How Martha Stewart Became the Queen of Instagram

When I am scrolling on Instagram, there are few accounts more immediately identifiable than Martha Stewart’s. From first glance, it’s easy to tell when a post is Martha’s. Whether set at her bucolic upstate New York farm or at some Hollywood event, the image inevitably oozes effortless glamour, even when she’s wearing muck boots. And that’s because on social media, Martha Stewart is a truly singular presence.

At 83 years old, Stewart has dominated every media format she’s ever entered. She has been a cooking show host, a talk show host, an awards presenter, even a Comedy Central roast guest, and approached each job with aplomb. On her official account, @marthastewart, we see the work of her business empire, like links to her beloved recipes and entertaining tips for the holidays. Those are all perfectly well curated, but it’s on her personal account — @marthastewart48 — where we really get to know the real Martha.

Stewart’s social media presence has, for the last decade or so, been a journey. Back in 2013, the Internet skewered her for posting terrible, poorly lit photos of food to her Instagram and Twitter accounts, most of which managed to make food that you know was pretty good look horribly unappetizing. This was at the peak of the era of heavily edited food porn, when professional-looking shots of pizza and pasta ruled social media feeds. Now that the Instagram aesthetic has shifted to be a bit more DIY and laissez-faire, one might call these pixelated old photos edgy. But no matter, Stewart has dramatically stepped up her food photography game in the last ten years — and now possibly works with a team who helps keep those gross food photos off her feed.

Even though there’s some curation going on behind the scenes, Stewart uses Instagram to display her true passions in an accessible way, and the effect is instantly endearing. We know, of course, that there are few people more skilled in creating stunning tablescapes and piping cream puffs, but it’s impossibly charming to watch her dote on her birds, rave (unpaid) about a cheap vacuum cleaner she likes, and show off the farm’s onion harvest. We see her pets, her plants, her cooking victories, and her selfies with celebrities like Jon Hamm, the kinds of things we all post. (Or would if we were invited to hang out with Jon Hamm.)

Following Martha’s account is a little bit intimate, almost like having access to her “finsta,” a private account that many celebrities use to keep up with friends and family, except there are two million other people who also follow this account. Most of us have a very idealized image of Martha in our minds, but on Instagram, we can see her water a tree sapling in her (admittedly glamorous) sweatpants and slippers with a beaming smile, not a stitch of makeup in sight. In the era of Facetune and filters, that feels refreshing, even when you remember that you’ll never have the kind of cash that makes it possible to look so youthful at 83.

I also deeply appreciate that Martha is never afraid to get weird with it on Instagram. Leading up to Halloween, she shared many of her past costumes, each as over the top as she is. She’s not above posting a close-up photo of a 10-pound cabbage just because she wants to show off her garden’s impressive cabbage haul. She loves exclamation points, posing in gorgeous gowns, and teaching her followers about various types of flowers and trees. In every post, we get as unfiltered a look at Martha as we’re ever going to get, and even though there’s still plenty of professional shots and ads on her feed, it still feels mostly authentic.

And some might argue that intent is deliberate. Perhaps the feed exists as a reminder that Stewart isn’t as terminally put-together as we might expect her to be, yet another example of celebrity image manufacturing to show the plebs that she’s Just Like Us. Perhaps the blurry selfies and poorly lit landscapes are a heavily calculated attempt at relatability, but I don’t think that’s the case. This is a space where Martha gets to be a little bit messy. To look a little awkward while taking selfies and show us that she’s not above the occasional thirst trap. To geek out over her plants and explore her interests in a way that you’d never see in the pages of her magazine.

If you follow a lot of celebrities on Instagram, sometimes it can be difficult to tell their feeds apart. All the mansions and glasses of champagne and gorgeously curated parties eventually start to blur together, and you realize that these accounts are mostly just boring and shallow. But that just isn’t the case with Martha Stewart: she’s cultivated a feed that is as singular as she is.