Recently, I have realized I am in Instagram Jail Again! Have I been shadow banned again because I used a hashtag I didn’t know was banned and now my entire growth is stunted – Just as I was gaining traction on the platform?
Ridiculous!
This is my third account in five years to be broken because of their algorithms and AI. I am beyond frustrated with the entire platform. I loved using the platform to share and meet new people and gain new followers who genuinely found my handle because I like to share what I do. I have made some cool Internet friendships because of it. But at the same time, I use it to gain marketing attention to this website and my Etsy store.
I felt like I had to post once a day and share and hashtag because that is what IG wants you to do to grow and use their platform to their maximum use, with IGTV and live on stories and to use all their features. You know what that got me – banned. again.
So. I am over it. And good thing too because with all my time being spent on IG – I spent less and less time on this website. Have you noticed more activity here? It is because I am realizing that I am enjoying this process more with you in long form. I am finding so much more value in myself by writing here and sharing it with you. This is such a creative process and I am able to use this as a single writing exercise for the day. ( I am trying to write at least once a day). It gets me used to really sharing my thoughts.
I feel like blogs died because of Instagram, there was a huge pendulum swing and it landed on Instagram Island. I have a feeling there is about to be a huge pendulum swing to a different form of social media. Instagram cannot keep up what it is doing to it’s users without changing its’ method for their benefit and not their detriment. People who have business’ built on it’s platform , I believe, will need to start thinking of a back up method for their content because one day they will wake up and their content is no longer accessible for growth as it was once on the platform. I have seen 3 large accounts this past month talk about the possibility of them being shadow banned and they were shook. The Instagram platform is their business, if that goes down, their business goes down.
In conclusion, I am thankful. For me, personally I need to focus my efforts on my website, my Youtube channel and Pinterest. That is where you can find me, with some sharing on IG because that is smart to keep up with my followers who haven’t migrated to this site.
2020 is going to be a big year. I have a feeling social media is going to change, there will be a shift. Especially with it being an election year. We just don’t know what that shift will look like yet. But I can tell you this – It is time to realize Instagram is not sustainable forever.
Tell me, please, what do you mean by broken account and banned? I’m new to all this and just started a blog. I actually find Instagram a bit confusing. I so far have only friends as followers. LOL
Well allegedly if you use a broken or banned hashtag what can happen is you Instagram will flag your account for misuse of the hashtags and then will make it so all your hashtags are broken. What I mean by that is, if you post a picture of a tree and hashtag nature, tree, etc no one will see your picture in that hashtag feed, only your followers will see your new pictures. I used hashtags a lot to try to grow my community and find new followers, but I haven’t been getting any new followers or likes on my photos from anyone but the people who follow me. Now, on the internet, this entire idea is theoretical about the Instagram algorithm, however, I have consistently been seeing that it is highly probable that it is true. I hope this helps!