This is Apparently Why Your Instagram Photos Aren’t Reaching Your Followers
Instagram head Adam Mosseri claims that there are two reasons why your post isn’t reaching all your followers and it’s apparently got nothing to do with the algorithm.
In a post on Threads on Wednesday that was reported by Search Engine Land, Mosseri claims that Instagram users should stop blaming the platform’s algorithm if they have noticed a steep decline in their reach recently.
The Algorithm is Not ‘The Culprit’
The Instagram head says that “nobody” reaches every single one of their followers due to two primary reasons.
“Nobody reaches all of their followers when they post primarily for reasons: one, a lot of your followers won’t open the app that day, and two, those who do log in have far more posts to see than they have time to spend, and don’t scroll down far enough to get to every post,” Mosseri writes on Threads.
“Before some of you say ‘the algorithm’ is the culprit, understand that ranking and recommendations *increase* the amount of posts people get to, and therefore the amount of reach to go around, more than anything else we’ve ever done.”
According to Mosseri, many followers do not open the Instagram app on the specific day that a user has published their latest post.
And he says that these followers who do log into the Instagram app on that particular day are presented with far more posts than they have time to scroll through on Instagram. Consequently, a lot of that Instagram user’s followers may not scroll down far enough to actually see their post.
Instead, Mosseri advised that Instagram users focus on views and likes rather than follower counts if they “actually want to get a sense for how relevant an account is.”
‘Stop Gaslighting Us’
However, content creators seemed to completely disagree with Mosseri’s take and suggested that the Instagram head was “gaslighting” them about the overall fall in engagement on the platform.
“Is that why literally everyone is reaching less people than ever? You’re the biggest gaslighter in the world,” a Threads user writes.
Another individual comments: “Stop gaslighting the people who built your platform and who put a roof over your head.”
Many Threads users accused Instagram of having a defective algorithm that prioritizes Recommendations over accounts that people actually follow. And as Search Engine Land points out, many even shared analytics screenshots to support their opinion.
“Nonsense. I go on the app and am flooded with ads and suggested posts that I could care less about,” a content creator argues.
“All that space taken up that could be used to see stuff from people I actually follow and am interested in.”
“Adam I have to respectfully disagree here,” popular meme influencer @tank.sinatra writes.
“The algorithm is ‘trying’ to figure out what people want to see, rather than letting them see the content and decide for themselves… I’d like to decide for myself.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
