Instagram Community

I never would have thought that anyone other than friends would follow me, but to my surprise, quite a few other knitters have since I began posting. This made me realize that this account offered me a way to observe the engagement that big knitting accounts have with their followers and individuals who use their yarn/patterns. I tested it out by posting a picture of a big chunky pink sweater that I knit, in which I tagged the yarn company, Wool and the Gang. To my surprise, the photo was liked by the account, and the following Monday, March eighth, I woke up to a few new followers, realizing I had been reposted to their account. I instantly felt excited and like I had finally been recognized for my knitting and the time and effort I put into my project. This showed me that they pay attention and have social media managers who stay on top of who is reposting them and how they can show engagement with these followers by reposting their images.

This also goes along with knitters who design patterns, ask for testers, and help create a community for further engagement. It makes it a fun activity to be able to test a pattern, which is when a pattern owner gets a group of people to test the pattern and different sizes, making sure everything makes sense for future knitters. Sometimes they will create a group chat on Instagram, making it possible for testers to be able to contact the designer and the other testers for help and advice.

This shows that no matter the size of an account knitters and brands have, they seem to know that engaging with their supporters is essential to their growth, both as individuals and their accounts. This led me to the idea of interviewing a few of the knitters I follow in order to see if my ideas were similar to how they felt about the knitting community.