In April 2020, *peak quarantine vibes*, I posted a poll asking my Instagram friends a simple question: “What makes you unfollow someone?”
After noticing that my growth was becoming more stagnant in early 2020 and I felt like I was losing followers quicker than I was gaining, I was genuinely curious to know what makes someone go out of their way to hit the unfollow button. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was semi-surprised to see the responses come FLOWING in.
It was enlightening and intriguing to read why some of you decide to virtually cut an internet person from your life, and I thought it could be helpful information to share with anyone that may be wondering what provokes an unfollow from their audience, too.
Let me first be clear that I will be the loudest and proudest to preach vanity metrics should not make or break your day.
I strongly believe that follower count, the amount of likes a photo receives, etc — are NOT what you should focus on if you truly love this industry. At the end of the day, your WHY should be centered around doing it because you are passionate about whatever you choose to post about, and you want to educate/help people that come across your page.
Though it’s easier said than done, try to focus on the fact that you are showing up every day, imperfectly and honestly, talking about and teaching what you love the most to people who care about what you have to say.
Even if that comes down to 10 people, think about 10 strangers coming up to you in one day and thanking you for something you specifically helped them with! You would be on cloud 9!!
When I meet girls who say “oh I only have X amount of followers, I’m really small still,” my first reaction is, CAN YOU IMAGINE TALKING TO THAT MANY PEOPLE IN ONE ROOM, AT ONE TIME?!
I definitely get overwhelmed at that thought. I mean, addressing even just 100 people in a single room overwhelms me to the point of my chest breaking out in stress blotches! Imagine showing up for and speaking to 1000’s of people every single day!
SO, if you’re feeling down about follower count, or engagement rate…try to remember that if you help just ONE person today, that’s still a life that you can positively impact for the rest of time. That sounds pretty great to me.
Let’s talk about losing followers:
Q: WHAT MAKES YOU UNFOLLOW SOMEONE?
RESPONSES FROM MY AUDIENCE:
- They post people’s tags or reposts way too much, or post too many stories that are irrelevant
- When I find I’m following too much similar content, or when I find myself comparing
- They discuss opinions without acknowledging they are opinions & not factual
- Either their stories or their stagnant posts become annoying to me
- When they get political
- They say or do things that are very hypocritical
- When the entire feed becomes sponsored posts and stories
- When I start getting slightly annoyed to see their posts or always want to skip through
- If they post 3 things in a row that make me feel negatively/are annoying
- They post too many stories or bc I can’t relate to their content
- Either bc they post too much/or become unreliable because everything seems too perfect
- Personally people who I know who were getting extremely pushy selling Arbonne
- When they cross the line from being informational to being annoying
- Pushing/selling products I know they don’t actually use or like — just doing it for the cash
- In general if I see fur, I unfollow. Example: I followed a vegan fashion blogger who posted a picture with a fur bag!
- When they do something that comes against what they say they stand for
- Only trying to sell stuff with sponsored ads and nothing else
- Overly edited photos and face filters, face tune, literally just unfollowed a friend for it
- They start to feel dishonest, out of touch, or content becomes only sponsored #ad
- When the person’s actions/words/behavior doesn’t align with my morals or its toxic
- Same shit different day type posts and anyone who starts to look like everyone else
- When I literally cannot stand to see their face or anything about their lives anymore
- Once I realize their content no longer brings any kind of light into my life
- When they post too much in their story:)
- When their energy and vibe bring MINE down
- When they are actually rude or negative people
- Not relatable anymore
- When I see no progress on that person, like its always the same
- When I can tell they’re being fake
- If they only post one type of content
- When I find myself skipping to get past their stories! Then I know I’m not interested anymore
- Hate, rudeness, ignorance
- Too much content
- Usually it’s when they lose their “voice,” and everything becomes an ad/sounds generic
- Honestly when I just no longer agree for what they stand for
- Excessive posting, just get tired of seeing the same things over and over again!
- IF someone shares an aggressive, negative point of view on a hot topic
- Is inauthentic or not genuine
- I have not been inspired by any of their posts in a few months
- They don’t seem genuine and only care about how they look to others
- I skip over their stories or posts without any interest
- When I really feel like I am not resonating with their content
- When I either feel like they are pushing things they don’t actually love or that’s all it is
- I find myself feeling badly about myself, too many sponsored posts, unrelatable/superficial
- Typically when their content starts looking generic rather than genuine & original
- Too many posts, starting to plug too many sponsors, inauthentic vibes
- If they keep getting me trying to buy something
- For me personally, it’s when I feel like they’re bragging
- Angry rants, aggressive political views
- Pushing political views, have a million stories just of them talking to the camera
- When they begin only posting pictures and no content
- Their content is the same thing over and over and over. Same mirror pics, SO boring
- I start to get annoyed by them or they seem too fake
- Honestly usually get annoyed with the way they communicate
- 99% of the time just because I’m annoyed of the person lol
- When the content seems more and more less genuine/products shared always $$$$
- Cheesy ads that they try to seem like they aren’t plugs
- Friends: always negative/complaining non stop; Bloggers: they sell things they received for free, rather than donate
- I grow out of them/their style
- Content becomes competitive or irrelevant to me or you start to notice annoying things lol
- Bloggers reposting people wearing their line or product too much
- Tone deaf posts
- I just unfollowed one of my favorite bloggers bc she was so negative and aggressive lollll
- Insanely conservative political posts
Writing these out had me laughing — some of them are pretty ruthless. But at the same time, I commend those of you with a 0-BS tolerance when it comes to the boundaries you set for yourself on social media.
Which is so crucial these days — boundary setting, protecting your space, leaving space for yourself to have grace for wherever you’re at in life — it’s all connected to what we consume on a daily basis. And though we might not have control over many things in our day-to-day lives, we sure as hell can control what we scroll through on our IG feeds.
Especially now that they’ve rolled out the “favorites” feed. YOU control your social media space, and that is a place for 0-BS.
Good vibes only, please and thank you!
Another thing I am constantly reminding myself is that it’s okay to be losing followers!! That means that your online bffs are becoming more authentic to what you are posting on a day to day basis. You don’t want an audience full of people who don’t watch and engage with the content you spend so much time on — you want a community full of like-minded individuals who are bursting at the seams to engage in meaningful conversation with you!
Instead of thinking “I keep losing followers,” reframe your mindset to “my community is growing more authentic each and every day.”
And if YOU feel any type of toxicity coming from any outside source, it’s time to cut it off and regroup. There’s no rule that says you can’t come back to them a few months down the road and start following again. But for now, above all, you need to protect your Peace.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their opinions on what can be deemed as “unfollowable” content. Appreciate you all, as always 🙂
Weigh in below if you have any thoughts on the topic!
& for more business & social media topics, explore these posts!
