Popular photo-sharing social platform Instagram is on a roll these days. In fact, in the past few months, they’ve been busy tweaking the app in order to keep up with the ever-changing times and needs of their legion of users.
For example, in November 2014, they rolled out their editing feature, something that everybody who’s anybody who has Instagram has been begging for. Then, a month later, they added 5 new filters for still images, a smart move since they’ve been up against other photo filter apps such as VSCO Cam. After which, came the addition of 2 new tools, “Fade” and “Color”, which inadvertently gave VSCO Cam a run for their money.
Sounds like Instagram has been having a ball of a time pleasing their users!
But wait, there was this other thing that successfully pissed Instagram users from around the globe. Yes, in case you’ve forgotten, there was that massive purge in December 2014 which removed spam and fake accounts from the platform’s user database and it resulted in some users losing what they thought were “real” followers.
Some lost tens of thousands, even. Gasp!
Let’s also not forget that Instagram has an ever-growing list of banned #hashtags which blocks a whole bunch of searches from its users. We know, we know, hashtagging allows you to be part of a community, making posts discoverable, encouraging likes and engagement and all that jazz. But searches like #proanorexia and #thinspiration have been blocked to protect users, as well as searches on hashtags that may contain pornographic content such as #porn and #ass.
However, funnily, the banned list of hashtags also includes seemingly harmless hashtags such as #photography, #iphone, and #instagram. Or even something as harmless as #ilovemyinstagram. That, and while you’re free to add any hashtags or any combinations of hashtags (as long as they’re below 30 per Instagram post), it doesn’t mean that these hashtags register on the search, and all is takes is one banned hashtag to ruin your entire block of hashtags. True story!
See the full list of banned hashtags here.
Now, it seems like Instagram has further tightened up their hashtag search with more restrictions.
See, up until 2 or 3 weeks ago, you could post 30 hashtags on a picture (because that is the limit) and when the likes stop coming in, post another 30 hashtags (of different keywords/variations) to get more likes and engagement. Sadly, for some, that has all changed and they might’ve noticed that the hashtagging system is, like, behaving like it’s broken.
So the question is, is it really broken? Is it an Instagram server problem?
Well, no.
Instagram has quietly and unceremoniously tweaked it to work in such a way that when you re-hashtag a post, it goes back to the date and time that it was originally uploaded. Which means, photos as well as videos will appear on hashtag pages in the order that they were posted. If you add a hashtag to a photo after it was posted, the photo will still appear on the hashtag page according to the time it was originally posted, not the time the hashtag was added.
Still don’t get it?
Let’s just say that it now recognises hashtags by the time/date of Instagram post, and not by the time/date the hashtags were added. If you added hashtags to a post that was uploaded a week ago, it automatically registers as week-old hashtags, according to the “age” of your post. If you added hashtags to a post that was uploaded a year ago, you get the drift.
Sorry to break your hearts, peeps.
But also, shoutout to this commenter for inspiring this post:
Meanwhile, here are some really interesting Instagram accounts that we think you should check out and oh, you know, stalk:
- 8 DJs/producers who practically rule Instagram
- f(x) member Krystal Jung, who finally returned to Instagram after 2 years
- 10 minimalist photographers you should follow – including some Malaysians
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- The “Social Calories” account to help you “run off” your food
- Robert Downey Jr. because Iron Man
BONUS: Ever wanted to learn how to perfect a #flatlay picture? Here’s a handy tutorial. You’re welcome.