Social media has a huge presence on the food industry. Instagram definitely being the number one source of promotion for food industry businesses. In this day and age, social media has been seen as the fastest way to promote and increase sales for business. Creating Instagram pages has attracted Instagram followers to these businesses when they see pictures posted that they enjoy. There are also Instagram foodies, Instagrammers that love and enjoy food and create blogs to share with others about their experiences at food businesses, posting pictures of the foods they’ve encountered. These bloggers usually have thousands of followers and help tremendously in getting the word out about new places. One Instagram page that I follow that I absolutely love is @takeyourgirloutnyc. This Instagram page showcases different romantic restaurants in the New York City area. I always refer to this page when deciding what new restaurant to try based on the pictures posted.

I also do a lot of food postings as well, especially because I own a cake business on Instagram called @cakedbymandy. I post 2-3 pictures of the cakes I create a week so that my followers know the potential of my work and what to expect when ordering from my business. I also often promote myself by asking Instagram food bloggers or popular Instagram accounts with over ten thousand followers to follow my page and support so that they could spread the word for my business.As read in the article about New Fork City, “Building a business entirely on social media isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time and hard work to build a following and influence. But it is possible to build a business entirely around posting your favorite food photos to Instagram”. When starting a business, especially food industry related, social media is STRONGLY advised.

Photography is an art, especially when one can capture a picture at a wonderful angle that makes the image beautiful. Social Media helps millions of people to explore different types of photography. Instagram is a social media platform made for expanding one’s mind. Instagram is made for posting pictures, compared to an app like facebook which has that feature also but carrying’s much more in addition. Instagram’s main goal is for people to post pictures compared to statuses. The food industry uses social media to expand a restaurant, hotel or any business that caters to food in general.

I surprisingly only take photos of food when it’s on snapchat because it only lasts for 24 hours. I don’t like posting pictures of food on my Instagram or Facebook account, because when other people post their images the food kind of looks nasty. So imagine me posting an image of some food, and people have the same review I had on the rest on me. I do look at food photo’s to help me decide what foods I should be eating. For example, when I go to a restaurant and they have foreign words on their menu I search it up on google images to get an idea of what the restaurant is serving.

Photography and social media plays a huge role in the hospitality industry. Great reviews and photographs from guests can help you obtain a lot of business. Since cameras have become more accessible due to advancements in digital cameras and phones more people are tempted to capture and share their meals with the world. Also, the rise of social media has allowed guests to share their experiences and photos easily from anywhere from any device. This is a great thing for the industry, it’s basically free advertising.

Before I came to Citytech, I was a photography director for Spoon University’s University of Central Florida chapter. Spoon University is a website that publishes college students articles about all things food. My responsibility as photography director was to capture and edit photos to go with the writing teams articles. I also was in charge of our chapters Instagram where we posted tons of food photos. It was a great way to inform students on campus about great food all around them.

Today, I pretty much only take food photos when I make something I am super proud of, or if I get a beautiful looking dish from somewhere.

In today’s world you see most people on their phones quite often or all the time even. Not only is social media used by young adults to gain likes and followers, now even restaurants amongst with other business use social media to attract more customers. With  all these hashtags, likes, comments and sharing your location with others helps recommend to you what to and not to eat. With all the photos taken by customers, and then them sharing then with their followers helps gain and attract other new customers.

I myself use instagram as a tool to trying to locate other places where I can enjoy a good meal or dessert other than the ones I usually go to. It’s very convenient as well because it would show you places you’re nearby or it also has recommendations based on posts you’ve liked before. I also noticed that now snapchat is also doing this where you can add your location and others can swipe up and it instantly tells you how to get there and what they serve.

As technology advances more people and businesses gain more followers/customers. You can say that almost everyone can gain more from it. Also taking awesome photos is a great advantage because when someone posts something that looks delicious they might just ask you, “Where did you eat that? it looks tasty!”. If I see good reviews or comments on a certain place, I would definitely give it a try.

Prof. Cheng
ARTH1100

Photography has become an essential part of everybody’s life. Cameras are everywhere around us, from phones to laptops to drones and even gaming consoles. Photography and social media have become inseparable especially in the last decade with the rise of Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. The food industry, just like every other industry, has realized that using social media as a marketing tool is indeed a brilliant idea. As humans we are naturally inclined towards beautiful things, therefore, seeing beautiful pictures of food will definitely make us want to try it.

Most of my friends love taking pictures of food but I must admit it can get annoying at times because then I have to go and try that food myself. Often times the food looks better than it tastes, some restaurants tend to focus more on the aesthetic aspect than on the actual quality of the food.

I used to work as a barista at 1982 café in Brooklyn, and I can confirm the statement “Even restaurants are designing their menus and decor to encourage the use of social media” the owner literally hired somebody to make the place look like an 1800’s European bar, and although the costumers LOVED the coffee, they were astonished by the interior design and complemented the place as much as they complimented the coffee. New Fork City is definitely an amazing and innovative business idea and it is every teenager’s dream job.

#Homework1

Photography has never been easier. We just pick up a camera, shoot and repeat. We have the ability to express emotion, empathy, beauty and disaster all with a single click. In the hospitality industry photography is crucial. It can bring in new business or it can be the final nail in the coffin. As an individual you must strive to present the best to the world to succeed. Today, many restaurants are also on social media, keeping up with the latest trend they are able to make an impact on how they represent the company via the internet. When I am looking for something new to eat, I first look to see if the restaurant has a website. After that I usually go on social media and see if people have posted pictures of the place to see not only the food but also how the place looks like. I usually don’t take pictures of the food that I am eating but when I do it is usually because it has a wow factor. I feel like it is only necessary to take only 1 or 2 pictures of food because various pictures of the same thing can dilute the quality.

Social media nowadays spreads every piece of information that goes through it once, all around the world being accessible to anybody with internet access in a matter of seconds affecting all fields of work and study, along with the hospitality field being no exception. I believe that social media is ultimately a great addition to the arsenals of the hospitality business, allowing them to spread and promote what is unique and special about their own business whether it be a new food trend or a new spin on a well-known recipe. Apps like Snapchat for example now have certain feeds that provide information on the newest food trends providing recipes, restaurant suggestions and more food related content update on a daily basis.

I personally think that ultimately social media is mostly a positive addition to the hospitality field as it is healthy for both producer and consumer allowing companies to get their information across to the consumer and allowing them to continue spreading what they want to in order to get people’s attention in a relatively fast manner. I enjoy taking photos of the food that I make and eat and also enjoy looking on social media at what friends and celebrities are eating too, always finding something new that catches my eye and drawing me in.

Social media in hospitality has open the industry up to an increasing amount of people around the world, creating more jobs, spreading new ideas, and making a difference on how the world views the world. I think social media and hospitality pairs really well together and has adapted the industry to through technology. Technology is a growing feature in this era. For hospitality to be able to keep up with the new trends keeps the industry alive. I occasionally would post pictures of food/beverages because I want to share my experience at a specific place with others. The feeling when others would do the same is nice because it gives me a personal insight on a particular item or create awareness about a product I would probably never even heard about. I started doing this thing where if I was going to a new establishment, I would search up the menu, to view exactly what to expect. Social media has made this step easier and truthful. I know many have experienced going to a place where they would have set images of what certain meals would look like and once they order and receive their meal, the actual dish wouldn’t match up to that set image, which is truly upsetting at times. As majority establishments in the previous articles have spoken about, social media is a great way to advertise, and for free I might add. At the end of the day social media benefits both consumers and businesses.