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Instagram Chief Says Follower Counts Are Not a Good Indicator of Account Value
Are you worried about the number of followers (or lack thereof) on your IG or other social media business platforms? According to Instagram/Threads Chief, Adam Mosseri, you may be putting too much emphasis on the incorrect statistics. Yet, this goes against all current and traditional thought, whereby the number of followers typically indicates account value. Perhaps the bigger question is: If something as rudimentary as the value placed on the number of account followers is coming into question, how do you have any confidence in knowing what you are doing will work for your business? Here is more insight into the contention behind follower counts.
Here’s a question. Today, Instagram/Threads Chief, Adam Mosseri posted this:
Okay, all good, that makes sense, as engagement is more important than follower counts, which can be gamed, cheated, etc. But that being the case, why display follower accounts so prominently in both of your own apps? Like, you’re the one in charge, buddy, why are you making these metrics a focus, by making them so “prominent and easy to find”? You can change it if you want. Over time, this has repeatedly been identified as a potential issue for social media apps, as they examine the incentives that drive negative behaviors and experiences. Former Twitter Chief, Jack Dorsey, for example, noted back in 2018 that by emphasizing follower counts, that then drives individuals to post more polarizing content, as that then boosts their exposure potential, and helps them gain more followers. And the apps themselves are inadvertently incentivizing this. As per Dorsey: “[We initially] made the [followers] font size a little bit bigger than everything else on the page. We didn’t really think much about it, and we moved on to the next problem to solve. What that has done is we put all the emphasis, not intending to, on that number of how many people follow me. So if that number is big and bold, what do people want to do with it? They want to make it go up.” Twitter sought to address this by… making the follower count font slightly smaller. Which, as you can probably guess, was not an overly effective approach. Instagram, too, has made moves to redirect user incentives, by hiding like counts on posts, in order to “depressurize Instagram for young people”, according to Mosseri himself. So Mosseri, and Meta, are well-versed in the potential harms and negative behaviors that focus metrics can drive. Yet, when designing Threads, what got prime placement?
Understanding what strategies or goals will create momentum with your social media platforms can be frustrating, and it takes time to sift through all of the information -- time better spent on running your practice. Having a team of digital experts and professionals who effectively leverage and optimize social media platforms, websites, and more will give you peace of mind and drive impressive results. DentalMAX Solutions is here to do that for your practice. Schedule a meeting with us today at 561.926.3969 to learn more, or discover us on Instagram!
Reference: [https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-chief-follower-counts-are-not-good-indicator/712090/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202024-04-03%20Social%20Media%20Today%20Newsletter%20%5Biss]