About a month ago a friend emailed me the third post below, which is all about the Instagram shadowban. If you’re big on growing your Insta, you’ve likely heard the term. Personally, Instagram has made so any changes in the last six months alone, that you have to do some intense digging (or talk to an insider) to troubleshoot exact issues. I don’t help manage as many accounts as I used to, so after seeing more posts pop up, I wanted to look into the idea of shadowbanning and algorithm changes altogether. Here’s what other bloggers are saying!
1. Technically a shadowban is only for users that violate TOUs, as this post on the Later blog explains. But Instagram also seems to want to steer businesses away from relying on hashtags, which as we know are key to getting posts seen. Interesting!
2. The post above also references Alex Tooby’s recap on the Instagram shadowban, but both posts are worth reading! Her comment section itself is a good way to see what other users are experiencing.
3. Kaitlyn of Pierce Social’s post on Instagram’s hashtag problem + shadowbanning was interesting because she talks about personal accounts that are flagged as business related. This definitely offers a clue as to how it could affect bloggers who aren’t necessarily growing businesses, but just want their content to be seen.
4. This these 10 thoughts on Instagram’s changes from Krista of Covering the Bases is a nice refresher on what’s really important when it comes to your blog and social media. Whether or not you’ve had to completely change your strategy as Instagram grows, good content, authentic connections, and controlling what you can control will always win! Phew.
Keep in mind that Instagram is only going to become more + more like Facebook (because it is Facebook). In order to continue dominating social media they need to be indispensable to business owners, so they can make people pay for exposure. It’s hard to decipher what that all means, but we know one thing’s for sure–it’s always changing.
How has your experience with Instagram changed lately? We’d love to hear it!