Instagram ‘pods’ – what are they?

30 Jun Instagram ‘pods’ – what are they?

Instagram “pods” are basically groups of users using their network to beat the Instagram algorithmic timeline, one like at a time.

This time last year (June 2016), Instagram started using a new algorithmic timeline which changed the order of posts in people’s feeds, favouring popular posts over chronology. Instagram bloggers went mental! It’s hard enough to get followers organically without being shoved to the bottom of the pile. So they came up with a solution… get together in groups and like each other’s posts in order to beat the algorithm. They’re calling this grouping – a Pod.

While the term ‘Pod’ sounds neo-futuristic (my mind goes to one of those cool egg chairs) it actually takes its name from the collective noun for a group of dolphins. The term is appropriate in this instance because dolphins live with and support one another in their pods. You Instagram pod works in much the same way – supporting (liking, commenting) each other in order to grow each other’s platform. The proof is in the pudding – just from doing a little bit of ‘pod-like’ activity we have seen our clients improve their engagement slightly. However, in order to take advantage of this loophole in the algorithm you need to be part of a pod of more than 10 accounts.

How does it all work?

Instagram pods tend to be made up of between 10 and 20 users. The users will post their picture before sending it to the pod via the messaging function, the rest of the pod will then ensure that they like and comment on the uploads. The idea is that the activity on the post will mean that they will appear higher on their followers’ feeds.

Like anything in social media there is no way of cheating the system – you can trick it to an extent and manipulate content to take advantage of algorithms but this is no substitute for posting quality content.

We’ve seen a significant increase in the ‘paid-for’ advertising section of social media. These new algorithms in Instagram (and Facebook) have been brought in to encourage businesses to pay to boost their posts. We get it – FB and Insta are businesses themselves and need to nurture their bottom line, we just feel like it is at the expense of the little guy!

While we believe paid for advertising has its place, we still feel like there is plenty of scope for growing organically. If you would like to talk about how we can help with your social media requirements why not get in touch. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – we don’t clickbait or spam and don’t even post that often as we are usually busy doing so for our clients.

Photo credit: Andrea Izzotti