JOIN USAlmost all of us have a secret bucket list and adventure and travel is a important category in this index. But while the previous generations cut out beach pictures from magazines or romanticised about exotic locales after seeing them on television, the millenials do things a little bit differently.
We sigh over the perfect vacation pictures our friend posted on Instagram, eagerly open every travel-related post on Facebook and drool over stunning YouTube backpacking videos.
In other words, social media is our guide and ‘guru’ when it comes to deciding what to do or where to head next. No wonder it is being called as an ‘influencer’ and more and more people are turning to it for inspiration.
“I had never really thought about giving paragliding a try until I saw a live Facebook video of a friend doing it,” says Parvathy K, a lawyer. “I am naturally an adventurous person and was immediately inspired. And this is a common pattern nowadays.
People are eager to try the same experiences their friends have had or go to the same places, partly because they see for themselves that it is safe and partly because they don’t want to miss out on anything.”
For Saurav Arya, a chance look at a post talking about ‘The Hillman wonders of the world’ has now turned into a lifelong quest.
“I just happened to read about the different places mentioned in the post and I decided to visit all of them,” says the founder and owner of Impressive Infographics, adding that he has covered 51 out of 100 so far.
Now it is Saurav’s turn to motivate others and his breathtaking pictures, clicked all around the globe, have been eliciting a lot of responses and queries.
“I get a lot of messages from people on Facebook who are immensely inspired to travel to these places after seeing my posts. Usually people have preconceived
notions about certain places but after seeing posts from a person who has actually been to the place, rather than on a website, they feel that it is safe to travel to such areas. Which is why my trips to offbeat destinations get more comments,” he says.
Madhumita Nandi, an advertising and documentary photographer, is another such person whose travel-related posts and attractive pictures, have influenced many
a person to pack their bags and set out on a trip.
“I keep getting queries on Instagram with people asking me how to get to a certain place or whom to contact once they get there. Out of all the pictures I have uploaded, mountains seem to have particularly charmed many of my followers. Sometimes it is portraits of people too.”
Such is the power of social media that a village in Switzerland has now voted to ban tourists from taking photos. Locals believe that their village is so beautiful that visitors’ pictures of it, when uploaded to social media, will depress other
people who can’t go there.
Now that is called looking at the bigger picture!