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My Seven Most Annoying Social Media Travel Shares

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Social Media Shares

Ah, social media. Bringing people together, making the world smaller, taking over eveyone’s lives… isn’t it fun? Especially when your friends all head off on holiday and start updating you with every minute detail of how amazing/sunny/life-changing/beautiful/hot it is. Social media, especially Facebook and Instagram, sometimes seem to be little more than one big bragging competition – and it can get annoying.

Recently, I came across a post about the Seven Most Annoying Holiday Updates, which ranks posts like the holiday countdown, weather updates, and shots of local cuisine among the most irritating holiday shares on social media. Which got me wondering, how many of these and of my own pet peeves am I actually guilty of? Obviously, I have to share updates about my travels on my Facebook page and other accounts – I’m a travel blogger, after all – but what about my personal feed? As it turns out, I’m guilty of most of my own most hated social media crimes.

So, here are my own top seven most annoying social media holiday offences – all of which I’ve committed in the past year or so. Sorry about that…

The Airport Check-in

My friends might have forgotten I’m going away (in spite of me talking about nothing else for weeks). Quick, I’d better remind them.

Or not. Apparently, airport check-ins are considered one of the most annoying social media updates of all time. Oops.

Social Media Shares, Airport Check-in

Legs by the Pool

Feet by the pool

Legs in the sand, pedicured toes in the sea… why is it always more appealing to get our holiday tootsies into that beach or pool snap? Even I’m guilty on occasion, although thankfully I’ve never yet taken on of those vague knees-up shots that are so easily confused with tinned sausages. Watch this space!

Cocktails

No one wants to see what a fabulous time you’re having sipping cocktails in some exotic destination. And yet, when we’re drinking cocktails on holiday, we just can’t seem to help ourselves…

Social Media Shares, Pina colada

Jump Photos

Why do large groups of people always seem to feel the need to leap into the air to prove what a great time their having? I hate these shots, but I seem to wind up in dozens of them. When someone points a camera at me and says jump, I say “how high?”.

Salar Day Four

The ‘Aren’t I Adventurous’ Status

Social Media Shares

Because what people really want to see when they’re stuck on the train to work is my “Just went PARAGLIDING” Facebook status. Apparently, that’s considered showing off – and it’s the 5th most hated holiday Facebook share according to a recent survey. Whoops.

Intentionally Braggy Statuses

Social Media Shares

Speaking of showing off…

“I don’t normally do braggy statuses, but… Just spent the day driving to deserted Vietnamese beaches on a morobike. So there.”

That’s probably my most recent Facebook brag. It’s also a big fat LIE; almost all my Facebook statuses from last year were outright brags. In fact, other than adding new photo albums, the only times I bothered posting to Facebook at all were to show off. And it seems I’m not the only one; in a recent survey of more than 2000 adults, over 51% admitted to using hashtags in their holiday posts predominately “to make people jealous/envious”. Here are a few of my worst offences from 2014…

“Think I’ve put on about a stone in Mendoza. Pancakes with dulce de leche every morning, two all you can eat buffets, and so much wine! I am a fatty.”

“Crazy-fast dune buggies followed by sandboarding in the desert at Huacachina! Peru is seriously awesome!!”

“So… Tomorrow we fly to the Amazon. No big deal.”

Capture

Me On the Beach

Beach selfie, Me at Bahia Concha, Colombia

According to a recent survey, the number one most irritating holiday status update on social media is the classic ‘me on the beach’ shot. I HATE these when I see them, but looking back through my Facebook I realise I’m so guilty of them, too. Even my cover photo is an image of me joyously leaping out of the sea in Vietnam. Selfies on the beach, feet in the sea, shots of sandcastles and palm trees or just about anything else which proves I’m on a beach while you’re all stuck at work in the boring UK – those are the most hated Facebook posts apparently. And it seems I share just as many as anyone else. So… sorry about that guys.

What social media shares annoy you most – and how many of these are you guilty of? Get commenting below and tell us you’re most braggy social media share!

43 thoughts on “My Seven Most Annoying Social Media Travel Shares”

  1. I am sure I am guilty of quite a few of those but the be honest all of my friends and family know I am an avid traveller and I am hardly going to write a status “walked along the most amazing beach today…it was pretty boring!” lol I think Facebook and social media is a tool for bragging and we very rarely put up the bad sides of our lives or travel unless there is an awesome story behind it. I think everyone is guilty of it so no big deal :)

    1. I know, it’s certainly become that way. I can’t help but think it’s a shame that we’re all (myself included) so obsessed with bragging – but then again, it’s not hurting anyone. Unless they’re so jealous it hurts ;)

  2. My facebook feed is littered with photos of babies and children. The minority of other photos are the few friends I have that travel. Then there are the people who love posting videos or quotes. What makes our travels any different or worse than a cute baby? People bragging how their kids ate with a spoon or peed by themselves? Personally I prefer the travel photos, I find them more interesting. Go ahead and brag. It’s a bit more interesting than a child doing the same thing than every child before them has.

    1. Haha, it’s so true! I have to confess that almost every friend I have with kids is hidden from my newsfeed. With the exception of my nieces and nephews, I am so uninterested in seeing updates about someone else’s children!! I would definitely rather see a braggy travel post – but there is a limit. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to live vicariously!

    2. Ha .. so true! The whole first week of September my news feed was (admittedly cute) kids in their new school uniforms. And I’d much rather see a beach than a friend’s child eating a potato for the first time!

  3. hahaha! I pretty sure I am kind of guilty, except that not being much of a beach-lover, my braggy-type statuses are most likely not particularly desirable to most of my friends! I mean, they would probably hate to see me bragging about being on a tropical beach, but I expect they couldn’t care less that I’ve just had an awesome sauna on a ferry from Finland to Germany!
    I’m with Katherine: urgh, children gumming up my Facebook feed ;)
    Bring on the travel bragging I say!

  4. worldjourneysdiscover

    i cant stand the ‘travel hack’ posts on twitter. Or you know, links to supposedly awesome travel deals which are in fact more expensive than just going toe the airline’s website. but the one’s youve listed dont really annoy me at all! Make me jealous? maybe.
    Except maybe the pina colada one. thats a little annoying! :P great post!

    1. Haha, I don’t think their TOO annoying – but it can get a bit much during summer when everyone’s on vacation. Since I’m a travel blogger I generally find the inspiration helpful – I prefer to see travel in my feed that a lot of the other more boring stuff that comes up, like pics of food or those cryptic ‘I’m depressed but I don’t want to talk about it in public so I’mm just going to half talk about it vaguely on Facebook in search of a little attention from all my friends’ which always come accompanied by about twenty ‘aw hunni, what’s up xoxo’ comments. Yuk!

      Not sure about the travel hacks. Occasionally I spot a helpful one. I’m sick of hearing about how you can hollow out a lipstick to make a secret money safe. If criminals abroad aren’t stealing make-up bags by the dozen these days there’s something wrong with them!

  5. Anna | slightly astray

    Haha! I share pretty pictures on my Instagram/Facebook page, but I hardly ever post to my personal FB account. My friends back home probably think I do nothing based on the silence on my wall, lol. But I feel fine posting to my Instagram/blog FB page because I am supposed to be a travel blogger. I don’t think these are that annoying coming from bloggers, who are supposed to be inspiring wanderlust. But it is annoying coming from people who do it purely to brag!

    1. Very true! I definitely focus a lot more on my Facebook page these days, rather than my personal feed. I’ve even had to separate Instagram into a business account and a personal one, and that definitely helps. But I still managed plenty of cyber bragging through my personal feeds last year – definitely time to stop that. It can come across as bragging when it’s not done for business reasons – but I love to follow bloggers on FB and get inspiration from their shares. There’s a big difference I think between bragging and using pics/statuses to promote your travel brand. Hopefully I’m getting the balance right these days!

  6. Oh yes!! I think the jumping in the air shots are my biggest pet peeves! Like what does that even prove? That you know how to control your shutter speed? That you are so happy you could jump in the air like a five year old? lool! It’s a massive travel trend though and I almost did it when we were away yesterday but managed not to commit too many social media offences !

  7. Looks like you are guilty as charged Emily. Question is will you change your ways? I hope not.

    With regard to the jumping picture I noticed someone doing a cartwheel – is that okay? ;-)

    As for beach photos, I don’t mind seeing bronzed legs and cocktail umbrellas – nice escapism from the British winter / weather.

    1. Haha I have a feeling I won’t! These days I try to keep most of my travel stuff on my Facebook Page, which goes with my blog – I sort of have to update that with travel stuff, after all! No more braggy statuses on my personal account if I can help it :)

      Not sure what my stance is on cartwheels. I sort of like that they took the jump photo into their own hands. We all jumped, he cartwheeled. Clearly a free spirit who simply won’t jump on command!

  8. Haha I loved this post! I can think of much worse things to see on Facebook than beautiful faraway locations, so long as there are no hotdogs-or-legs type swimming pool shots!

  9. Bravo, Emily. Wonderful post. I just got back from a road trip with a pair of millennials. Kept cringing while waiting for them to get the perfect Selfie. (Of course if I looked as stunning I’d probably do the same.) I’m working on ironic posts…as I see you do. More fun. #SocialAnthropology

    1. Thank you Elaine!! I was in Greece a couple of weeks ago with about 45 bloggers, among them some beauty bloggers, and I have to say I’ve never seen so many pouty selfies or leg shots being taken (again, if I looked as good as they did I’d probably do it too!!!). I definitely am as guilty as many others, but I try to limit it – and I definitely prefer ironic or funny posts when I can :)

  10. Guilty as charged :) I fill my Facebook page with travel photos. I consider its my page and if others don’t like it I have no problem with them exercising their freedom of choice in blocking my photos ( hope they do t though lol). It’s like my blog, it too us filled with lots of holiday stories ( funny and factual) . I love seeing holiday snaps of my friends , gives me ideas of new spots to go ( or not to go haha).

    1. Haha, I think we all are Kerry-Anne!! I certainly am! Like you, I don’t actually think it matters and most people probably enjoy seeing what we’re up to. Especially as bloggers, we obviously have to share a lot on our blogs and social media pages etc. The line between sharing and outright bragging can get blurred sometimes, though, which is something I’m personally trying to work on this year!

  11. Haha, fun read. I agree with Katherine above about the kid photos, and the inspirational quotes. Those are far more annoying to me than anything travel related, which I eat up and actually enjoy seeing. But I can see how they would be annoying for those who don’t travel much, or don’t care about travel. The only people I post for on my personal FB is my family, who want to see what I’m up to abroad, so I don’t feel too shameful. I also am almost never in my photos, so people if people hate me, they can’t put a face to the person they hate, haha.

    I will say, I’ve never participated in or posted a jumping photo so… one point on the win column?

    1. Thanks Kacy! Since posting this, I’ve actually taken part in several more jump photos. I never start them, but I’m generally a willing participant – although given how much hassle they are to orchestrate I have no idea why people ever suggest them!

      Inspirational quotes, at least travel related ones, aren’t as bad to me as the ‘affirmations’. Those “you are amazing, you can do anything you like” memes that a clogging the internet drive me crazy – nice message, but if self-esteem was as easy as just reading one of those, everyone would have buckets of it!

      In spite of my post, I actually do love sharing about my travels and reading about others’ on social media – it’s the only reason I use it really! But I try to be careful not to brag, as bragging is different from sharing and much, much more annoying!

  12. I love this post Emily! I am so bad for all of them but especially the airport check-in. It’s a ritual for me haha. I like to think that it’s a good thing, a stamp of where you are/where you are going for friends and family in case anything goes wrong (you go missing, etc). I am burdened with a mother who is terrified of all aspects of travel so all these annoying habits are also a reminder that I am okay to my mum :)

  13. It’s really good to have this list. I don’t think I’m too guilty in violating it. Instead I find I don’t post enough on Social Media, which is decidedly unhealthy for a travel blogger, and I see the most successful travel bloggers are CONSTANT violating also interesting also points. interesting to note that my Instagram photo with the most likes is a shot of my Turkish Coffee in Bosnia. And I probably get a pm a week from a friend saying “not fair” in response to one of my photos or blog posts.

    1. Haha yep as a blogger I am constantly posting pics and statuses that I probably wouldn’t share if it wasn’t my job! Nice to let readers know what I’m up to in real time, and maybe get them excited for the posts that are coming (that’s what I tell myself anyway). As long as I don’t come across too braggy I think it’s ok!

  14. I actually will get very jealous when someone update their social media with holiday photos and airport check-ins, but none of them really bothers me. What I actually found really annoying is the hundreds of photos with babies, esp some 20 years something craving for babies and then keep updating their babies status since their pregnancy I was like…screw that.

    1. It’s funny, so many people have said the same thing – it seems kids are far less interesting than travel on social media!! Many of my friends with kids are hidden from my personal Facebook newsfeed – I only want to hear about children I know, like my nieces and nephews! Travel statuses do make me jealous but I think on the whole they’re fun :)

  15. Right on top of the list have to be selfies! With some it’s a selfie shot almost every photo – as if others won’t believe that the poster is really at the place he/she/them are telling.
    Next up are photos more so related to our way of travelling: we are driving around South America in what’s often referred to as an ‘expedition vehicle’. I hate that word itself – there are hardly any real vehicle based expeditions left on this planet, there might be some with a boat up the Amazon for 3 weeks or longer.
    Anyhow. many of our friends with 4Ɨ4 campers constantly post these pictures of their vehicle getting stuck, or just getting out of a bog, or driving through a river with water splashing left and right. Almost all of these are staged, because when you’re really in a situation like that you foremost think about how to get out safely.
    Plus hardly anybody wades through waist deep water with a expensive camera to take a photo from the other side. So that means: They’ve crossed already once, left a partner with camera on the dry, drove back, and the second time they took the crossing full speed for the scary action photo the partner took.
    These are like selfies for overland travellers. Hence I don’t like them either.

    1. Haha I love this rant :) Glad I could provide a space for you to vent your social media frustrations!!! I’m with you on staged photos – what’s the point? I can remember teasing my mum when she made us all pretend to point at something off camera for a photo, saying “great idea, then we can all remember that time we pretended to point at something”!! (Sorry, mum!).

      The point of a photo is surely to preserve a memory. If you’re staging it your suddenly not making a memory, you’re making something to show off. And it’s when the attention is pure bragging that I really hate pics and statuses on social media!

  16. This is HILARIOUS. I am mostly guilty of jumping pictures and of me at be beach posts. But considering I live in Sardinia and all we do during the summer here is going to the beach I think I am forgiven?

    1. Haha thanks Claudia! I was having a bit of a rant at the time :) I think we’re all guilty of these types of posts, but as long as it’s not REALLY bragging then I think it’s forgiveable. Although I do know a few friends hid me from their Facebook newsfeeds while I was travelling full time last year!

  17. Funny post! I actually stopped posting a lot of my travel stuff on my personal Facebook because of some snyde comments , and don’t even think I did “braggy” comments lol

    1. Haha me too – I still post there on occasion but not that much, and I do try to control it. I never thought I did braggy comments either, until I looked back through my old statuses for this post and saw dozens of them. Usually starting with “I hate to brag, but…”. Obviously I don’t hate to brag really!!

  18. Ha ha loved this. I’m definitely guilty of some of them… oops! It’s so easy to get sucked in to bragging when you’re actually having the time of your life, and even easier to get annoyed at other people when you’re not! :)

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