If you’ve been following me on social media, you know that I have been shamelessly promoting my Level Up Courses and the Instagram Tips and Tricks Mini Course. The feedback has been amazing and thank you to those that have supported the courses.
As I was researching, trying to find out what pain points my audience (who are small business owners, creatives and music artists) had, the same concerns about Instagram kept appearing. Those concerns: that their accounts have been shadowbanned, that their posts are restricted in the “algorithm” and most were concerned that they were going to lose their accounts.
These concerns are very well warranted.
The Instagram/Meta Terms of Use and Community Guidelines governs how we use Instagram and the Community Guidelines “help us foster and protect this amazing community” as stated in the guidelines online. And while these guides are there now, this has not always been the case.
We created the Community Guidelines so you can help us foster and protect this amazing community. By using Instagram, you agree to these guidelines and our Terms of Use. We’re committed to these guidelines and we hope you are too. Overstepping these boundaries may result in deleted content, disabled accounts, or other restrictions.
In the Beginning
Instagram was launched as an IOS-only photo sharing app in 2010. In the beginning, Instagram was predominantly food pictures, our best outfits and travel pics. The timeline was chronological. Remember chronological feeds? Instagram was a much simpler place. (For look into what Instagram looked like back in the early days, check out this blog by Post Builder. It will have you in nostalgia city.) Photos were uploaded, photos were double-tapped for almost two full years until 2012, when Instagram was acquired by Facebook but it wasn’t until 2016 that Instagram rapidly started on the path to change, including the controversial change from a chronological feed to an algorithmic feed. But the controversy did nothing to stop Instagram from continuing on its path to god status as it inched closer to 1 billion users.
With the switch to algorithmic based feeds in 2016, users on the platform were relying on artificial intelligence to get them in front of accounts. And the feedback was not so great. Accounts that were getting a lot of reach in the past, were all of a sudden rarely being seen. And the condition of shadowbanning (blocking a user from a social media site or online forum usually by making their posts and comments no longer visible to other users, without the user’s knowledge) began to be discussed. Were accounts really being shadowbanned on purpose? Instagram wasn’t about to tell us anytime soon.
Community Guidelines are Established
Instagram reached 1 billion users in 2018.
With all of these users on the platform, Facebook felt it needed to establish guidelines on how to behave while on the app. So in April 2018, the Instagram Community Guidelines were established to according to its blog, “set out our policies for what we do and don’t allow on Instagram…” Fresh with options how to report an account “you think may violate any of our guidelines” along with the link to report, whether or not the person making the report has an Instagram account.
As can be expected along with this new reporting system, came a rise in the suspicion of shadowbanning. But Instagram still remained mum on the topic, almost dismissing the subject entirely. With this lack of response from Instagram, the topic remained up for debate: was shadowbanning real or was it just an urban legend?
Instagram Breaks Its Silence
For 11 years, Instagram remained silent about the topics of shadowbanning and its algorithms then June 2021, Instagram quietly dropped an article to its blog explaining how Instagram works; using both terms algorithm and shadowbanning for the first time ever, in the same blog! Every digital marketer lost their mind! I still read it to this day and can still feel the shock from when I first saw the word shadowbanning in the post. In the post, Instagram explains how “the algorithm” works. FYI, there isn’t one algorithm, instead multiple. Instagram, as well as most websites and apps you use, have more than one algorithm at work. And they address (lightly) the topic of shadowbanning. Don’t expect any real answers. Then shockingly, a couple of weeks later, Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) posted a Reel to his account basically regurgitating the blog post but, at the same time, also ushering in the addition of the Account Status feature to Instagram profiles in an effort to be “more transparent”. Here’s a link to Instagram Help article explaining account status, including instructions on how to check your account status.
We recognize that we haven’t always done enough to explain why we take down content when we do, what is recommendable and what isn’t, and how Instagram works more broadly. As a result, we understand people are inevitably going to come to their own conclusions about why something happened, and that those conclusions may leave people feeling confused or victimized.
Instagram’s on a quest to be more transparent and admitting they make mistakes, but whether this is enough still remains to be seen. Many accounts on Instagram users still don’t feel they are getting the reach they deserve. Many users also don’t create understand how Instagram works or that there actually is a separate chronological feed on the platform where your followers get your posts as you post them- just like the old days.
Want to know about shadowbanning and content strategy? Join The Artist Management Circle Remix or schedule a 1:1 call with me.
