How I, a flip-phone user, started using social media. And what I think about it now.

About Twitter and Instagram

It's not really a big deal, but

it was all my husband's doing.

After all, my phone is a flip phone.

My husband created my account without asking,

and I started using Twitter last September.

In July of this year,

he created an Instagram account for me.

Using a B5-sized tablet,

I am currently updating Twitter and Instagram.

My husband doesn't seem to have any ulterior motive,

just that I was feeling very unwell and we were under a COVID-19 state of emergency,

so in that situation,

since I was spending all my time at home,

he just thought it might help me kill some time.

And so, even though I wasn't interested at all,

I really didn't have anything to do at home,

and with typhoons coming,

there was a period where I really couldn't go outside.

I started by taking photos of things around my house

and uploading them to Instagram.

After uploading and following others,

I searched for words that popped into my head,

like "#moss," "#houseplants," or "#babysitter."

I searched for things I was interested in,

and started following those accounts.

Searching on Instagram led me to realize that

things like "rental spaces" and

"babysitters" were actually more available

in my prefecture than I had thought.

There was also a lot of information that

I couldn't find through internet searches,

and because of the ease of taking a photo and posting it immediately,

I think even people who don't have a website

are likely sharing information themselves

by posting on Instagram.

It's like a flow that leads to the present,

like things aimed at "people thinking about starting a business."

A bit of management know-how and such

I started seeing on Instagram,

I also searched on YouTube,

and watched course videos.

However, I had no intention of memorizing anything.

Just listening in the background while doing housework.

When I was spending my time like that,

“Ohtake-san's mom started a babysitting service”’s

on Instagram,

I found information about a consultation session

for people who are serious about starting babysitting.

“This is it!”

I thought, so I immediately applied and participated.

After that,

I also contacted

“Twinkle”—the one I had been interested in after finding their website first—

through their official LINE account,

and was able to hear various things via video call.

There are things I understood after trying it, but...

Looking at it this way,

Starting Instagram

has been quite a big turning point.

In my case, at least.

It is certainly convenient and makes it easy to catch information.

However,

since I have no intention of using this

to attract customers,

I don't think my followers or

likes will increase any more than they do now.

I believe that "likes"

rarely turn into actual customers.

Having recently read the book "Smartphone Brain,"

I also felt that I want to avoid being swayed

by the numbers of likes

that go up and down so easily. (lol)

Besides,

the service I intend to provide

is meant to be limited to people

with whom I have a face-to-face relationship,

so I think that purpose greatly influences how I promote it.

I intend to use it as various tools to express

who I am.

So,

the

“Lit.link” my husband recently made for me is also a digital business card substitute,

and I hope VisasQ will serve as a digital resume substitute.

I think social media can greatly expand possibilities.

However, this is also

different for everyone.

I think it's just right

to do what you find fun

in your own way.

If it weren't for COVID,

I might not have started in the first place.

I've learned from trying it out that

it's a convenient tool

to use for a specific purpose,

but I wouldn't really recommend it to others.

After all, I'm still a feature phone person.

That's what I think now.