A couple of years ago, ‘social media influencer’ was not a job or even a thing. Now, social media influencers stand among the highest-paid people in the world.
Instagram took notice of the growing number of social media influencers and it is not happy. Some of the influencers you see popping up on Instagram actually spend money for thousands of likes and spammy comments – a marketer’s worst nightmare and a pain to other Instagram users.
Over the past month, Instagram has been shutting down third-party sites and apps like Instagress, InstaPlus and PeerBoost, all of which violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.
Wannabe/fake influencers use these services to automate thousands of generic comments and likes. All they need to do is pay for the a whole bunch of likes and comments, and a bot takes care of the rest. Instagram bots are those dubious accounts you see that randomly comment on your public profiles with fake comments like “This is so awesome!,” or “❤️,” and “Love it!”. The comments never really have anything to do with the content
And now, Instagram (and everyone else) wants them gone.
As these shady anonymous businesses shut down, wannabe influencers might actually have to give up their goals of insta-fame until they develop better content or simply get lost in the sea of 1 minute pet videos, badly lit pictures of food and “flower crown” selfies.
Sorry, kids.
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