Instagram Trust Score: What It Is and How to Improve It
In the past six months, Instagram has cracked down on spam accounts, bots, and ingenuine followers in a big way. For instance, after discovering nearly 150 million fake profiles, Instagram has made it their business to vet each and every account.
Instagram keeps a close watch on all of your in-app activities. Based on their observations, they assign you a Trust Score which is known only to them.
Through algorithms and rigorous data collection, Instagram scans profiles to find the ones that utilize automation, have fake followers, or indulge in spammy activities.
If your activities fall within that category bracket, your Trust Score is reduced. After that, your account can be temporarily blocked, banned, or shadow-banned or you may find some features suddenly unavailable.
If you feel that you’re safe since you don’t use automation, bots, or pods, you’re in for a rude surprise. Unfortunately, Instagram’s algorithms can sometimes punish genuine users. Actions like posting the same emojis in comments can land you on the blacklist. To keep on the safe side, you should know which activities can hurt and improve your Trust Scores.
Activities that Can Hurt Your Instagram Trust Score
Before I discuss the activities you should avoid on Instagram, let me tell you a bit about the benefits of having a high Trust Score.
It seems that accounts with high Trust Scores can get away with a lot of activities that are inadmissible for other accounts.
This doesn’t mean that you should copy strategies used by successful Instagrammers. What works for them might not work as well for you.
Familiarize yourself with things that Instagram doesn’t approve of and avoid them.
Like what?
1. Having Fake Followers
If you purchase fake followers or bots to inflate your follower counts, be ready to be blackballed by Instagram.
You might not be aware of this but the platform first shows your posts to just 10% of your followers. As a result, Instagram’s bots closely watch how your followers engage with those posts.
If the majority of your followers don’t interact with your content, Instagram assumes them to be fake.
For instance, Instagram has come up with a fake follower detector that you can’t manipulate. If you get on their radar, your Trust Score can take a beating.
2. Indulging in Spammy Activities
In a bid to combat automation, Instagram has started penalizing users for “un-human” activities.
Such as?
- Liking and commenting in excess
- Sending too many follow requests or unfollowing too many people in a single session
- Tagging random people in posts which have nothing to do with them
- Using irrelevant and repetitive hashtags
- Bombarding non-followers with personal messages
If you display such bot-like behavior, your Instagram Trust Score can take a nosedive.
Article written by Shane Barker for The Social Media Hat.
