Algorithm punishes you for Follow/Unfollow?

[colorme]

The only problem with this thread is that a lot of the accounts getting hit with engagement strikes are large accounts that don't follow/unfollow. In fact, I've had several people PM me about their engagement rates dropping and they span from whitehat to blackhat, from large to small, from niche to niche.

Some people are getting affected by it, and some people are not.

I can see numerous reasons why some accounts can get hit, but I don't think follow/unfollow is the only reasoning behind it. It COULD be a reason for some accounts. To think Instagram only uses that metric to determine who gets on explore or hashtags is pretty narrow minded. Reposted content, age of the account, location, number of hashtags, specific hashtags, hashtags in the caption or comment, and a million other different things could all be possibilities.

Instagram isn't as simple as it used to be. You need to figure out how to adapt with the system, or you'll get left behind. My advice: try out a bunch of different theories/methods and see which one sticks. And if something sticks, keep tweaking it until you have optimized it.

Best of luck, everyone!

You nailed it. Everyone is getting affected. We don't know what drives the IG algorithm and we , wrongly, deduce that it's follow/unfollow, liking more than 1,200 posts, having too many followers, not enough comments on our posts, etc.

If IG knows you're doing something wrong they will temp ban you. If they know you're doing something bad, they will delete your account. So, if you're on this forum touting your IG handle and saying how you blackhat and run around IG, they will find out and hit you bad. Otherwise, they have no way of knowing who you are and what you do.

 

[alienacademy]

My experience was opposite of most of the people commented here.

And about your friend comment, he really doesn't know how to target engaging followers. Most of the accounts I build with follow/unfollow have %15+ engagement rate and that's double than Avg. rate.

And about not reaching explore page:
I had this one account I was building with follow/unfollow which started to get it's most of the posts to explore page when I reached 8k followers. But I didn't stop botting until 20k. The account went from 8k to 40k in a month but then it lost its magic. It was just a phase of hitting explore page (Remember I was still botting when I use to hit the explore page).

 

[socialmorine]

I don't experience the problem either. I have accounts that are manually done follow/unfollow, and accounts are using MP. Both have the same engagement rate. It really depends on your image quality, your posting time and so on.

 

[Luckysky]

And about your friend comment, he really doesn't know how to target engaging followers. Most of the accounts I build with follow/unfollow have %15+ engagement rate and that's double than Avg. rate.

Are you doing f/u manually or are you using any tool/ software (as, for example, MP)? And what do you think is the "target engagement rate" for people who wanna have accounts on IG with sponsors (i.e. a model who is wearing cloth of brand XY. She tagged / mentioned the brand XY on the pic. Target engagement rate in the long-run?)

 

[Luckysky]

I had this one account I was building with follow/unfollow which started to get it's most of the posts to explore page when I reached 8k followers.

What was your method to find out that you are on the explore page?

 

[instagramheart]

There is one account who never used follow/unfollow and it is growing now. Although it has 2800 followers, its reach is now 8000 or sometimes more. It gained 400 followers this week.

While my account is throttled at the moment. I did too many follow unfollow. And I just stopped doing that a week ago. My reach is too 7000 but I have 15k followers. So it is 100 % sure that I am punished. How can both account – one with 2k followers and other with 15k followers can have same reach and impressions. Insta algorithm does stop your growth after doing too many follow/unfollow.

 

[boxhead]

Instagram is performing A/B testing at the moment.

What does that mean?

They've done this stuff for ages. Facebook/Instagram rarely release any changes to anything without A/B testing first.

So at the moment, they've flagged a ton of accounts (of all varieties - data data data) and they're running variations on their algorithms on said accounts (group "B") and comparing the results of that test against accounts that are unchanged (group "A").

They have several reasons for doing this: firstly, their algorithm isn't perfect, and they know it.

Secondly, due to said imperfections, they're in an algorithmic war against, well, you guys -- the black hat types. Or anyone seeking to boost engagement by manipulating their algorithms. And they're losing their war - badly.

So why fight?

Content creators (influencers/bloggers/etc) and those who pay for content creation (brands) are Instagram's lifeblood. And they're being suffocated by blackhat types who're dominating explore pages and algorithmic feeds - all while stealing content and being about as vapid as you can be.

Instagram was built on the idea that original, high quality content drives the platform. They'll fight for that. And not for some deep philosophical reasons, either - because if they don't, someone else will. I don't care big you are - if something better comes along, you're dust.






Just as an aside - why Instagram hasn't introduced a reposting/resharing feature (like uh... every other social media platform) instead of trying to pretend like content isn't endlessly cloned/stolen and engagement along with it - is beyond me. Everyone would win.

I mean, people want to follow curated pages pages - I understand their value. People don't want to follow 2500 different personal accounts that only post occasionally great stuff. Curation is great. That's why we have Spotify playlists - but Spotify playlists' tracks all link back to the original content creator. The content isn't cloned. It isn't stolen. It isn't redundant. It only exists once - it's just accessible from multiple locations.

But Instagram have got their heads stuck in the sand here. I think they consider themselves a place where content is all original and only accessible through its source.

They're dreaming. And they're at war because of it.

Oh well!

 

[tux]

Instagram is performing A/B testing at the moment.

What does that mean?

They've done this stuff for ages. Facebook/Instagram rarely release any changes to anything without A/B testing first.

So at the moment, they've flagged a ton of accounts (of all varieties - data data data) and they're running variations on their algorithms on said accounts (group "B") and comparing the results of that test against accounts that are unchanged (group "A").

They have several reasons for doing this: firstly, their algorithm isn't perfect, and they know it.

Secondly, due to said imperfections, they're in an algorithmic war against, well, you guys -- the black hat types. Or anyone seeking to boost engagement by manipulating their algorithms. And they're losing their war - badly.

So why fight?

Content creators (influencers/bloggers/etc) and those who pay for content creation (brands) are Instagram's lifeblood. And they're being suffocated by blackhat types who're dominating explore pages and algorithmic feeds - all while stealing content and being about as vapid as you can be.

Instagram was built on the idea that original, high quality content drives the platform. They'll fight for that. And not for some deep philosophical reasons, either - because if they don't, someone else will. I don't care big you are - if something better comes along, you're dust.






Just as an aside - why Instagram hasn't introduced a reposting/resharing feature (like uh... every other social media platform) instead of trying to pretend like content isn't endlessly cloned/stolen and engagement along with it - is beyond me. Everyone would win.

I mean, people want to follow curated pages pages - I understand their value. People don't want to follow 2500 different personal accounts that only post occasionally great stuff. Curation is great. That's why we have Spotify playlists - but Spotify playlists' tracks all link back to the original content creator. The content isn't cloned. It isn't stolen. It isn't redundant. It only exists once - it's just accessible from multiple locations.

But Instagram have got their heads stuck in the sand here. I think they consider themselves a place where content is all original and only accessible through its source.

They're dreaming. And they're at war because of it.

Oh well!

you have summarised it beautifully !

 

[madblackhatter1000]

Instagram is performing A/B testing at the moment.

What does that mean?

They've done this stuff for ages. Facebook/Instagram rarely release any changes to anything without A/B testing first.

So at the moment, they've flagged a ton of accounts (of all varieties - data data data) and they're running variations on their algorithms on said accounts (group "B") and comparing the results of that test against accounts that are unchanged (group "A").

They have several reasons for doing this: firstly, their algorithm isn't perfect, and they know it.

Secondly, due to said imperfections, they're in an algorithmic war against, well, you guys -- the black hat types. Or anyone seeking to boost engagement by manipulating their algorithms. And they're losing their war - badly.

So why fight?

Content creators (influencers/bloggers/etc) and those who pay for content creation (brands) are Instagram's lifeblood. And they're being suffocated by blackhat types who're dominating explore pages and algorithmic feeds - all while stealing content and being about as vapid as you can be.

Instagram was built on the idea that original, high quality content drives the platform. They'll fight for that. And not for some deep philosophical reasons, either - because if they don't, someone else will. I don't care big you are - if something better comes along, you're dust.






Just as an aside - why Instagram hasn't introduced a reposting/resharing feature (like uh... every other social media platform) instead of trying to pretend like content isn't endlessly cloned/stolen and engagement along with it - is beyond me. Everyone would win.

I mean, people want to follow curated pages pages - I understand their value. People don't want to follow 2500 different personal accounts that only post occasionally great stuff. Curation is great. That's why we have Spotify playlists - but Spotify playlists' tracks all link back to the original content creator. The content isn't cloned. It isn't stolen. It isn't redundant. It only exists once - it's just accessible from multiple locations.

But Instagram have got their heads stuck in the sand here. I think they consider themselves a place where content is all original and only accessible through its source.

They're dreaming. And they're at war because of it.

Oh well!

Thx for sharing. Hard to believe you are just a newbie with these insights.

 

[Anthony1992]

I manually follow/unfollow and have never seen any negative effect tbh. I only follow/unfollow around 200 very niche accounts a day though so I can't speak for those people doing 900 a day etc.

Also what I do is 1) Don't unfollow users as soon as they follow me back , 2) I'm following 7000 people, when I reach 7200 I unfollow my OLDEST 200 followers (ones that have been following me the longest) not the 200 NEWEST.

 

[HXK14]

I've noticed that following and unfollowing kills your account if you want to try to get your posts on the explorer really annoying to be honest!