The Food Blogger Confessions #5: Why We “Over Share” Food on Social Media

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While some people may scoff or snort derisively at the amount of pictures, tweets and food photos we bloggers/writers share, let’s clear up one thing right now.

Bloggers/food writers are in the entertainment industry. Plain and simple. While people may roll their eyes at the large amount of “over-sharing” we might do on a daily basis, we happily entertain our followers on social media with our tweets, pictures and more. Why else do you think we do it? It’s not to stroke our massive egos, it’s not because we like to flaunt what we are doing, it’s because most of us have a reader base – whether large or small-  who actually like to see where we are, what we are eating and what we happen to be doing at the moment.

It’s creepy when you put it that way – and yo,  I love you all,  my creepy readers 😉 – but I’m forever rolling my eyes at anyone who bashes people who take pictures of food and share them. You know the articles I’m talking about, the ones that bash foodies, the ones that mock people who take photos of their food and share it.

What those mocking articles fail to reveal – other than the author’s apparent self-loathing over the fact that no one wants to see their pictures and thus they lash out at everyone else – is that bloggers who post pictures of their meals/food do so because it’s wanted.

What? What kind of drivel is this, Magpie? No one wants you to share food photos! Don’t you read the internet that mocks you for taking those photos?

Well, apparently readers of food blogs don’t read the internet either 😉  This is the type of tweet I get on a regular basis (info edited for privacy reasons.)

I hate to break it to those mockers, but there are people who actually want to see what we are eating. Heck, I am ONE of them. I love seeing what other people are eating and yes, I base decisions on what they have to say about their food experience.

I get actual requests from readers when I’m out in Edmonton restaurants because they want to know my opinion. Would you have guessed that a lot of my readers wait to see what I have to say about a restaurant and then make a decision based on my experience? Don’t believe it? Check out my Facebook page or my Instagram whenever I hit up a new restaurant in Edmonton and the comments on the pictures. I had no less than five people on various social media instantly vow they were hitting up Tavern 1903 after I posted one picture and raved about the food.

One of my most popular last fall? I posted a picture of poutine from Costco, I kid you not. The comments flooded in on Facebook with a lively discussion.

Let’s face it. We love food photos.

Still don’t believe me? Check out Phil at Baconhound’s Yeg Burger Odyssey. People are seriously drumming their fingers on their computer desks impatiently waiting for him to publish his burger findings. They are watching his Instagram for burger pictures and waiting to see what he tweets about burgers in Edmonton. Heck, I’m right along there with them, waiting to see what he writes up every week!

Want another example? Sharon Yeo from Only Here For The Food writes up Food Notes every week that people wait for so they can read what’s going on in the Edmonton food scene. I can’t speak for Sharon but I would bet money that people wait to see if she’s checked out the latest food offerings in Edmonton and then decide if it’s worth their time based on what she writes.

The three of us above are only a small part of the large amount of food bloggers in Edmonton but are some of the most prolific that I know of with posting food photos. I use us as an example to give you a little insight into why we do what we do as food bloggers.

We are entertainers who journal our advice/reviews through food photos.

We are most importantly, writers meeting the needs and wants of our readers.

First and foremost, I am a businesswoman when it comes to my blog and writing and the most important thing I do daily is to attend to the needs and wants of my readers, because without my readers I am truly nothing.

If my readers didn’t want and enjoy pictures of food, do you honestly think I would keep posting them? My job is to create delicious recipes that my readers enjoy, write engaging posts about my crazy little life and entertain them with those snippets of daily life that yes, involve food photos of what I am eating.

So next time you see those articles circling the web mocking those of us who take food photos, ignore it. They seriously – and I do mean this- have no idea what they are talking about.  None. I read them and think how can you have any idea what I do for a living? What my readers want and don’t want?

So mock away. Those of us who love and cherish our readers will continue to post those food photos because the reason they read our work is because we are obviously doing something right.

And that, my darlings, is my food blogger confession (rant??) for the day. I completely got off track actually, because this started out as ” The Food Blogger Confessions: My 5 Favorite Social Media Apps” and then it became a monster post that took off in an entirely new direction!

With that said, watch for my next post which will sum up my favorite 5 social media apps for my apparent over-sharing!

Love you guys more than I love food photos!

Karlynn