Preliminary information
Before we go into the heart of this guide and see how to make new friends on instagram, I want to give you some preliminary information on the transaction in question. As already mentioned in the introduction of the tutorial, talking about "friendships" on Instagram is not exactly correct: it is on Facebook that you can make friends, not on Instagram.
On the famous photographic social network, in fact, you will never find the fateful "Add to friends" button: it would go against the mission of this platform. The only thing you can do is use Instagram to identify people who cultivate the same interests as you, interact with them and, who knows, in this way you could find real friends or maybe start constructive collaborations.
Well: if everything is clear to you so far, I would say that we can ban the chatter and proceed!
Find people with the same interests
To increase the chances of making friends with other users on Instagram, I suggest you find people with the same interests that you have. Having passions and interests in common, in fact, will facilitate the birth of new friendships and collaborations on Instagram, exactly as it happens in the so-called real life.
To find people who have the same interests as you, I recommend you do a search by hashtag within Instagram. Since hashtags (i.e. those words or phrases preceded by the symbol #) catalog the contents, using them there is a good chance that you can find posts from people with interests common to yours.
To search by hashtag, access Instagram from the official app of the service for Android or iOS, tap on the icon of magnifying glass located at the bottom left and enter a topic of interest to you in the search field at the top.
For example, if you are passionate about the world of travel, you can search for terms like travel o travel, while if you are a video game enthusiast you can search for terms like games o game or, again, if you like landscape photography, you can search for hashtags like landscape photography (hashtags are almost always in English, but English users also use them).
When the search is started, tap on the tab Tag and, after choosing whether to see the contents more popular or those Recent (by selecting one of the appropriate tabs), find a content that interests you and press on it preview. Subsequently, to go to the profile of the user who published the content you have chosen, presses on his username (top left of the post) and, if you like his profile and it is in line with your tastes and interests, press the button Follow, to start following him.
If you want, you can also send a message to the person in question (just press the appropriate button and write the text of the message in the field on the screen that opens), perhaps to explain to him that you have started following him because his profile deals with issues that interest you closely: later you will find some more specific advice on how to interact with others constructively. Who knows… maybe the person in question could take a peek at your profile, follow you in turn and then start a friendship.
Take care of your profile
The process I described to you in the previous chapter could also happen in reverse: other users may come to your profile attracted by the content you post on Instagram: that's why taking care of your profile is important.
In short, if you post content that interest other users, it is more likely that they decide to follow you and can establish a friendship with you. But how to have a nice Instagram profile? Well, for example try to put the following tips into practice.
- Choose a nice profile photo - Since it is one of the first things that others will notice, choosing a profile photo that is beautiful and that represents you in your best guise will surely enhance your profile. I suggest you set a photo where you are clearly recognizable: maybe a nice close-up, making sure that the lights, colors and background enhance the features of your face. If you think you don't have any shots worthy of being set as your profile photo, you can make one by following the technical "tips" contained in the in-depth study on how to look good in photos.
- Curate your profile bio - use the biography to clearly express who you are, what interests you and why others should start following you, perhaps enriching everything with some emoji suitable for the text you decide to insert in it. If you can give your profile a personal touch, this could add value to find new potential friends or, in any case, followers.
- Post interesting and quality content - the photos and videos in your feed are the most important part of it. Therefore, try to publish only content that is visually beautiful and that can be interesting in the eyes of others.
If you want to deepen the topic and get more information on how to have a nice Instagram profile, reading the article I have just linked to you will surely be useful.
Interacting with others constructively
Interacting with others constructively is another thing you need to pay attention to if you want to make friends on the photo social network. On Instagram you can interact with other accounts in different ways, for example by commenting on the posts and stories they make.
In doing so, try to establish interesting conversations and not be a "spammer" by clearly saying that you would like it if the user started following your account: it would be counterproductive. Rather, try to intrigue him by arguing in an interesting way about its contents: this could be the beginning of a new friendship and, why not, of any collaborations on the platform.
Furthermore, if you leave a public comment on another user's posts, you could also get noticed by his followers: this is why you should pay close attention not only to what you write, but also to the way you write it. Try to always be polite and calm and, even when you have to make a criticism or make a comment that is in some ways "uncomfortable", do it in the most elegant way possible. This won't go unnoticed, trust me.
In case you want to start a collaboration with another user, instead, I suggest you to be clear right away, without going around it: maybe you can send him a message in Direct (I explained how to do it in one of the previous chapters) and tell him who you are , why you chose his account to do the collaboration and what it consists of (e.g. a live one in two, a series of posts on a specific theme to share on the profiles of both and so on).
If the user does not show interest, thank him anyway and continue to interact with his contents anyway, so as to make him understand your genuine interest in him.
How to make new friends on Instagram
