Instagram Shadowban Is Real: How to Test for & Prevent It
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When you’re trying to grow a following on Instagram, you depend on Explore and hashtag pages to expand your audience and reach. So it can feel more than a little disheartening when it suddenly seems like your content isn’t showing up anywhere.
If you feel like your posts are receiving fewer likes and comments suddenly, or aren’t appearing for certain hashtags or on the Explore page, you might be shadowbanned.
From Instagram’s perspective, the objective of hiding “inappropriate” content makes sense (although its enforcement has been criticized.)
Why does Instagram shadowban?
Shadowbanning allows Instagram to filter out accounts that don’t comply with their terms. Some people use inauthentic measures to expand their Instagram following, like buying followers or using hundreds of hashtags that are irrelevant to their content. If that’s the case, it makes sense that Instagram hides content from those accounts so that only genuine and helpful content is promoted to users.
While Instagram doesn’t openly admit to shadowbanning, they released a statement on their Facebook business page in February 2019 that addressed the problem users were having with their content not showing up for certain hashtags.
Their statement at least confirms the hashtag dilemma as a real one — but many speculate that the statement is Instagram’s way of admitting to shadowbanning, without actually admitting it.
It’s important to note that Instagram changes its algorithm often, so those alterations could be the reason you have witnessed a drop in your engagement rate.
However, shadowbanning could be a real tactic meant to hide users’ content from the wider Instagram audience, and if you’re being shadowbanned, it’s important you take the necessary measures to get your content seen.
Let’s explore how to know if you’re shadowbanned, as well as our tips for getting yourself off the list.
Simply navigate to your profile on the app, then Menu > Settings > Account > Account status. With this feature, you can verify what is affecting your account (if anything) and get suggestions for how to remedy it.
If you don’t have a professional account, there’s an easy test to figure out if your account is shadowbanned.
If one or two of your employees can see your post, you might simply be dealing with a drop in engagement. If that’s the case, you can take a number of …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
