Instagram Not Adding Up My New Followers

Why Is My Instagram Not Adding Up My New Followers?

If you're an active Instagram user who puts a lot of effort into growing your following, few things are more frustrating than gaining new followers only for Instagram's follower count to not reflect those gains. You put in the work to attract new fans, but your follower number stays stagnant. What gives?

There could be several reasons why your new Instagram followers don't seem to be adding up right away. While it's a maddening experience, the key is understanding how Instagram calculates follower counts and being aware of certain policies that could be affecting your totals.

In this post, we'll explore some of the most common causes for why Instagram might not immediately display an updated follower number after you've gained new fans. We'll also provide some tips on troubleshooting the issue and how to ensure you're doing everything by the book so your hard-earned new followers stick.

Caching and Follower Count Delays

One of the primary reasons for follower count delays is the way Instagram's system caches and updates data across its servers and CDNs. Your follower count doesn't update in real time, instantaneously adding each single new follow as it happens.

Instead, Instagram operates with some intentional delays in updating public-facing counts to account for clearing automated spam activity, verifying legitimate follows, and synchronizing data across its infrastructure.

This caching and cache clearing process usually only results in a short delay of follower counts adding up. However, it's normal to experience some lag where your public follower number may not increase for minutes or even hours despite gaining new followers during that time window.

Instagram's Spam Detection Systems

Part of the reason Instagram has those caching and data synchronization delays is tied to their spam detection systems that work to filter out fake, bot-driven follows and maintain data integrity.

Instagram relies on machine learning algorithms to detect patterns and behavior that indicate potential spam accounts or inauthentic follows. Their systems analyze all new follows in real time and flag anything that seems illegitimate.

So if you've recently gained a surge of new followers very rapidly in a short period of time, Instagram may temporarily suppress those follows from adding to your public-facing count while their systems verify that the new followers are real and authentic.

Once the follows have been analyzed and cleared, those new legitimate follower counts should properly add up and appear. However, any follows deemed to be spam, bot activity, or otherwise inauthentic will not count toward your total.

This is why those offering paid "follower packages" and similar black hat growth tactics often appear useless. Instagram's detection algorithms are very sophisticated and quickly remove paid fake follows, preventing them from ever counting.

Blocked, Deactivated or Banned Accounts

Another common reason your new followers may not stick around or add to your total is if those accounts ended up blocked, deactivated, or banned by Instagram sometime after following you initially.

User accounts that violate Instagram's terms of service can potentially be disabled or shut down at any time. This includes accounts detected as spam, those involved in inauthentic behavior, accounts that are hacked, or accounts found to be circulating abusive, hateful, or illegal content.

If an account follows you but is later blocked, deactivated or banned, Instagram will revoke that account's follow and subtract it from your total follower count. So while the follow may have initially added to your number temporarily, it will be removed again once Instagram takes disciplinary action.

Likewise, if you happen to block or restrict an account after they followed you, their follow will not count toward your public count either.

Memorialized Accounts

In a more unfortunate scenario, your follower count may decrease because an account you're followed by passes away and Instagram memorialalized their account.

When an Instagram account is memorialized due to the passing of that account holder, Instagram will remove that account's existing follows from the follower totals of any accounts they had previously followed.

So while the memorialized account will still show in your followers list, it will no longer be calculated into your public follower count number displayed on your profile. This is one of the few instances of a one-sided follower account that doesn't contribute to your total follows.

Mass Account Removal or Purges

Every so often, Instagram will undergo waves of mass account removal and perform sweeping purges of accounts found to be in violation of their policies around spam, authenticity, and acceptable use.

These occasional purges are Instagram's way of regularly "cleaning house" and removing millions of identified fake, compromised, abandoned accounts in bulk from their network. Accounts disabled during these purges have their follows revoked system-wide.

If you happened to gain follows from accounts that were later caught up in these removal waves, Instagram would subtract those follows from your total follower count once disabled. So you may gain follows one day, only to see your follower number drop later if Instagram cracked down on some of those accounts.

Regaining Followers After Bans or Deactivations

There are some cases where your follower count may drop due to your own account being caught up in some kind of violation, suspension, or ban. Maybe you were using third-party automated tools that triggered a temporary Instagram jail. Or perhaps your account was hacked and had to be recovered.

In scenarios like these where your account was impacted and your follower stats were affected as a result, you may notice drops in your follower number as part of that disciplinary action on Instagram's end.

When your account does finally return to normal operation again, your legitimate followers should gradually return and your follower count start rebuilding as people re-follow you. This may happen slowly at first, so don't be alarmed if regaining your audience takes some time after your account was flagged.

Troubleshooting Follower Count Issues

If you're regularly experiencing missing or slow follower counts despite not violating any rules, there may be an account-specific technical issue going on. Here are some tips to try troubleshooting:

- Update to the latest version of the Instagram mobile app

- Clear the app cache and data

- Logout and log back into your Instagram account

- Temporarily revoke Instagram's Facebook data sharing access

- Review Instagram's data metrics in the Account Data section

As a last resort, you may need to request support from Instagram directly if an unknown technical issue persists.

While delayed and missing follower counts is understandably frustrating, in many cases it resolves on its own automatically within Instagram's data delay windows. Have patience, play by the rules, keep delivering great content, and your audience numbers should accurately reflect your growth over time.

FAQs

Q: Why do my follower numbers fluctuate or drop after gaining new followers?

A: If your follower count decreases after gaining follows, it's likely because some of those new accounts were identified as fake, compromised, or violating Instagram's rules - so their follows were removed from your total.

Q: How long does it take for new legitimate followers to show up in my count? A: Most real, authentic new follows should be added to your follower number within 24-48 hours after Instagram's system has processed and verified those new follows. Longer delays could indicate an issue.

Q: What can I do if legitimate new followers are not getting counted?

A: Try clearing the Instagram app cache, updating to the latest version, or temporarily revoking Facebook data sharing permissions. If issues persist, you may need to contact Instagram support.

Q: Will using growth services or buying fake followers work?

A: No, Instagram's algorithms are very good at detecting and removing fake, bot, or purchased follows almost immediately. Stick to authentic, organic growth methods.