The Forestry Explained Instagram profile @forestry_explained reached an significant milestone this month with its 1,500th follower. Despite being in its social media infancy, @forestry_explained is rapidly gaining in popularity and has attracted a substantial following in comparison to the other forestry related profiles.

What makes it a hit?

Forestry – it is as simple as that! Forestry in South Africa is a diverse, fascinating and photogenic industry, making Instagram the obvious social media choice. Our images range from artistic shot of the towering trees to a spectacular unplanted landscape, snaps from camera traps triggered by the movement of the many animals making plantations and forestry land their home, or the human face of the sector. These all showcase the real and diverse face of commercial forestry in South Africa and are winning the industry an arm of followers – on Instagram at least.

The forestry community at large seem to have caught the Instagram bug, with a large Instagram network, spanning the globe, posting amazing images of commercial forestry from Alaska to Australia. All you need to do is scan the variety of “hashtags” dedicated to the sector.

Where next?

Our goal is to grow our following to 2000 by the end of 2019, attracting both those within the sector and individuals outside of forestry.

By creating a network of “foresters” on Instagram, our aim is to increase forestry’s presence on the platform by inspiring others to post more forestry-related content. The #forestryfriday competition is part of this initiative and has resulted in some spectacular posts which generate a great deal of attention.

Instagram also provides a platform where we can expose the wider public to the many faces of forestry and hopefully dispel one or two myths about the industry along the way.

Be part of this visual network

Changing misconceptions about forestry, and forest products, is one of the biggest challenges the sector faces. Instagram provides us with a platform to do this.

So next time you are out and about in the forestry landscape – whether for work or play, take a snap or two and add them to Instagram. Who knows, it might be you taking home the next #ForestryFriday R250 Cape Union Mart Voucher. Just make sure you tag us, @forestry_explained, in all your forestry related posts and lets get Instagram abuzz with forestry. If you’re not on Instagram, email your images to info@forestryexplained.co.za along with the location and details about the image.