I have always had a thing about calendars… I just released a few free desktop calendars made out of AI creations, and today I’m adding a new one: the Hashtag Calendar. Now, what is the hashtag calendar? The Hashtag Calendar is your ultimate content creation and marketing calendar! And it’s available in the store right now! Ever struggled with ideas for your social media posts? Are you a food blogger searching for when to post your...

Once again, I found that I had used one of the Instagram banned hashtag. Now, this has nothing to do with the infamous “shadowban” practice controversy. I noticed a slight decrease in engagement compared to previous posts, so I decided to investigate a little. Turns out that the hashtag #sunriselovers had been flagged for inappropriate content. Which meant that it was not generating any engagement because my post was hidden by Instagram....

That’s right: I created 4 weeks’ worth of Instagram content walking in Central London for less than 30 minutes. It could even be more than 4 weeks, considering I’m a bit of a slow uploader. But here you’ll see 20 photos I find worth sharing. And at 5 a week, it is 4 weeks of Instagram content. Taken on a 30 minutes walk. In case you think you don’t have time for...

My friend Dot Lung asked me to go live with her and talk about smartphone photography tips and how to take better photos with your phone. We both use iPhones, but all we talked about applies to Android as well. We did not talk about specific apps only available for one platform but actually discussed real examples of taking photos with a phone. Dot Lung is a fantastic Digital Media Strategist who...

I created my YouTube account in 2006 and managed to wait 14 years to open my Photography YouTube channel. Now it's time. Too late?

What is the Instagram box, you may ask? Well, Instagram has changed how we think about photography more than we can imagine. I’ll just give you some quick stats about the platform: (stats come from several sources: Digital & Social Marketing Conference London, Omnicore, Pew Research Center, Statista) Instagram was not the first online photography platform, but it was the first 100% mobile (even only on iPhones in the beginning). And in...

Not many people know about it, but I was the first Italian male food blogger. I started writing La Cuisine de Fabien in early 2006. Only a few food blogs existed back then, and even only a few blogs in general. I was looking for a recipe online and found a couple websites that looked like they were written by “normal” people (as in “not professional chefs”). Being much less of a...

Despite being a fiery Italian (at least half of me is), I rarely publish rants on Instagram. It might happen on Facebook, where I still keep my private life and my friends separated from the rest of the world. But not on other platforms. Today, though, I woke up to fellow Instagramers from London promoting an app they are featured in (also hiding their involvement). And what I saw made me run...

As of this month, I started offering free photo critiques through my Instagram account @fabienb. The concept is really simple. I always try to find ways to give back and help the community and this is one more way for me to do so. I ask my followers to send me their pictures to review and critique. It’s the same kind of work an editor of a magazine could do, for example....

After the story about my shadowban and how it happened, I’m back to talking about Instagram account issues. Yes, again. How Positive… One thing I try to do every time on Instagram is reply to all who leave a comment on my photos. Even only to say thanks. Instagram is a social media so nurturing the social component is very important to me. And I like to talk with people, hear what...

You might have heard of this thing called “shadowban”. Allegedly, Instagram has ways to punish spammy content and counter the rise of bots, fake accounts, etc. What Instagram does is flag suspicious accounts and consequently slash the reach and engagement that these accounts receive. And that would obviously be a good thing. You see this shadowban term surfacing in discussions because perfectly legit accounts get caught in Instagram security’s net. I’m sure...

The other day, I saw somebody I follow on Instagram celebrating their “instaversary” (or however you name it). And it made me think about how I started on the platform myself. I’m a sort of compulsive early adopter when it comes to apps. I get very excited about everything new that seems novel and disruptive enough. And so, I jumped on board the Instagram train very early. Some background It was 2009....

The Gatwick Fiasco. Or how the second largest and busiest airport in the UK couldn’t handle a drone alert and ruined the Xmas plans of 150.000 people. Including me. I’m sure you all heard what happened a few days ago. Alerts of drones flying near the airport runway caused a shutdown of all operations. Every flight on Wednesday got cancelled. And then on Thursday, it happened again when I arrived at the...