Last weekend, some Instagram users woke up to a dramatic increase in their number of followers. Users wonder if it's just them, or if some deactivated accounts have been reactivated, resulting to a spike on Instagram followers. Some also ruled reactivating of fake accounts as a possible cause.
The boost in followers, as it turned out, was caused by a bug which infected the Facebook-owned site. An Instagram spokesperson told Tech Crunch, "Some people's follower counts (as shown on their profiles) have spiked (incorrectly) due to a bug. We're fixing the bug and counts will be made accurate once we've got it fixed."
The sudden, unexplained spike amused Instagram users. Some of them have also thought that the boost in followers (some have gained over 50,000 additional followers last weekend) may have been brought by a reversal of the 2014 Instagram Purge. The photosharing company deactivated accounts which it thought to be fake or spam. As a result of the purge, many celebrities and high-end brands lost millions of followers.
Instagram lets users upload photos, and just like Facebook, users see the number of likes and comments. The likes and the number of followers are indicative of a user's popularity. Of course, many wish to be in the same league as celebrities such as Rihanna, even just in terms of Instagram followers.
Instagram has not announced as of yet if the bug has been fixed, so users are still enjoying a brush with their purported (buggy) instant fame. The response towards the bug shows that as far as having followers is concerned, for most Instagram users, the more is indeed the merrier.
Apps and hacks to similarly boost Instagram followers have been available shortly after the social media app was released. Instagram has 300 million monthly active users. It has been used as a platform for personalities and businesses to give updates about, and promote, themselves.
