Instagram Shadow Banning Photographers?

Winder · 03-29-2017, 09:00 AM

Photographers Claim Instagram is 'Shadow Banning' Their Accounts

**UncleVanya** · 03-29-2017, 09:20 AM

I wouldn't characterize it as a ban. I would say that it seems in line with how Facebook has severely curtailed the visibility of business accounts in people's feeds. My guess is this is a precursor to some new revenue generation mechanism by instagram that targets business users and reaching non-followers.

kb244 · 03-29-2017, 09:45 AM

With facebook, they do present the opportunity to pay to promote an event etc, so naturally any event or image posting that their algorithm detects as a business blurb would get scaled down a bit on exposure.

Least with Facebook you kind of know they're doing it.

**UncleVanya** · 03-29-2017, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by kb244

With facebook, they do present the opportunity to pay to promote an event etc, so naturally any event or image posting that their algorithm detects as a business blurb would get scaled down a bit on exposure.

Least with Facebook you kind of know they're doing it.

I agree. I'm just wondering if this is prepositioning them for this type of pay to play.

normhead · 03-29-2017, 10:13 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by UncleVanya

I wouldn't characterize it as a ban. I would say that it seems in line with how Facebook has severely curtailed the visibility of business accounts in people's feeds. My guess is this is a precursor to some new revenue generation mechanism by instagram that targets business users and reaching non-followers.

Facebook recently tried to get us to pay 30$ a month for a business account. However we are a really small business, so it didn't make any sense for us. They offered her a free solution, where we get a business page linked to her personal page. We were reported, probably by one of the local guiding businesses known for their completely unscrupulous practices including deliberately trying to pretend they are a competing business, if someone mistakenly phones them and asks for their competitor, and charging ridiculous amounts of money for helping stranded travellers they come across on routine runs. 515 "friends" and one complaint and Facebook takes us down.

But it forced us to redo a completely out of date page, and in the end isn't costing us any money. Facebook explains how to set up an account suited to our needs, and verified the account, so that we were following the rules and still got our free page.

Algonquin Treks & Images - Home | Facebook

For 3$ we can have access to some service which will put us in touch with 40,000 local people. Which is really funny because our locality, South Algonquin Township only has 2,000 people. You could include nearby towns of up to 50 miles (80 km away, and you still wouldn't have 40,000 people. And our business is almost completely Europeans. We've never had a request from a local. Sometimes even $3 is a bad deal.

Topsy · 03-29-2017, 01:00 PM

Whilst I do not agree with many things Instagram/facebook are doing, I too am pretty sure this is simply a bug.
I had this happen to a new account I set up last year and it got resolved after around two weeks of sending a bug report every day.
I had googled it fairly extensively whilst trying to rind a fix and there were quite a few reports of this happening to people, but just photographers, for the last couple of years.

It sure is extremely frustrating as you're completely powerless.

**monochrome** · 03-29-2017, 01:10 PM

The question seems to be whether Facebook / Instagram / Twitter are a regulated public utility, a news medium or a for-profit business. What entity(s) regulate them, how/whether they monetize their entity and how they behave are determined by the answer(s) to the question.

MadMathMind · 03-30-2017, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by UncleVanya

I agree. I'm just wondering if this is prepositioning them for this type of pay to play.

If they do, it will be the end of the app. FB survives because they only do pay to play on business pages, which have followers. The distinction on IG is far less obvious; only way to tell is if you link your FB page to it. If they go pay to play on everyone, most people will leave the app after their friends can't see their stuff--personal accounts ain't paying. And if people aren't getting personal reach, they have no reason to use the app since it's only photos (and FB and Snapchat can do this too), which means there's no users to market to. No, IG's backbone is that pretty girls can get thousands of followers posting selfies; if those girls stop getting that attention and their stuff is shown only to their closest friends, they'll just use Snapchat or something else that does that and does it better.

I'm still pulling 30-40% of my interaction from nonfollowers, so clearly hashtags must be working for me still.

pakinjapan · 03-30-2017, 04:33 PM

“I noticed about a week ago that my engagement just cratered. I was getting about 1/3rd of the normal likes, and they were almost entirely from people following me already,”

Very similar symptom

It looks like I will have to check my account too.
I limited my hashtags to only 11 words. hate hashtag bomb.

--Edit--

me too seem to be affected by this.
my 10 hrs ago photo using relatively unpopular tag is not showing up when viewed by non-follower account. but images from another people posted from 11 - 14 hrs ago are showing up.
engagement ้has dropped 1/2 to 1/3 for about 3 weeks already.

Topsy · 04-06-2017, 10:58 AM

Originally posted by Topsy

Whilst I do not agree with many things Instagram/facebook are doing, I too am pretty sure this is simply a bug.
I had this happen to a new account I set up last year and it got resolved after around two weeks of sending a bug report every day.
I had googled it fairly extensively whilst trying to rind a fix and there were quite a few reports of this happening to people, but just photographers, for the last couple of years.

It sure is extremely frustrating as you're completely powerless.

I jinxed it.

As of today my main accounts hashtags won't get posted to the 'pool' anymore. Gutted since I know from last time how hard it is to get them to work again.

pakinjapan · 04-06-2017, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by Topsy

I jinxed it.
how hard it is to get them to work again.

I am still trying, so far no success.

Topsy · 04-07-2017, 02:39 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by pakinjapan

I am still trying, so far no success.

That really sucks

It seems to be working again on my end today..

pakinjapan · 04-07-2017, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by Topsy

That really sucks

It seems to be working again on my end today..

this is a good news on your side.
Have you tried change anything?

Topsy · 04-08-2017, 04:06 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by pakinjapan

this is a good news on your side.
Have you tried change anything?

Nothing at all.. I reposted the image with a copy pasted caption & tags so it should have been exactly the same..

pathdoc · 04-09-2017, 05:26 AM - **1 Like**

Do not assume incompetence where malice will suffice.

And no, I did not accidentally switch that around.

03-29-2017, 09:00 AM	#1
Winder Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tennessee Posts: 6,617	Instagram Shadow Banning Photographers? Photographers Claim Instagram is 'Shadow Banning' Their Accounts

03-29-2017, 10:13 AM - 1 Like	#5
normhead Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Near Algonquin Park Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 40,451	Originally posted by UncleVanya I wouldn't characterize it as a ban. I would say that it seems in line with how Facebook has severely curtailed the visibility of business accounts in people's feeds. My guess is this is a precursor to some new revenue generation mechanism by instagram that targets business users and reaching non-followers. Facebook recently tried to get us to pay 30$ a month for a business account. However we are a really small business, so it didn't make any sense for us. They offered her a free solution, where we get a business page linked to her personal page. We were reported, probably by one of the local guiding businesses known for their completely unscrupulous practices including deliberately trying to pretend they are a competing business, if someone mistakenly phones them and asks for their competitor, and charging ridiculous amounts of money for helping stranded travellers they come across on routine runs. 515 "friends" and one complaint and Facebook takes us down. But it forced us to redo a completely out of date page, and in the end isn't costing us any money. Facebook explains how to set up an account suited to our needs, and verified the account, so that we were following the rules and still got our free page. Algonquin Treks & Images - Home \| Facebook For 3$ we can have access to some service which will put us in touch with 40,000 local people. Which is really funny because our locality, South Algonquin Township only has 2,000 people. You could include nearby towns of up to 50 miles (80 km away, and you still wouldn't have 40,000 people. And our business is almost completely Europeans. We've never had a request from a local. Sometimes even $3 is a bad deal. Last edited by normhead; 03-29-2017 at 10:29 AM.

03-30-2017, 04:33 PM	#9
pakinjapan Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,041	“I noticed about a week ago that my engagement just cratered. I was getting about 1/3rd of the normal likes, and they were almost entirely from people following me already,” Very similar symptom It looks like I will have to check my account too. I limited my hashtags to only 11 words. hate hashtag bomb. --Edit-- me too seem to be affected by this. my 10 hrs ago photo using relatively unpopular tag is not showing up when viewed by non-follower account. but images from another people posted from 11 - 14 hrs ago are showing up. engagement ้has dropped 1/2 to 1/3 for about 3 weeks already. Last edited by pakinjapan; 03-30-2017 at 05:06 PM.

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03-29-2017, 09:20 AM	#2
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,459	I wouldn't characterize it as a ban. I would say that it seems in line with how Facebook has severely curtailed the visibility of business accounts in people's feeds. My guess is this is a precursor to some new revenue generation mechanism by instagram that targets business users and reaching non-followers.

03-29-2017, 09:45 AM	#3
kb244 Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 372	With facebook, they do present the opportunity to pay to promote an event etc, so naturally any event or image posting that their algorithm detects as a business blurb would get scaled down a bit on exposure. Least with Facebook you kind of know they're doing it.

03-29-2017, 10:09 AM	#4
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,459	Originally posted by kb244 With facebook, they do present the opportunity to pay to promote an event etc, so naturally any event or image posting that their algorithm detects as a business blurb would get scaled down a bit on exposure. Least with Facebook you kind of know they're doing it. I agree. I'm just wondering if this is prepositioning them for this type of pay to play.

03-29-2017, 01:00 PM	#6
Topsy Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 625	Whilst I do not agree with many things Instagram/facebook are doing, I too am pretty sure this is simply a bug. I had this happen to a new account I set up last year and it got resolved after around two weeks of sending a bug report every day. I had googled it fairly extensively whilst trying to rind a fix and there were quite a few reports of this happening to people, but just photographers, for the last couple of years. It sure is extremely frustrating as you're completely powerless.

03-29-2017, 01:10 PM	#7
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	The question seems to be whether Facebook / Instagram / Twitter are a regulated public utility, a news medium or a for-profit business. What entity(s) regulate them, how/whether they monetize their entity and how they behave are determined by the answer(s) to the question.

03-30-2017, 04:18 PM	#8
MadMathMind Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,717	Originally posted by UncleVanya I agree. I'm just wondering if this is prepositioning them for this type of pay to play. If they do, it will be the end of the app. FB survives because they only do pay to play on business pages, which have followers. The distinction on IG is far less obvious; only way to tell is if you link your FB page to it. If they go pay to play on everyone, most people will leave the app after their friends can't see their stuff--personal accounts ain't paying. And if people aren't getting personal reach, they have no reason to use the app since it's only photos (and FB and Snapchat can do this too), which means there's no users to market to. No, IG's backbone is that pretty girls can get thousands of followers posting selfies; if those girls stop getting that attention and their stuff is shown only to their closest friends, they'll just use Snapchat or something else that does that and does it better. I'm still pulling 30-40% of my interaction from nonfollowers, so clearly hashtags must be working for me still.

04-06-2017, 10:58 AM	#10
Topsy Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 625	Originally posted by Topsy Whilst I do not agree with many things Instagram/facebook are doing, I too am pretty sure this is simply a bug. I had this happen to a new account I set up last year and it got resolved after around two weeks of sending a bug report every day. I had googled it fairly extensively whilst trying to rind a fix and there were quite a few reports of this happening to people, but just photographers, for the last couple of years. It sure is extremely frustrating as you're completely powerless. I jinxed it. As of today my main accounts hashtags won't get posted to the 'pool' anymore. Gutted since I know from last time how hard it is to get them to work again.

04-06-2017, 05:06 PM	#11
pakinjapan Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,041	Originally posted by Topsy I jinxed it. how hard it is to get them to work again. I am still trying, so far no success.

04-07-2017, 02:39 PM - 1 Like	#12
Topsy Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 625	Originally posted by pakinjapan I am still trying, so far no success. That really sucks It seems to be working again on my end today..

04-07-2017, 09:26 PM	#13
pakinjapan Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,041	Originally posted by Topsy That really sucks It seems to be working again on my end today.. this is a good news on your side. Have you tried change anything?

04-08-2017, 04:06 AM - 1 Like	#14
Topsy Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 625	Originally posted by pakinjapan this is a good news on your side. Have you tried change anything? Nothing at all.. I reposted the image with a copy pasted caption & tags so it should have been exactly the same..

04-09-2017, 05:26 AM - 1 Like	#15
pathdoc Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2015 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,381	Do not assume incompetence where malice will suffice. And no, I did not accidentally switch that around.