Lucrative Likes

Let’s look at Instagram. In its simplest form. Before the updates. Remember when you could only post ONE photo? No multiple photo posts, no boomerangs, and definitely no videos…  Well, times have changed, my friends, and you better be adapting like the rest of the world already has…

Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram and noticed how all the different pictures oddly all start to look the same? Every girl posing the same way in her off-the-shoulder crop top? Every group of guys posing the same “for the boys”? The same expressions being picked up and used EVERYWHERE? You’re not the only one who’s noticed and it’s the spilled into fitness social media accounts as well.

Larry Lessig discusses the idea of combining other peoples work to create something different and new and although no one can really claim the duck face is solely their doing, I think the ideology can still apply. Lessig explains, “The critical point to recognize is that the RW creativity does not compete with or weaken the market for the creative work that gets remixed.” To me, fitness accounts can easily be targeted as being avid users of remixing. The poses, the facial expressions, the use of way too many emojis in their caption, and even the products that every single one of them seems to just love.

Beyond the actual images and videos that your eyes are seeing on the feed is a whole other kind of remixing I like to call Photoshop. An article posted on MSN.com sheds light on just how much editing goes into perfect posts by highlighting fitness blogger Karina Irby and the side-by-side photos she posted before and after editing. 10 edits were made, (and I’m not talking about adding a filter) like smoothing skin, thinning arms, toning the stomach etc. See the remixing happening? No longer are we in the moment, snapping a photo, and posting it immediately to share with those important to us. Instagram for fitness gurus has now become a challenge to create the most “natural” yet perfectly sculpted photo or video to reach as many people as possible (and go viral).

Although the edits may be obvious and obnoxious to some, it’s still W O R K I N G. The activity on fitness posts is absolutely soaring… so much that some are even quitting their full time jobs to focus more on their blogs and less on, you know, like, a full-time salary. A Fashionista article titled “The Business of Being a Fitness Influencer” goes in-depth into many women’s journeys into the fitness world.  From accountants to engineers, they’ve proved it’s possible to make posting photos onto social media into a lucrative career. Whether a typical fitness post that shows up on my TL is a remix of many others trending ideas and edits and poses, or is something truly unique, it’s heartwarming to know that if my engineering career doesn’t work out, I can make a living posting over-edited photos of me at the gym. 😉