Thanks to the Instagram Algorithm, I Learned 5 Important Lessons

Ahhh! The dreaded Instagram algorithm! Run for your lives!

Whether you’re an average user, a content creator, a blogger or celebrity, you’ve no doubt heard of the Instagram algorithm that’s made everyone’s heads explode. Seriously, people talk about the thing like it’s a damn Marvel villain.

Trust me, I’m no fan either. But like most thinks in life, it’s usually the bad things that teach us something about ourselves. And thanks to the Instagram algorithm, I’ve learned five, very important lessons.

1. People Will Sell Their Souls For a Like

I suppose one could argue that this was always the case ever since Instagram became a weapon of mass consumption. But when the algorithm threatens to cut your income in half, you start to become desperate. Dare I say… thirsty.

As most of you know, likes and comments determine engagement. Engagement is a tool that brands use to measure “success” on someone’s page. A high follower count helps, but engagement shows the world you have LEGIT fans. The more engagement/followers, the more brands want to work with you.

So imagine when the Instagram algorithm kicks in, suddenly lessening those numbers. “What will brands think of me?” one might ask, as though the world were ending (and in most influencer’s cases, it is). “I look like a failure compared to my colleagues and other Instagram accounts. How can I change this?”

In an attempt to grab engagment, likes, and followers, us “influencers” (barf) will do anything. Show more skin, buy likes/followers, and comment blindly on thousands of photos in an attempt to get more likes (ya know when someone posts about their grandma dying and someone else writes, ‘omg BEAUTIFUL shot babe 💕’? Ya, they’re hunnngrrryyy for them comments and lack all sense of social awareness).

It’s part of the game, honestly, and you can’t hate the player for it. Still, it makes the whole experience super cringe.

2. Originality is *Seriously* Lacking

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: you’re scrolling through Insta on your homepage or explore page when you see some “mega influencer” doing something different, something cool. A pose of them holding hands with their besties in front of a colorful wall. A caption that asks a question or grabs the audience with a REALLY personal story. It’s effective, it’s refreshing. You dig it. So you click the like button.

And so does everyone else. Like 10,000 users or so.

That’s when the rest of the content creators notice. They want that edgy shot. They want the captivating captions. They want the likes and comments and follows. Wanting a piece of the engagement pie, other creators imitate these techniques. We see copies of the original idea over and over and over again.

How many hands do we have raised over there? Don’t lie, you’re all raising your mental hands.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? But when I’m looking at my explore page and see the same 10 shots on rotation copied by hundreds of wannabe-influencers or a BTS video of like, how silly they were in public to get the shot, you guys! or literally ANY caption stating “how real” and “straight up” they are, I can’t help but think that these individuals are just following the latest algorithm-boosting trend. And it makes me want to douse myself in gasoline and light myself aflame in a fit of black-out rage.

The algorithm seems to favor this strategy. Ever wonder why trips to Paris and Mykonos do so well while visiting Chengdu pales in comparison on IG? Originality isn’t just lacking because of copy cats. It’s because the app encourages us to do so.

3. REAL Insta-Friends Stick Around 

Believe it or not, I’ve made some amazing friends via cyberspace. Like, actual human friends. Mom would be so proud. I met Angie in a comment pod 2 years ago (rest-in-motherfuckn-peace, comment pods). Raimee DMed me before meeting me at a travel conference. Angela and I met at an influencer event and realized we had been following each other for a few months. The point is, these 3 women are some of my best friends and we all met online. (Side note: as someone who isn’t Gen Z and wasn’t born with an iPhone strapped to their hand, that concept still weirds me out.)

But I met a lot of people from Instagram and these 3 (along with *maybe* 4-5 others) are the only ones who stuck around.

When I first started 4-ish years ago, I was eager to meet some like-minds. Sometimes I met people I thought I would have a legit bond with. Sometimes I mingled with those I viewed as colleagues in the travel industry. A lot of them I thought had real potential as friends.

But when the algorithm changed, so did they. Though, not at first.

It turned out that most of these people didn’t care to be my friend. Some of them pretended to hang out when they really just wanted to “shoot content” and to cross promote each other’s accounts. Others would meet me only to talk shit on other travel bloggers. Some legit just stopped hanging out with me because we were not meant to be friends (and it got kinda ugly; maybe I’ll spill the tea one day, but probably not bc the Instagram world is ruthless and they’d probably try to tank my career).

That’s when I started to connect the dots. It was when the Instagram algorithm started changing and the competition over collaboration started to kick in.

These people didn’t want my friendship. They wanted to boost their own Instagram numbers. They wanted more followers and tags and shout outs. They wanted information or business advice or gossip. And once they did or did not see a return on their “investment of our friendship,” they bounced.

Lucky for me, the good ones stayed. And I love these band of crazies like family.

4. When the Algorithm Updates, It Brings Out Peoples’ Best or Worst (But Mostly Worst)

Every time the Instagram algorithm is updated, you can feel the tension in the proverbial, cyber air. Influencer’s livelihoods are linked to engagement and audience size. And if something is about to potentially affect someone’s livelihood, especially after all the time spent playing by the rules and figuring out how to play the game, the mood is suddenly somber.

Some Instagrammers (usually the successful ones without much to lose), will start to tout positive affirmations. “Don’t let the algorithm get in your way!” “Think positive!” “Make better content!” “The app needs you!”

But most of us normies who don’t culturally appropriate for a living start to panic. “How do I implement what I’ve learned to hack this new algorithm?” “How do I stand out amongst all of these other content creators?” “Why is she succeeding on here when my content is so much better?”

This desperation and desire for a successful business online causes us to compare ourselves to others, to get competitive, to lash out at our fellow sisters and brothers. This insecurity manifests in so many ways and it’s so sad.

For example, we complain about how hard this job is. A LOT. And it is hard, but not because the work is challenging. It’s because we’re spinning our wheels without a sense of purpose. As Matt Kepnes of Nomadic Matt explains in this article,

“…since you don’t really create anything of value to others, you have to hustle for every dollar. Because if your goal is to get free travel and do cool stuff for yourself, the internet will quickly tire of you. No one wants to read endless stories of someone doing things they can never do.”

We also call out or talk shit about our “competition.” Whether we do it in DMs, in our own captions passive aggressively, or talk on the phone. I even heard of an article where one blogger blasted and called out specific colleagues that “bought fake followers.” Her attempt at being “real” actually came across as angry, petty, and quite sad.

The algorithm sucks, it does. But rather than blaming others, experiencing self-pity or pretending it’s all fine and just “making better content,” I’ve decided to try something new, which brings me to my final learning lesson…

5. I Remembered Just How Much I Love Writing

PEACE OUT, INSTA!

(Jk… but not really.)

I’m not really a “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going” type. I’m not a very competitive person by nature and I prefer written art instead of visual.

But somewhere along the way, I got sucked into the game. Seeing these visually appealing and successful influencers made me lose sight of what I really came here to do: write. I started this blog as a way to keep writing up while woking a 9-5 and stay creative so I can write a book (or five) one day. And while bloggers and writers are on multiple platforms these days, it’s important not to fall down the wrong path. A path that doesn’t and never did belong to you.

With that being said, I’d like to invite you to subscribe to my blog!

I’m not jumping Instagram-ship. However, I’m going to get back to my roots and focus on my writing A LOT MORE. So if you’re enjoying The Clumsy Traveler ride, take your shoes off and stay awhile. I’ll be spending more time over here and I’d love for you to join me where I’m not limited to 2000-character captions.

Now that I’m posting and caring less, I’m starting to find joy in travel and social media again. I’ve shifted my focus, become re-inspired and am making my life the way I WANT TO. With the help of these lessons, I’ve learned to let go of what’s not serving me and to be able to actually catch my breath.

How do you feel about the Instagram algorithm? What has this app taught you?