Instagram’s looking to counter hashtag spammers, by removing the option to follow hashtags from the app.
As you can see in this notification (posted by Matt Navarra), Instagram is removing the option to follow tags, while any topics that you already follow will no longer display posts and Reels in your feed.
Why?
Well, as noted, spammers have long targeted trending hashtags with junk, adding irrelevant tags to their crappy posts in order to get more reach. There’s not really any way around this, and while Instagram does have some fairly advanced tools to filter out junk, it seems that a lot of users are still seeing a lot of irrelevant posts coming into their streams.
So rather that continuing to try and combat these complaints, Instagram is removing the option entirely, which will eliminate this as an annoyance in this respect.
I mean, you’ll still get hashtag pollution in Explore feeds and search results. But you won’t get it in your main feed, while Instagram is also now much better at understanding topic focus at a profile level, which will help to ensure that spammers looking to latch onto random tags won’t make it through.
It might also push more people to follow individual creators, which will help Instagram ingratiate itself with these users. Which is a critical focus for the app, because it needs creators to keep posting to maintain interest and activity.
Though it also feels like another step towards the death of the hashtag, which has slowly lost relevance as a connective option as algorithms have got better and better and understanding content, context, and user interest.
These days, platform systems are so much better at understanding what’s in a video or image, and what users are engaging with, which then enables them to continue to show people you more of what they like based on that understanding. Hashtags now play a minor role in this process, and it does feel like we’re reaching the point where they don’t really contribute to reach and engagement.
Which is good, in terms of tackling spam, and also highlighting relevant content even if the creators doesn’t know the specific tags to add.
But still, it also feels like a fundamental element of what made social media is fading out.
To be clear, hashtags are still relevant on IG, and are still used to help connect users with relevant content. But they’re less relevant than they once were, and seem to be steadily losing value over time.
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