Following list Instagram

[Obsessedstagram]

Hi folks, NC for this, i’m aware it sounds a bit unhinged…

So i don’t use Instagram that much, or really any other form of social media. Boyfriend of 8 months does. I wasn’t really that interested in my boyfriend’s online presence or social media accounts, but before we’d met (chatting before date) he told me he’d ‚had a bit of a google of me’ to check me out/if i was real, and had found my Instagram which i didn’t even know was possible to do. I have a very uncommon name and have a few links from past hobbies to my account so was quite easy to find me (now rectified!)

fast forward a few months and i thought i’d also check him out online and also see who he followed on Instagram (lots of horror stories from friends on this front prompted me - wish i’d done it sooner!) All very fine and normal, and at the top of his list of people he follows are family and friends he’s spoken to me about eg people i know he is close with. however I noticed very near the top of people he follows, a particular person - a very attractive burlesque model who i know he was ‚chatting to’ shortly before we met who i was very surprised to see so high up in this list.

when i looked online about how instagram orders this list, it says the list that is shown for people we follow (when other people look at it) is based on the way we interact with that account - eg, watching stories, looking at their profile, commenting, likes etc (so basically interacting).

i’ve checked on friends profiles too and the lists are all as i would expect - people they are close to appear high up in the list of people they follow.

i’ve checked on different days and the list is largely unchanged - she’s actually higher now than when i first noticed which for me implies an increase in interactions?

i know it probably doesn’t sound great and i’m aware this doesn’t bode well in terms of trust etc, but just wondered if anyone has ever experienced this and if there’s a more innocent explanation that there might be (i guess i’m hoping someone will say these lists are meaningless!)

thank you in advance

I had thought this too, and it certainly was the way it worked in the past.

I'm by no means an expert but I read somewhere that a recent updates can sometimes show you other people's lists in the order they think YOU might be interested in them in.

Eg if I look at my sisters I see all our mutual family/friends first as we both follow. After that there are quite a few people I don't follow but a lot of the people I follow do (eg if I click on their profile it says "followed by xx and 10 others".

Even after that there are popular/active accounts, eg on your bf's list it'll show people that post a lot or upload regular stories.

The easy way to think of it is that Instagram algorithm is designed in a way to prioritise accounts you may be interested in as one of their objectives is to encourage you to follow more accounts.

And don't feel too bad, I agree it's not the healthiest behaviour but the reason I came across the article im referring to is that I've felt the same in the past.

SM is one of the biggest problem-causers in many relationships these days!

Nope, it shows it in order of who you might be "interested" in. Have you been looking at this woman's account?

nerdtechy.com/how-instagram-followings-followers-list-ordered

Keep scrolling down to the numbered bullet points on this list and it gives quite a good explanation

Thanks so much all, really appreciate you taking the time. I was trying hard not to let it worry me, but i wasn’t feeling good about it so this has made me feel much better.

That makes a lot of sense, as with friends accounts the people they know and who are high in their list, are also people I would be interested in seeing too. @rhino12345 - yes i have been on her profile and we do have other friends in common, so that would also make sense too.

And thank you for the link @hev126 - really helpful