Why I Decided to Stop Caring About the Instagram Algorithm

I remember when I first signed up for my instagram account.

It was around this time in the Fall of 2012 during my Social Media Marketing class in Grad School (yes, we had that as a class). Our teacher had been talking about it during that entire class. He strongly suggested that if we didn’t have an account, it was probably time we all got on it because it was probably the next big thing. Like most of my graduate education, if a teacher told me to do it, I did it. (Fun side fact, I’ve only ever signed up for a social media account because a friend signed me up or a teacher/speaker told us to. Pinterest and Goodreads were the only ones I’ve ever joined of my own free will.)

After that I went on my way with a new social media distraction.

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J.Crew Top (Similar) / J.Crew Factory Winnie Pants / Madewell D’orsay Flats (Similar) / Everlane Swing Trench c/o

 

It was great. Everyone was on it. We indulged our picture taking, added filters, and found new ways to stalk crushes. I loved getting to see what people were doing and sharing little bits of my life. When I started Something Good, it was kind of a no-brainer that I would make a whole new instagram account for that too. Growth was slow, but whatever. Instagram was still fun, so who cared.

Of course that’s when changes came at rapid pace.

Photos didn’t need to be instant, brands started paying A LOT of attention, and suddenly everyone started striving for an instagram perfect life. Let’s be honest, it was already exhausting by that point. Then Facebook bought Instagram and the game changed. Facebook did what Facebook does and they changed it. Suddenly the Instagram Algorithm was implemented and you stopped seeing pictures in chronological order. Instead you saw the pictures that you supposedly wanted to see first. And every blogger has been hating the Instagram Algorithm ever since.

But you knew all that. And that’s not why you came to read this post.

You came to read why I decided to stop caring about the Instagram Algorithm. I don’t mean pretending to care and then spending hours complaining on Twitter. I actually mean that I no longer give any flying flips about Instagram and it’s algorithm.

Why? Well first, it’s a free promotion platform.

Remember that part? Instagram doesn’t owe me anything. I use their platform for free to promote my business. They are a business that is letting me, as a business, use them for free. If I don’t like what they change, I don’t have to use it. I also have the option to do what most businesses do and pay for my advertising. I do still have my personal account and do I like that I miss a handful of my friends and family’s pictures? No. But do I have to use Instagram as a way to see their pictures? No.

Second, Instagram isn’t my business.

My business is my blog. As pretty as my instagram looks, my blog is what my business is. My blog is what I own. My blog is what my audience comes to.

Finally, this one is a weird one to talk about.

I have a feeling a handful of you are going to look at my profile and just go, “whatever, you’re just saying all of this because you have a low following.” So, that’s part of it, but that’s also not part of it at all. I love making content for my readers. I love sharing things with you and talking to you and coming up with new things for you. But I don’t like stressing out ab

out it. I don’t like putting all of my time and energy into something for a little return. Especially when that time or energy could be invested somewhere else with a greater return and better content. I was putting so much focus into posting twice a day, at the best times, with the best photos. I would check my numbers every time I logged in and I would check to see how my website referrals were going up. For a while they were doing great. Then nothing. It was like crickets. I think my numbers actually started going down. So I put more time and more effort into it. With less and less returns. People weren’t seeing things, the algorithm hated me, it kept changing.

I just kept hating it.

So I decided I was done. I’m done caring about an algorithm that doesn’t seem to help anyone. I’m going to keep posting to Instagram, but I’m going to do it when I have something to share. I still love my audience on there and I want to keep chatting with them, but there’s no need to keep forcing something that isn’t working.

It’s time to focus on the blog stuff that is working. It’s time to stop caring about a free promotion platform that doesn’t care about me.

Photos by Kimberly Graydon