What Instagram Data Actually Tells Creators — A Conversation with Kirsten Alana

At Panoply we’d just launched our Instagram data connector, and I wanted to understand what creators actually do with their data — not what marketers assume they do. So I sat down with Kirsten Alana, a travel photographer and blogger with a serious following, to find out.

Kirsten doesn’t call herself an influencer. She’s a photographer first — and the distinction isn’t semantic. She’s not chasing sponsorships or free hotel stays. She’s helping people make informed decisions about where to travel and what to do when they get there. Her audience trusts her because there’s clear incentive alignment — she’s trying to be useful, not to monetize them.

That framing completely changes what “Instagram data” means to someone like her. She’s not optimizing for reach or engagement rates. She wants to know: are people finding this helpful? What questions are they asking? Which destinations are resonating? The metrics that matter to a creator focused on education and photography are wildly different from what the growth-hacking playbook assumes.

This was exactly what we were digging into at Panoply — what happens when you give creators access to their own Instagram data in a warehouse where they can actually query it, slice it, combine it with other sources. The Instagram API gives you surface-level metrics. Panoply let you go deeper.

The Instagram landscape in 2019 was shifting fast — Stories everywhere, IGTV trying to find its footing, the feed algorithm constantly changing. For creators who think in terms of photography and storytelling rather than viral moments, the data was confusing. Kirsten needed analytics that matched her goals, not someone else’s growth template.

What I took away from this conversation shaped how I thought about our Instagram data product. The best data tools don’t just hand you numbers — they help you answer the questions you actually care about.

Key Takeaways

• “Influencer” and “creator” aren’t the same thing. Kirsten’s relationship with her audience is built on trust and usefulness — and her data needs reflect that.
• Surface-level metrics miss the point. Creators like Kirsten need to understand why content resonates, not just how far it reached.
• Data tools should serve the creator’s goals. When you give people access to their own data on their own terms, they use it in ways you didn’t expect.