Instagram took notice of the booming social media influencer market. These so-called influencers shell out cash for thousands of likes and spammy comments. They’re every marketer’s worst nightmare and an annoyance to real Instagram users.
During the past couple of weeks, Instagram has shut down third-party sites and apps like Instagress, InstaPlus, and PeerBoost, all of which violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.
Wannabe influencers use these types of services to automate thousands of these generic comments and likes. All they need to do is pay for the number of likes and comments they want, and a bot takes care of the rest. Instagram bots are responsible for fake comments like, “This is so awesome!,” “❤️,” and “Love it!”. The comments are disingenuous, vague and have no relation to the actual content.
And now Instagram wants them to go away.
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Below are two comment sections of a selfie ー one from a real influencer, and the other from a not-so-real influencer. We can tell the comment section on the left has real comments by the users’ language. The users’ comments are either relevant to the picture or mention another person. The picture on the right is flooded with hashtags and emoji that can be used for anything.
Instagram is also “shadowbanning” accounts, meaning pictures with spammy hashtags will not be visible in search or on the Explore tab. This effort will make the platform less spammy and more authentic.
Because these anonymous businesses are shutting down, wannabe influencers will either: eventually give up their goals of insta-fame or get lost in the crowd of “average” content. A win for marketers and a dream-crusher for every teenager.
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