Instagram has removed accounts it judged to be spam, so many bought followers have vanished. Let them go. Judge the account by local followers who comment, tag and visit, not by the count.

A smaller number than on Wednesday

A shop owner opens Instagram to a follower count well below where it stood on Wednesday. Nothing was posted that could explain it, and no customer has complained.

Around the world, accounts large and small saw the same thing yesterday. Some lost a few dozen followers; some lost most of them.

The followers that vanished were never going to buy anything. Knowing why makes the smaller number much easier to live with.

What Instagram did

On December 10, Instagram said it would permanently deactivate accounts it had identified as spam, and warned that some people would see their follower counts change.

Yesterday the removals arrived in bulk. Accounts run by software rather than people, many of them used to pad other accounts' numbers, disappeared from follower lists everywhere.

For most businesses the only visible effect is the lower count. Their posts and their real followers are where they were.

Where the missing followers came from

Most accounts that lost followers had picked them up in one of a few ways:

The first leaves the largest hole. Bought followers are accounts created in bulk to be sold, and they were exactly what Instagram set out to remove.

Bought followers were never customers

A bought follower is an account run by software or by someone paid to follow. It does not look at your photographs, live near your shop or tell anyone about you.

Bought followers rarely like or comment. An account with thousands of followers and a handful of likes on each photograph tells any careful visitor that most of the followers are not real.

Anyone who looks at the list of followers can see the rest: accounts with no posts, no profile photograph and names that are strings of letters.

Swapped followers are not much better

Follow-for-follow swaps bring real people, but not interested ones. They followed to be followed back, and they scroll past your posts the way you scroll past theirs.

Many unfollow within weeks of the swap, so the count drifts down anyway. Meanwhile the accounts you followed back crowd your own feed, hiding the customers and neighbours you meant to watch.

A worked example

A creperie on a shopping street in a seaside town opened two summers ago, with an Instagram account posting the day's specials and photographs of crepes coming off the griddle.

In its first month, the owner bought a package of followers so the new account would not look empty, and joined swaps with other accounts that offered to follow back.

Yesterday the count fell by several thousand. The owner worried that customers would notice and assume the creperie had done something wrong.

A look through the followers who remained was more reassuring. They were mostly people from the town and visitors who had eaten there, the same accounts that commented, tagged their friends and posted their own photographs of lunch.

The owner stopped swapping, unfollowed the swap accounts and left the count to grow at its own pace. Staff now mention the account at the counter, and posts carry the daily special and the hours.

The smaller list is the useful one. Each post now reaches people close enough to walk in, and the comments under it come from customers rather than from software.

What a follower count is good for

A count is a rough measure of how many people could see a post. Watched month to month, it shows whether the account is slowly gathering real followers or standing still.

A sudden jump can point to a post that travelled, a mention by a local account or a busy weekend, and that is worth knowing so it can happen again.

What it should not be used for

It should not be a target. Staff told to reach a number will find ways to reach it, and the quickest ways bring the followers that disappeared yesterday.

It should not be compared with a competitor's count either, since nobody can tell from outside how much of either was bought.

And it should not stand in for sales. The questions that matter are whether local people comment, tag friends, show the post at the counter and come back.

Signs that followers are real

Comments that mention a visit, a dish or a person on staff come from customers. So do photographs taken in the shop and tagged with its name or hashtag.

Instagram offers ordinary accounts little in the way of reports, so keep a simple note each month: the count, the comments, the tags and anything customers mention in person.

The clearest sign comes at the counter, when a customer orders the special she saw posted that morning. Ask staff to note it when it happens.

The counter-case

Numbers do matter in a few places. A maker pitching to retailers, or a business hoping to be featured, may be asked about its following, and a larger number opens some doors.

A brand new account with a handful of followers can also look abandoned to its first visitors, which is the worry that leads owners to buy followers in the first place.

But anyone who opens the list can see through a bought number, and yesterday showed it can vanish overnight. Time spent on good photographs and regular posts builds a following that stays.

Starting from the real number

  1. Note today's count as the new starting point.
  2. Stop buying followers and leave swap groups.
  3. Switch off any app that follows or likes for you.
  4. Unfollow swap accounts that crowd your own feed.
  5. Mention the account at the counter and on receipts.
  6. Post what customers recognise: the room, the staff, the specials.
  7. Track comments and tags each month, not just the count.

Step one changes how the drop feels. Measured from today, every new follower is a person who chose to follow, and the number finally means something.

Another habit built around follower counts, the automated welcome message, is examined in an automatic thank-you to every new Twitter follower.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my Instagram follower count drop?

Instagram removed accounts it identified as spam on December 18. Bought followers are largely accounts of that kind, so many disappeared from follower lists overnight.

Will my posts or real followers be affected?

Your posts stay where they were, and people who follow you because they want to see your posts remain. The removals were aimed at spam accounts, not at customers.

Is buying followers worth it for a new business?

No. Bought followers never see, buy or recommend anything, anyone opening the list can spot them, and as this week showed, they can vanish overnight.

What about follow-for-follow swaps?

They bring real but uninterested accounts that followed only to be followed back. Many unfollow within weeks, and following them back fills your own feed with strangers.

What is a follower count useful for?

As a rough measure of reach, watched month to month. A sudden rise can point to a post or mention worth repeating. It is not a target or a measure of sales.

How can I tell whether followers are real?

Real followers comment about visits, tag friends and post their own photographs of your business. Accounts with no posts, no profile photograph and random names are usually not people.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Follower count fell overnight?

Send us your Instagram account name, and we will look at who remains and suggest a posting plan built around real customers.

Start a Conversation