putting this picture as the post header because after writing this post I need something calm to see
I have been wanting to write about this particular post for quite some time, it has been around my 'draft' and I don't know, something struck me today and motivated me to write about this. It is a topic that has been talked about since my early Instagram days and as Instagram has grown to this giant, more and more people cheat their way to Instagram fame in a very non-sense way, so non-sense that most of them are not ashamed by it.
The Instagram Algorithm & Instagram Stories
A few months ago when Instagram introduced its algorithm change was the moment where the smaller Instagram users tend to 'suffer' in terms of being noticed, for those who are not aware with the algorithm, basically Instagram is changing the way you see your timeline from chronological order to the similiar algorithm adapted by Facebook, short to say Instagram will display the pictures/videos you (or everyone) care the most and the change hurt the existence of smaller Instagram users/bloggers and will benefit those with already tons of followers, particularly celebrity, that's why when I log in to my Instagram and it refreshes, the first 10 pictures shown on my timeline are almost always Kim Kardashian/Kylie Jenner, uber famous YouTubers/bloggers that I follow and I barely see posts from my cousins, friends or fellow bloggers anymore.
The situation got even worse when Instagram introduced Instagram Stories, basically Instagram's very own Snapchat, it's somehow making people lazy to scroll down their feed, my Instagram Stories got around 80k-120k daily viewers in daily average and I feel like the engagement is bigger than the actual photos that I post. Does the change hurt me? In a way yes. My average like per post was 5k-8k/post back in 2015 to the mid of 2016 and I could earn 250-400 daily followers, but after the change happens earning 4k likes per post was a tough work and I barely gather 150 new followers daily, but the thing is, this issue has not become my main concern. Can I do something to turn the table? Yes I think I can, but at this very moment I just want to embrace what's happening and depend on the kind and loyal followers that are still actively liking my posts and turning on the notification for me (you know who you are).
I suffer, so the easiest thing to do is to cheat my way to the top! Buying fake followers, fake likes, fake comments and fake video views?
Clearly not me.
So one of the easiest things that so many people tempted to do is to buy fake engagement in form of buying fake Instagram likes and followers, for those who don't know how the algorithm works, the more likes and comments you're getting in an hour will increase your chance to be featured on the explore page, and that would increase your chance for your pictures to be liked by actual people and followed by them, eventually it's like a 70:30 thing and the fake likes and comments are the trigger.
How can you spot this suspicious activity? It's actually pretty damn easy, you only need to be an amateur detective.
So I happen to follow these so many food accounts and I have noticed VERY strange activities on their accounts. Why the hell would they get 900 likes in 5 minutes and ended with 1100 likes after the whole day (aka 24 hours), and after you click on the likers, 90% of them are accounts with strange names with 0 followers and thousands of followings, then I compare it to my photos activity (mine of course has 100% real followers), I normally got around 400 likes in 5 minutes and ended at 4000-5000 likes and since I have been doing my own platform for years, I am at the point where I understand my platform, my market, as well as the fact that not every single picture is going to perform amazing.
Just so you know the technology is now getting more advanced and more sites actually offer you to purchase fake active followers with Indonesian names who will actively comment and like your photos, and of course it comes with a bigger price tag as well, now after the algorithm occurs, more and more new food accounts suddenly appear to the scene and I didn't even know 90% of them exist in the first place but in average their photos can gather 6-8k likes and they CONTINUOUSLY appear on my Explore tab, hmm suspicious much.
It's very strange to see how an account with 8k followers can gather up to 4k likes/photo, or an account with 10k followers can get 200k-300k video views. I remember there's even this one video from this food account that gets 1,5 million views with only 7k likes and the account itself has less than 80k followers. Man, that is nonsense. Pure nonsense.
It took me 1,5 freaking years of slowly-but-sure growth to get my first 10k followers and another year to finally reach 20k and the growth has been great until the algorithm change occurs. I remember vividly the mixed-experience of having barely anybody seeing your picture to having thousands of people liking your picture, having people continuously follow and unfollow you, hitting that very first 10k and more.
Many of famous blogger friends of mine with 300-400k followers still gather an average of 5-6k likes/post and I can confirm that the growth is authentic because I've been following them for years and I notice for myself their slow steady solid growth, basically what happened to me as well.
I don't understand why people are so addicted to fake fame and success and be willing to spend probably millions on fake engagement, and ultimately, I don't understand why some people are happy to be fake, and it's funny that we know they are fucking fake but they probably don't know or don't even care. I know who those people are and to be honest my trust towards those people has suffered.
Afterall it's their money and they can do whatever they want, but to publicly lie about something is not something that I can appreciate, they should really be ashamed of themselves.
Some of these accounts would charge clients BIG money, how do I know? The restaurant PRs told me and most of them even dare to charge way more than me, like way more.
It seems to easy for them to trade their fake followers and make business deals out of it in hoping to get whatever they want (free stay, free travel, free food), one of the lamest alibis that I have heard is that this whole Instagram thing is just a game and fun to them, but BITCH TELL ME ABOUT IT! You don't take this for fun anymore when you hit a certain number of following, you obviously want to turn the table and make it your kind of fun!
...and I can't be more pissed for the fact that they're trying to ruin the reputation of genuine foodies and bloggers in the business. After all the fake followers and shit, eventually companies and brands will realize that these fakies are giving the companies no growth in terms of followers, like, image and awareness.
Lucky for me, the fruit of working hard has been nothing but a bliss, I am still involved so many big projects waiting for me in the future, very fantastic ones that I can even share to you right now, I don't lose clients and still have my schedule packed and fully booked every single month, apparently companies are very careful when deciding who they're about to work with, they have people working to detect the analytics. #truth #proudofyourself
...then I realize that no matter how many followers you can purchase in this world, talent is something that not everyone has, and it's something that NEVER proceed to make me feel insecure, I might appear very firey here but most of the times I am actually very chill, I talk about it here because this has been an on-going issue but no one want to publicly speak about it. I never compare myself with others based on the amount of likes, followers or whatever shit they're having, I never want to compete (even though I feel like people continuously trying to make me feel like I am their competition). I have enough love from my small inner circles and family, I am raise in a beautiful family, I am grateful that I don't have to explain myself and prove myself for people and I am grateful that people know me as Hans from eatandtreats and having people recognizing you is one of those milestone of your establishment :).
Overall some people just can't chill and too desperate to win the popularity game, and they keep on comparing their lame life with others based on numbers without realizing they will fuck them up. Remember, fame and success is something that you get, not what you buy.
Thank you to the amazing 25k people reading my blog everyday, it's not something everyone has *put glasses on* *stay humble* *can't now*
So you want to know who those people are? Should I expose them? :)