#VanLife creator Foster Huntington on the trials and tribulations of running a viral blog

Keeping up with a viral blog and social media account isn't easy, especially if most of your time is spent off the grid. So it's no surprise that Foster Huntington, the creative brain behind #VanLife, has had his work cut out for him. But Huntington's secret to success isn't to focus on social media — it's to live his life to the fullest and document that for his readers, regardless of whether he can do it in real time.

Foster Huntington's unique outlook on life was all thanks to a realization he had just a few short years ago. As a young designer for Ralph Lauren, Huntington quickly came to the conclusion that corporate America was not for him and left his desk job to travel across the country in his van. This major move prompted the viral hashtag #VanLife, which has since showcased nearly half a million users' on-the-road journeys. Since then, Huntington has authored three different books, built his own treehouse home from start to finish with his friends, and has made it a point to spend the precious time he has in the comfort of the great outdoors.

We recently spoke to Huntington about how he balances his fan-favorite social media accounts with traveling, his perspective on Instagram and more!

And if you want even more Foster Huntington news, head over to AOL.com at 6 p.m. ET to see more exclusive features, including what his one piece of advice that will change your life.

What was your reaction to when #VanLife became more than just a hashtag, and turned into this viral nomadic movement?
My friends and I were just joking about ThugLife which is what Tupac had tattooed on his stomach. And I was like, "It's not ThugLife it's VanLife!" It really was a way to capture the tribulations of your car breaking down and being able to experience incredible places. It's just such a refreshing lifestyle. So I started that hashtag as a joke. But it brought so much joy to my life and I'm glad to see other people find a way to go out there and experience it for themselves.

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One thing that bums me out about it is that it's all become very commercial. Instagram is still such new platform and all these people are trying to figure out how it works virtually in their life. I look at the photos and sometimes they all look the same, as if they were ads for something. That's also the issue with Instagram as a whole. When it first started it was so new that it wasn't conscious yet. But nowadays where you can see how many likes everything gets and so much is based on that it's whitewashed a little bit. Instead of being the content that people are really into, it's what people post to get a lot of likes. Which was not my inclination at all when I started taking photos of vans. I began documenting the people around me not because it was "cool" or that I wanted to make a living as a nomadic traveler. I was doing it because I loved it.

How have you balanced being truly off the grid and also keeping up with your Instagram account?
I'm not as concerned about that. Last fall I went on a month long trip to Mexico on a sailboat and I had internet twice. And it was great to get away from everything. It's such a default thing to do when you're bored to check Instagram. But for me, it doesn't bother me that I'm not connected to it.

That's kind of what i was getting at before with the whitewashing of content based off of how many likes it has. You know I make a living selling books and I'm getting more and more into making videos so there's a different workflow and mindset than social media. I think they go hand in hand in a lot of ways, but I feel like I'm accomplishing more when I'm working on a photo book or editing a video then I am posting an Instagram.

YouShouldKnow is a feature that showcases up-and-coming social stars. To see more of past interviews, click here. And come back at 6 pm EST for more exclusives on Foster Huntington, including his one piece of advice that will change your life.

By BANU IBRAHIM

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