This Passover, I enjoyed the traditional seder meals with my family in New York. But, I also felt I was joined by two others, connected by the power of Instagram, the popular photo-based social network.
They were Sara Kenigsberg, a coworker and friend of mine who also works in The Huffington Post Washington bureau, and Greg Linch, a friend who works for The Washington Post.
During our seders, we were posting pictures relatively frequently to Instagram, liking and commenting on each other's pictures. My family looked at me like I was crazy, constantly looking at my phone during the seder. But it was worth it: I felt connected to two of my friends, one who was in Maryland (Sara) and one who was in Florida (Greg).
On Saturday afternoon, before the second seder, Sara posted a photo of some chocolate coconut macaroons.
Greg responded: "Ooh, nice. Do you have a recipe? We're making some today based on a book recipe my mom has, but these look better!"
Soon after, Sara responded, posting a photo of the recipe.
And sure enough, a few hours later, Greg's mom had baked the macaroons, posting a picture for confirmation.
I've been on Instagram for months, but had never felt more engaged on this social network than during Passover. With Instagram now available for those who have Android devices, too, there's bound to be more and more stories like this to come.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog stated that Greg had baked the macaroons. In fact, his mom baked them.
