Instagram & Creative Sabotage

09/04/2018 By Sarah 1 Comment

This is a topic I’ve touched on briefly in other posts, but as it affects me so much these days, I feel the need to share more of my experiences and emotions.

Instagram and Creative Sabotage… what am I talking about, you ask?
I’ve always grown up being part of some creative niche, forum, or platform. Call it what you will. From dancing ballet since age 3, to photography, art and writing sites. I have learned everything I know from being involved in these communities and letting them influence me. But what I also learned from these artistic/creative communities was the etiquette of artists, and the respect for another’s accomplishment or great work. Which brings me to the issue you know I am greatly affected by (if you’ve read my other articles)!

On any typical day, we browse Instagram like it’s a religion or required class. We consistently see content from people around the world, from things we adore to things that don’t matter at all and are forgotten instantly. But there is one big issue with this heavy scrolling habit- one I can’t seem to escape…

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IG Influencers: A Bubble Soon to Pop

07/29/2018 By Sarah 1 Comment

I have come to accept it, and I’m sure there are people out there refusing to talk about it. Especially since last year it became a $1 billion industry, and could be worth $2.38 billion by the time 2019 hits. But while the influencer industry looks promising, there are some truths we need to acknowledge for it to remain so.

Think of how much money companies can save now by advertising with independent influencers. Their cost for running ads with services before the time of influencers included magazines, celebrities, commercials, billboards, street signs, etc. Influencers now offer not only more content than brands ever had a need for before, but a new, more intuitive kind of promotion. Less broad, and more acute/niche specific.

Here’s why I predict what is happening right now in the industry is going to cause it to crumble…

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How to be an Individual

06/14/2018 By Sarah Leave a Comment

“If outside validation is your only source of nourishment, you will hunger for the rest of your life.”

We are all unique, we are all individuals. But what does it actually mean to be an individual- someone who is so confidently their self that they do what they do with an air of authority? And by authority, I mean that people see them as having a trusted voice in their niche.

Ask:

Do I go through my day trying to please someone? Do I wait for approval, for validation, to find out if I am worthy today? If today will be better than yesterday? Do I feel powerless or less valuable if I’m not being fed affirmation by an outside source?

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Vanity, Negativity & Imitation: The “Art” of Instagram

06/07/2018 By Sarah 3 Comments

I’ve been mulling over these thoughts for months now, wondering how to go about sharing them. I prefer to stay away from negative topics, and put my efforts towards spreading more positivity than negativity. But that doesn’t mean I don’t deal with fighting these negative feelings almost every day, considering my everyday job revolves around this App. An app with so much potential to discover beauty and magic, but also a place that creates a lot of unnecessary feelings.

Behind the masks of everyone who parade around on Instagram, showing only their best face, their best outfits, and their best versions of the truth is a whole lot of unattractive bullshit.

There, I said it.

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#TakeBackInstagram is Born

01/26/2018 By Sarah Leave a Comment

On the night of January 23rd, I had just about had enough of the struggle I’ve been experiencing on Instagram. I decided the ridiculous way my account was behaving couldn’t be due to something I was doing wrong. I have spent enough time questioning my content and my self, and spending countless hour on the app to engage with users to keep up my engagement, only to see literally next to nothing in return. With all the strange penalizing happening to mine and other accounts I knew, like being shadow banned and not showing up in hashtags, I started writing a Letter to Instagram to submit through their “Something Isn’t Working” Form on the app.

About 20 minutes later, after a list of issues turned into a rant to Instagram about just how much they are ruining this community, I frustratedly shared the Letter on my Stories and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up with maybe 15 DM’s from people who were sharing my Letter, responding with shock that they weren’t the only one going through this, and the discussion began. I started sharing these crazy messages on my Stories because I realized we were all suffering in silence, thinking we were just doing something wrong, our account was broken, or Instagram was punishing us for some reason. But the truth is, there is something happening with the algorithm that is causing major trouble for ALL our accounts! The only ones who are safe, seem to be the huge “elite” celebs and bloggers that IG has protected from their algorithm and deemed “safe” from their penalizing bans.

Through maybe 100 DM’s I’ve been trying to keep up with day and night since posting my Letter, I’ve been able to put together a pretty complete picture of what’s actually happening to us, and it’s not pretty.

From accounts losing massive amounts of followers, projected growth for the year being in the negative thousands, being blocked from writing captions, being shadow banned, being restricted to following 1-2 people a day, or only certain accounts, forced unfollows of people you still want to follow, the following counter being “Stuck” at a certain number for months, though you see followers come in daily, engagement being cut in half or more, paid IG ads not bringing in any clicks or views but they take our money anyway, our posts not being shown to our followers for maybe up to a week later, and never seeing posts from people we used to loyally follow. And there’s still so much more!

If this were a service company, they’d be sued… BIG time.

The good news? You’re not alone if you’ve been dealing with these issues. The bad news? Instagram doesn’t seem to care about us or completely manipulating us to use their app longer in order to make money off us. How can they be getting away with this?

“It’s common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving [for notifications and positive feedback] by strategically withholding likes from certain users. If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it’ll show only a fraction of the likes you’ve received on a given post at first, hoping you’ll be disappointed in your haul and check back again in. a minute or two. They’re tying into your greatest insecurities.” – Matt Maybury, Dopamine Labs via The Globe and Mail

If Instagram knowingly withholds likes, and bans certain actions of “spammy” accounts, what would stop them from using these “powers” to completely control any or all users on the app?! What would keep them from deciding normal people are too spammy to get normal rights to engage on the app? What keeps them from controlling the number of your following so it seems as if you’re not growing, and you’re not successful?

This is the reason I believe it’s time to speak out. So many of you had no idea this was happening to everyone, and now you can share the info to make more people aware! The more who learn about this, and the more people who speak up, Instagram will have to hear us. Our best tactic is to keep the fire burning and tell our friends, tell fellow IGers, and use the hashtag to become viral on Instagram. Another great idea submitted by someone who joined the discussion, is to leave a 1 star honest review on the Instagram App, in the App Store!

As I learn more information, I’ll update the blog with new posts! And share tips on what I find works best to keep up engagement and growth during these tough times!

Join the Movement – BE the Change!

1. Tell your friends
2. Use the #TakeBackInstagram
3. Help take back control of exposure- join #FollowFriday every week on IG Stories!
4. Post the flyers below or make your own!
5. Leave an honest 1 star review on the Instagram App!
6. Pin one a flyer to Pinterest to help spread the word!

You don’t have to tag me, but I would love to be tagged so I can see how many of you are joining in, and get to thank you! When we stick together, we make an amazing team!

Flyer for IG Stories:

Flyer for IG Feed Crop: