Looking for Likes

A Facebook friend of mine recently made this status update:

"Haven't been getting a lot of "likes" on my photos recently. Maybe I should try the following douchebag options to increase the likes:

1. Travel to Africa, get a photo with some smiling black kids and post it on facebook
2. Find a cute animal and take a photo with it and hope people comment with "awww oh my god, that' sooooo cute"
3. Go for the nature shot where I am looking into the distance as the sun is setting, pretending to be in deep thought, while all I am really thinking is how many "likes" I am going to get.
4. Get a new born baby and pretend to have excellent father skills to trigger the "awww I want to marry him" response from girls.
Any other suggestions for vomiting and cringe-worthy photos?"

This is funny, because let's be honest, it's pretty true. I'm fairly sure this status was made ironically though, because the author seems to be guilty of such common crimes as these. As am I. This is an age where moments are measured by how many likes it could get on Facebook. I know it's bad but I just can't help it.

There is an unspoken rulebook on Facebook.
Amongst the codes against duckfaces and dodgy photoshopping,

 if I'm missing someone and want to show it, want to get someone to like me, or just want to encourage other people to like my stuff, then I must be all 

but when someone's not my best friend and they like all of my Facebook content

You can see that some people really care about this stuff though. I mean really. 

I can pardon most Facebook forms of vanity, but these are the ones who message you with

"Heyyy can you like my photo please xox"

Or the ones who will change their photo every few hours just to maximise their publicity on the news feed. And similarly, repeatedly tag themselves in the same photo.

It's okay I've been to Specsavers, you still look like a female Gary Barlow.

A recent article from The Independent states that 

Trawling through your own Facebook pictures could be good for your mental health

Well then, it's good to know I've been improving my mental health! Though while I agree that I enjoy taking photos and looking through them as a sort of diary and reminder of good moments (or obscure drunken ones), I don't think it's all that innocent. A lot of the time people post pictures of what they're up to just as proof that they haven't been sitting alone at home all week in a tracksuit with a tub of ice cream and a few too many cats. Or at least, because otherwise it seems like

So, something that comes as a refreshment from the entrapment of Facebook popularity is an article from CreativeBloq about a 

new photo-sharing app

It describes an anti-Facebook and Instagram revolution provided by digital design agency ustwo, with their new app Rando that 'defies social norms'. It shares images at random, focusing on admiring photography rather than the number of likes. Will it be a success? I don't know, I'm wary of an idea that could enable me to be sent holiday pictures from an unfamiliar obese American family. Yet, overall I think it's a positive thing and I give it the thumbs up seal of approval: