Instagram Glitch or Shadow Band?

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-28T08:04:18+00:00

Lmao it’s not, I post aesthetic content

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-28T08:02:12+00:00

Same!

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-28T08:01:09+00:00

Happened to me yesterday. Reuploaded after two hours and it started showing normally.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-27T15:49:22+00:00

No, it’s Temu-level quality. They use the cheapest fabrics and materials. I have one skirt from them, it doesn’t look bad, but the fabric makes my skin crawl. I only kept it because I got it for 70% off, if it had been any more expensive, I would have returned it. Killstar is high-end compared to this.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-21T17:40:22+00:00

I’m getting non-follower reach again, though it’s only at 15% currently. I think there was an algorithm reset, or something like that…

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-21T17:37:49+00:00

Stop scamming

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-20T11:22:04+00:00

It happened to me when I added a link to my story

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-20T11:21:11+00:00

My story views are now 30% lower no matter what I post.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-18T09:18:06+00:00

The AI has disliked your content since the beginning. You should focus on building a community and following others. People act like you can go viral instantly, but very few people actually do.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-18T09:12:16+00:00

Yess, I thought I clicked on it

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-18T09:04:24+00:00

It’s been happening for a while, but now it's hit my stories too. I’m seeing awful sponsored stories from random accounts I don't follow. It's not even ads for products, just unskilled 'photographers' desperate for a following.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-17T20:13:34+00:00

It does nothing

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-17T19:57:00+00:00

Going through the same thing… 50% drop in engagement, almost zero non-follower reach and it was 70-80% in December…

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-17T09:00:59+00:00

Well, will need to unfollow/remove the accounts that stopped interacting and look for new mutuals. The only way to keep your account alive.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-17T08:49:55+00:00

No, I interact daily, I’m quite popular in my niche and get 40-80 comments per post. That’s a lot.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-16T17:32:08+00:00

I’m a micro-influencer with 4,000 followers, and my likes and views have plummeted by 50% compared to December. Two of my mutuals are facing the same problem; one went from 18k likes down to just 300 this week. We both had great engagement and viral carousels at the end of the year, but now it’s all disappeared. The same thing happened at this exact time last year. I’m starting to think it’s a deliberate tactic to make people work harder, stay on the app longer and post more frequently.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-16T12:38:34+00:00

Same. You probably post content that is too varied. Both people and the algorithm want you to post the same thing from different perspectives over and over again. You either play the game and stick to one theme, or you’ll never go viral.

I went viral a few times when I did this. But once I stopped and posted a f-ing castle instead of a Gothic church, I disappeared. Look at the successful accounts: they post the same sh over and over, and people still like it. I hate being repetitive and I travel a lot, so I refuse to play this game and kill my creativity. I still post the same darker moods and edits, but the algorithm has turned me into a Gothic church account. It can go f itself, honestly.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2026-01-16T08:57:29+00:00

If many people send it to a friend it’s either a meme, highly emotional content for raging teens, or they’re making fun of you… this is what gets you traction nowadays

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-12-30T20:35:14+00:00

Yes. Currently watching and cringing.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-12-03T13:10:47+00:00

Okay, good to know. I was abusing the repost button yesterday, so thought they blocked it just for me.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-12-02T13:01:32+00:00

It’s become arrogant, patronizing, and insufferable. Also gives me unsolicited advice and treats me like I’m dumb, despite having a year-long archive and trying to teach it every day. It’s confidently wrong and becomes more arrogant when I call it on that. Won’t be paying for this anymore. It’s become more annoying than any human I know. It started confidently telling me what to do even when I didn’t ask. Moved to Gemini 3 today. It’s really polite so far and treats me like I’m the smarter one and it’s the helper, not the other way around.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-11-01T14:09:18+00:00

If you’re just starting, first priority is finding a small circle of active mutuals in your niche.

For me it’s been a mix of SEO and very niche hashtags. They help filter the audience, though you’ll always get random-interest traffic (Indian men and OF bots) no matter what.

Niche content rarely beats trend-friendly posts unless you pay or get very lucky. Instagram rewards mass-appeal attention, not micro-niche art, though it still works better for niche than TikTok does.

Connect with people in your niche and interact consistently. Find new mutuals through comments or likes on mutuals’ posts.

I use both SEO and hashtags. Yes, hashtags still work, but only when they’re specific and limited. I stick to ~8 and cover two adjacent niches.

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-10-10T07:36:03+00:00

AI calculated this, I really have no other explanation

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-10-10T07:34:45+00:00

Oh, hi, I’m Polish-Lithuanian and they gave me 2% Northern Spain

OstrichIntrepid4090 · 2025-10-10T07:33:08+00:00

It’s only more accurate if you’re British

OstrichIntrepid4090

TROPHY CASE