run, this could be a bad decision for the platform since a vibrant developer community is a sign of a thriving user community interested in using the platform even more. So, let’s hope it won’t happen because Being is a solid fun worth a download. It’s also free on the app store.