My Thoughts on Shadow Banning
Hey Everyone!
Today I wanted to talk about a something that is affecting many content creators, including myself. I have been debating posting about shadow banning, as it is a touchy subject within the social media/online blogging world. From what I have seen, shadow banning seems to be limited to Instagram - I could be wrong however! I will do my best to explain this topic; however, it is rather complicated. I do suggest googling this topic, as there are a lot of good resources explaining it. It is important to note that this information is based off of my research and both others and my own experiences. Not everyone will be affected by this and perhaps this is simply a glitch in Instagram's system; I do want to believe Instagram means well does not want people to be negatively affected. Anyways, essentially shadow banning is when your content is no longer being seen and essentially disappearing from your followers feed; for example, I post a picture and although I may see it, my followers may not. This may result in less interaction and likes. As well, if Instagram thinks that you are spam, a bot or use bots to increase your follower account, they may start to reduce your "reach". I should mention that if you use the same hashtags repeatedly, Instagram may assume you are spam, a bot or anything related. I believe the reason why Instagram has introduced shadow banning on its platform is to reduce spam and fake followers. The social media influencer/content creator/ blogger market is overly saturated and is heavily fragmented. This makes it difficult to be successful and grow. The sad truth is there are content creators that do use fake followers to increase their following. I always get emails from "sketchy companies" specializing in growing influencer following. I never plan to use such "companies" as I do not believe in inorganic growth - if someone is meant to have a large following, they will organically. To these "companies" and those content creators, numbers are more important than the relationships between influencer and their following. I honestly never trust these "companies" and advise others to not rely on them. I do want to mention that not all your fave content creators focus on numbers and do truly appreciate the relationships with their followers. In my opinion, you can tell who cares about their followers from those who care about how many they have.
I do want to disclose that this is a hobby for me and not a career. I still adore blogging and posting on Instagram. I do not need a huge following nor require large amounts of "likes" to be happy. It is concerning though when you put in effort and barely anyone sees it. I have been doing this for three years and seeing myself and other content creators be negatively affected can be disheartening. Again, this is just a fun hobby for me but for some of your favourite content creators, this is their career and it impacts their business harshly; I heard this was primarily affecting those with business profiles on Instagram but I have also heard if you have the term "business" in your profile, you can be affected too. Companies are potentially less interested in investing their time and money into your blog/ Instagram account if you do not have an adequate amount of interactions or followers. This can be very stressful for those who rely on social media for their career and are being affected by shadow banning.
Regardless of what happens, I do plan to continue blogging and using Instagram as long as I can. I love interacting with all of you and I truly enjoy the experience I have through this platform. Not everyone will love your content nor will everyone always "like" your content but it is not the quantity but the quality of your interactions that matter - hence why I am sticking with blogging during this difficult time. I know I do not blog all the time nor have the largest following but I focus on giving good content and having relationships with those I interact with - again, quality over quantity. I do hope this situation does resolve soon. The reason why I am posing this is to educate others bloggers/content creators about what is happening. Again, I encourage others to do their own research and simply use this as a preliminary step towards educating yourself about this topic. I hope this helped someone. Social media can be intimidating but with time and effort, you can work with it.
**Some tips I learned is changing up your hashtags, reducing the amount of likes and following per hour. As well, posting less throughout the week may help not only to remove the shadow ban but also for your well being. I always say this but social media involves a lot of social comparison and that can affect your negatively. Taking time away from social media allows you to feel better mentally and appreciate social media.
**Some tips I learned is changing up your hashtags, reducing the amount of likes and following per hour. As well, posting less throughout the week may help not only to remove the shadow ban but also for your well being. I always say this but social media involves a lot of social comparison and that can affect your negatively. Taking time away from social media allows you to feel better mentally and appreciate social media.
Anyways, enough with my rambles! I hope this was helpful and let me know what you think! Have you heard of shadow banning? Have you been affected? Do you have any tips? We do not need to go through this alone. We can get through this! :)
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