If you’re wondering why fewer people are viewing your Instagram posts, there’s now an official tool that can help you find out.
The new tool is an enhancement to the app’s existing ‘Account Status’ functions that will reveal whether any content you’ve posted could have quietly blocked your account from a wider audience, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today.
Instagram’s new tool unlocks the secret behind how some posts get relatively little engagement
Content that doesn’t violate Instagram’s published community guidelines may still fall outside its strict ‘recommended guidelines’ that determine whether content is eligible to be featured in places like ‘Explore’ or recommended content to users who don’t currently follow you. .
Violating these undisclosed rules can “end up in a state where it’s not eligible to show your photos and videos” to followers, according to Mosseri. Your reach is severely limited by these rules. Only people who have actively chosen to follow you will see your posts.
Menu -> Settings -> Account -> Account Status See link in my bio for more info ✌🏼””>
Go to Instagram settings and select Account. Then, click on Account Status. Here you’ll find a summary of any posts deemed to be in violation of Instagram’s guidelines and an opportunity to take action to resolve the issue. This may mean editing or deleting an offending post, or appealing Instagram’s decision if you think it was unfair.
Instagram now lets you know when recommendations are removed from posts with new account status updates … [+]
In this section, you’ll also find information about how Instagram’s policies work, what happens if you break them, and how you can file an appeal.
The new tool will come as a welcome addition to those who feel they have been ‘shadow banned’ by the system. However, what the new tool can’t address is the very common situation where your content isn’t showing up on the many accounts that follow you.
Reaction to Mosseri’s announcement has been mixed, with a significant number of comments bemoaning the significant drop in engagement that appear to be unrelated to any violation of content guidelines. Others complain that Instagram’s rules appear to be applied inconsistently, with content approved on one account being flagged as inappropriate when the same image is posted on another.
As a side note, even if your content is considered recommendable by Instagram, posting photos and videos that fall close to the mark will result in accounts not seeing your posts if they have adjusted their ‘Sensitive Content Control’ settings to limit such content.
At least now, with the new tools, we’ll have more insight into what’s going on behind the scenes and a new route to an appeals process for recommended posts. Whether Instagram will process these applications correctly and in a timely manner is still an open question.
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