#Instagram Purge: How To Benefit Despite The Deleted Accounts


Instagram is taking out the trash: the photo-sharing app is sifting through its entire user base and deleting inactive, old and spam accounts on a mass scale.
If you log into your account today, you might likely see a message that reads:
“Changes in followers
We’ve removed deactivated and spam accounts. Your list of followers and people you follow may have changed.”
“After receiving feedback from members in the Instagram community, we recently fixed an issue that incorrectly included inactive accounts in follower/following lists,” an Instagram spokesperson said in a statement to Re/code. “We believe this will provide a more authentic experience and genuinely reflect people who are actually engaging with each other’s content.”
Owned by Facebook since April 2012, Instagram has always had a bit of a spam problem. So many users complained about fake accounts that the company had to officially comment on the situation two years ago.
“There’s no quick fix, but we have a team of engineers working every day to tackle the issue and we hope you’ll notice their improvements,” Instagram wrote in the comments section of a photo on the official Instagram account.
Instagram’s terms prohibit people from spamming others on Instagram and encourage users to police the app themselves by reporting suspected spam as “inappropriate.”
Many users may see a drop in their number of followers thanks to the purge, but at least now you’ll know who your real friends are.

Many users have been affected lately from Instagram’s decision to eliminate spam accounts, in a way to clean up with the fake users.
However, this has not been welcomed well by Instagram users, since they suddenly lost a number of followers, with the number increasing for the most popular accounts. For example in history, Justin Bieber lost 3.5 million fans in just 24 hours, while Akon lost 1.5 million followers.
Many brands also noticed a decrease in their followers, currently trying to recover and keep up to their normal posting routine. Losing part of your audience is not pleasant, with some marketers sticking even more to the numbers, trying to recover.

The so-called Instagram Purge will be over soon, so it’s time to leave it behind, no matter how many followers you lost, and try to continue with your content plan. In fact, you can even benefit from this ‘spam-elimination’ phase in several ways:

1. Spring cleaning came earlier

We all need to keep it clean from time to time and Instagram needed to face spam sooner or later. Don’t see it as a drop, but rather as a way to keep what you really needed.

2. Don’t stick to the numbers

Just because you had your numbers increased by fake followers, doesn’t mean that it actually benefits you in any case. Numbers and stats are useless if you don’t know how to use them to take your accounts to the next level. Does an increased number of followers (even fake ones) lead to more sales? Bigger reach? More clicks?

3. Focus on engagement

Actually, it’s not the number of followers that counts, but rather the engagement that you have with them. Do you prefer 1000 fans with 0.5% engagement or 600 fans with 15% of engagement?

4. Find a way to gain new followers

Don’t worry about the fake followers that you lost, try to come up with new ideas on how to reach a wider audience and gain new followers. Focus on your content, try even harder and motivate yourself to reach again the number of followers you had some days ago, this time with actual followers though!

5. Be creative

Creativity is needed when you have to find new content that appeals to your users and your potential new followers. If you feel that you need to adjust your current content plan, then this might be the right occasion!

What else are you planning to do after the loss of followers on Instagram? Were you really affected?

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