There are 320 million #food posts on Instagram — that’s a little less than the population of the United States! While some might chastize Instagram and other social media platforms for leading to obsessions and negative effects, I believe it creates a space for more healthy obsessions like sharing passions, talents and trends. A type of particularly delicious content that fits all three of those is food.

There is an art to Instagramming the perfect shot. It sounds ungodly pretentious, but there’s a bit of a science to it. There are a set of qualities that help food photos to look their best online: making sure the photo is warm rather than cool, high contrast and good lighting all help to make that photo look (almost) as good as when you’re eating it. There’s a reason why #foodporn is a thing.

We’re a culture that eats with our eyes, and social media is the perfect platform for foodie phenomena. Getting the perfect shot can be tricky, but some have made it their mission to delight their audiences with snacks, outrageous shakes and lots of donuts.

Erin Good is one of those people. She started her social media stride about five years  ago, while she was preparing for a bodybuilding/bikini competition. She graduated from Hamline’s MPA program in 2016.

“Since then, I became a foodie because I realized I was missing out on a big, awesome world of food when I was dieting so strictly,” Good said.

When she’s not at the gym or at work, she’s sharing her love of food with her over 18,000 followers on Instagram. While she does share healthy food sometimes, a quick glance at her account will show local pizza, a donut burger and more donuts! I’ve been following Erin for a while now, and I was curious about the highs and lows of sharing one’s life online and what she thinks about social media use. I asked her about labels and what she would call herself: Influencer? Blogger? Foodie?

“Maybe micro-influencer? There are so many people with hundreds of thousands of followers and I’m not in that league,” Erin explained.

Erin further said that she would never buy followers or likes, or promote a product she doesn’t believe in. Product promotion opportunities are one perk of becoming a bigger account on social media. There can be a lot of money in making a sponsored post.

“The extra income is nice too, and access to products and events. But mostly, it’s about the personal connections and experiences.” Erin shared that her account started getting larger a few years ago, and this year she was even able to do taxes on the extra income drawn from her page.

While I’m probably borderline addicted to Instagram and drawn to its positive notes, many are anti-social media or see its flaws. An article from the Detroit Free Press published in Jan. of 2019, titled “Your kids are at risk on social media. Do you know how to help?” gives parents ways to help their children because “it can be overwhelming” to know how to start protecting your kids. Yes, that’s really what their article says. Of course, they give us the arguments we’ve seen with any social media use: predators are online, cyberbullying and body image issues. While these problems have the potential to be serious and damaging, we shouldn’t be afraid of social media.

I asked Erin what she thought of those who frown on social media use: “It does have its downsides at times; for example, a lot of time spent on screens, playing the comparison game with people’s highlight reel, but overall I think if used correctly and responsibly it can really enhance your life.”

I think as long as you have a healthy mindset surrounding social media and take breaks when you need to, the opportunities given by platforms are too good to pass up. Even if it’s just sharing your daily donut run, your posts may have a wide reach.

I’m excited to see foodies emerge on social media, sharing one of the best love languages: food. Give Erin a follow on Instagram, @erinjbgood, and send your favorite foodie account to a friend.