Discussion: Instagram for Episode

So this is something I’ve been concerned about for a while. I know that Instagram is probably the best way to promote stories and I hate to say no when a reader asks me if I could create an account. But… I’m seriously worried about the privacy of this because there is only one person in my life who knows I’m writing Episode stories and I would prefer to keep it this way. I registered once with a brand new e-mail and my account was automatically linked to my personal Facebook profile, which totally creeped me out. I read many forums about this and it seems this stuff happens, simply because Instagram is owned by Facebook.
I would like to hear your thoughts and experiences about this.

  1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
  2. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
  3. What do you dislike about it?
  4. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
  5. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
    5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
    5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
    5.c Am I just too paranoid? :smile:
  6. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
  7. Any additional comment you would like to share?

@Sydney, if I’m in the wrong category, please help :slightly_smiling_face:

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In the right place. :thumbsup: Lookin’ good :wink:

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  1. I have too many accounts. Would be hard to manage.
  2. Promote upcoming stories and the followers will know of your timely updates
  3. Not really just don’t feel like having it.
  4. Nil
  5. No
    5a. Just privae your account on Insta. Accept those who you want as followers. If not, change your username so no one else ca nrecognise its you.
    5b. N.A
  6. Nil
  7. Nil
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  1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?

I do have an Instagram Account. I also have a Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat all mediated to Episode.

  1. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?

I think Instagram is a good way to keep your readers engaged with your story status. Other people like it because they can find good stories (with pictures). I also like to stalk authors.

  1. What do you dislike about it?

I dislike the phony vibe I get from people. I also dislike when people post unrelated stuff on their episode pages.

  1. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?

I did not at first, but when I post that a new episode is out, my rank spikes very quickly. Whereas, I don’t tell anyone, it’s more of a progressive spike.

  1. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
    5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
    5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
    5.c Am I just too paranoid?

Yes, I have an IG account exclusively for episode. I don’t post anything related to real life because personally, I don’t like seeing it, but also I guess for privacy reasons. I’ve been apart of ‘internet’ life forever, and I’m not paranoid about creepy old dudes as some people are. I don’t keep it private because I want my followers to be able to find my page, without being forced to follow me. Perhaps they don’t want to be embarrassed about following an Episode Author xD — My personal contacts can’t find me.

  1. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?

I will keep my Instagram account when Social Feed comes out. Most people are going to still spend most of their time on Instagram.

  1. Any additional comment you would like to share?

Nope

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Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
Yes.

What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
I think it’s a great way to share and promote your own stories and also engage with the Episode community.

What do you dislike about it?
There can be a lot of unnecessary drama in the community.

Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
Not at first but now every time I post that I updated my stories, I do get a spike in reads. That tells me that people see my posts and then go read. Other people also sometimes share my stories on IG and that results in a spike in reads :slight_smile:

Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
Yes.
5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
With great difficulty- some people have found me. I’m useless with this kind of thing. (It’s a public account though so I’m not trying that hard haha)
5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
Occasionally. I block them straight away.

If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
Yes I will. Although I believe the ability to tag users is coming to the feed, these features are missing:

  • Private messages
  • The ability to share screenshots and tutorials

Any additional comment you would like to share?
Not at the moment.

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This was actually the creepiest thing. I registered with a brand new e-mail and my user name was also completely different from my real name, I followed only Episode writers, and still all the contact suggestions I got were my friends, colleagues and former classmates.

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I just want to say that I got freaked out two days ago when my best friend started following my Episode account when I hid it from my friends at home. He said that he found it because it was in his recommended. So people actually CAN find you that way.

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Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
Yes, I do.

What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
It’s easy to keep in touch with fans and other writers, creators and all people in the community. I get an uptick in reads when I post about a new chapter.

What do you dislike about it?
It can feel a bit stupid posting when you have next to no followers. Sometimes there’s drama in the community and it can blow up once it starts spreading.

Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
Yes. After a while, once I started getting more followers I get an uptick in reads whenever I post about a new chapter being released.

Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
Yes. I like to keep it separate from my personal account.

5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
I haven’t posted about on my personal account and I doubt a lot of people in my “real” life is instragram-deep into episode. :wink:

5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
So far no one has.

If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
I don’t know… Probably. But it all depends what everyone else is doing. If a lot of people stop using instagram then I problably will too.

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1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
Yes. It’s really useful, and I wouldn’t be where I am now as an author (still not popular, but some people do read my stuff) without it.
2. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
It helps connect with readers and promote my work. It’s also a better space for intra-community discourse than the forums.
3. What do you dislike about it?
It can be a distraction at times, and I really do hate the automatic connecting to facebook thing. If I wanted to promote myself through Facebook, I’d use Facebook.
4. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
Yes.
5. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
Yep!
5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
I use a different email than my Facebook, don’t connect it to my phone number, don’t give the app permission to access my phone contacts, and turned off my location on my phone when I first started using it. I also don’t have Facebook on the device I use for Instagram. For the first few days, Instagram still suggested that I follow people from real life, but I just blocked everyone it suggested and it stopped being an issue.
5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
No
5.c Am I just too paranoid?
No, it takes a lot of work to keep it completely separate from your personal contacts.
6. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
I think everyone already has it by now. I still use Instagram for temporary posts (IG stories are a lifesaver), promoting my story while it’s in progress (the Social Feed doesn’t allow you to post screenshots), and most of my advocacy for diversity (uploading pictures is REALLY helpful). The Social Feed is more of a short-format thing, like Twitter but even less useful. I also like using private messages, since a lot of people are more comfortable approaching authors and asking questions privately.

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Thank you for sharing, this was really helpful to me, I never thought about turning off my location for example. It’s quite problematic though that you still got suggestions to follow people from real life for the first few days :confused:
Regarding the social feed feature, believe me, there are still people who don’t have it (including myself) :woman_shrugging:

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That actually happened to me every time I tried to create an Episode related IG account, so I deleted it several times. I have one now but this is what I had to do: I had to block every single person from my personal, private real life IG on my episode account, and I block every friend from FB who follows me on that same IG as soon as they follow me so I won’t show up in their recommended!

It’s incredibly annoying that FB & IG do that, but it was the only way I could keep it totally private, because like you - Episode is my own little world and thing that I want separate from the people in my life lol.

Like I said, I have one now but I’m still super paranoid with whether or not people IRL find me on there - but like I also said, they are all blocked :see_no_evil:. And my Episode IG is also private.

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1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
No…

  • First it was because I don’t even have a personal one so why would I get one for episode
  • Then it was because that seems like the biggest tool for distraction and forums does a great job at that already
  • Then it became a self challenge - let’s see how “popular” I can get without using instagram to promote myself
  • Then it became a case of if I got instagram now, I wouldn’t be able to complain about how instagram gets everything and fourms gets nothing… (beta testing open calls are on insta I believe, plus they ask for shelf recommendations there, but not here… There was that explanation about art announcements on their insta story… also remember how you couldn’t enter the DD contest without having an insta? Like that’s not fair, you can’t force people to get a separate app so they can enter a contest for a different app!). Like I’m basically an advocate now for the non-instagrammers (well, I think so), so what would become of my reputation if I got it? I’d be a sell out. I’d become nothing… But I’d also probably get more reads :smirk:

2. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
You can be uncensored… You don’t have to worry about being off topic or getting flagged or being in the wrong section lol

3. What do you dislike about it?
Ok, so… I dislike that it’s made out to feel like you have to have instagram… or else!
Or else you won’t get reads.
Or else you’ll miss updates (from episode themselves and from authors).
Or else you can’t win contests.
Or else you’ll never be considered for a shelf.
Or else your thoughts don’t matter.

4. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
N/A

5. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
N/A - wait, isn’t this the same as question 1? Hehe

5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
N/A

5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
N/A - why did I even copy down question 5 at all

5.c Am I just too paranoid?
Nope, I’d die if someone I knew found me. Thanks, Episode, for having the reputation you do that makes me embarrassed to have that app-that-has-all-the-choices-about-sex-on-their-ads.

6. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
Well I don’t have an insta to keep, but I don’t think a lot of people will be transferring over… unless the Episode insta account said that they would transfer to using only the feed feature. Then I think a lot of “struggling” authors wouldn’t see the point in it if they wouldn’t get noticed by Episode. Popular authors probably would keep it since it’s a quick way to communicate with fans.

7. Any additional comment you would like to share?
I feel like I elaborated far too much on other points when I should have saved them for this section. Oh well :woman_shrugging:

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Wow, I was hoping to get a reply from you since I knew you don’t have Instagram either, but this was more detailed than I expected. I was only concerned about the violation of privacy, but you brought up some points that make me hate it ever more. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing, but thanks! :sweat_smile:

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Omigosh, I feel special now… But you should know me well enough by now that if I’m going to comment, I’m going to go over the top :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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Im planning on making one when im done perfecting these first 3 chapters lol I think its great for advertising purposes and creating a following. There are some other good points stated here of why its a headache. Stuff I didnt think about until now :joy::joy::joy::joy:

I guess its a matter of preference. I dont think you Have to have it. Im sure you will still get reads and the forum here is a good place to promote and even get story reviews! Dont feel pressured. Do what makes you comfortable!

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Thanks! :slight_smile:

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Hahahahaha! I was right!

I’m too smart that I can control fate :rofl:

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Yeah I do, but after discovering the Episode Forums, I don’t use it all that much anymore lol

Hmm…honestly, these days I just use my Episode IG for mostly positive messages and sometimes posting about other peoples’ stories, come to think of it I haven’t promoted my stories in a long time :scream: To me the benefits of it are actually meeting new people and talking to them (some of them are users on IG who aren’t on the Forums so it’s great I can talk to them) This is my favorite part of IG, meeting others that I can’t meet here (although thank goodness I did go on the Episode Forums because I met so many wonderful people and got to help others, which makes me feel proud of myself.)

When drama happens. It happens on the Forums, too, but on Insta as well. Sometimes we have accounts pop up that steal art work from others and claim it as theirs as well as insult art work and stories. It can be super frustrating and on top of that people are more likely to scam you on IG when you do read for reads as opposed to the Forums : /
There are sadly scammers in the IG Episode community…

Yep. I have a personal, too.

Well, my account is on public and I’d like to keep it that way. Honestly, I don’t try to hide it all. Literally zero effort into hiding it lol.

Not that I know of…I seriously hope not.

5.c. Nah, you’re not XD

I’ll still keep it.

N/A

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1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not? Yep
2. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account? People can find u more easily. people love social media.
3. What do you dislike about it? u have to update regularly otherwise people won’t be interested anymore, sometimes it feels like a burden
4. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG? not yet havent published
5. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode? yes
5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private? lol i dont. my acc itself isn’t private but i dont share my real name, ect
5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you? nope
5.c Am I just too paranoid? nah
6. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account say what theres a feature?
Are there any features on IG that you would still need?** no idea
7. Any additional comment you would like to share? nah

1 Like
  1. Do you have Instagram account for Episode? If no, why not?
    I do.
  2. What do you think are the benefits of having an Insta account?
    I have to admit that you are able to promote your story a bit more if someone doesn’t have the forums; they are able to promote their story on Instagram. Of course, you’ll be able to make friends within the Episode community.
  3. What do you dislike about it?
    I dislike like the fact that I follow certain artists that only make cover arts, backgrounds, and edits for “top” authors within the community. I think it’s unfair. You have to deal with haters that cyberbully you.
  4. Did you notice any significant increase in your reads after you joined IG?
    If I’m being honest, no.
  5. Do you have an IG account exclusively for Episode?
    Yes.
    5.a. How do you make sure to keep it private?
    I don’t keep my account private.
    5.b. Do your personal contacts still find you?
    No
    5.c Am I just too paranoid? No haha
  6. If the Social Feed feature gets released to every Episode user, will you keep your IG account? Are there any features on IG that you would still need?
    Yes, most definitely. I just won’t be as active a lot on my Episode Instagram. I love Instagram as a whole.
  7. Any additional comment you would like to share?
    No
1 Like