The Instagram Rapture of 2014 Left Fashion & Style Bloggers Largely Intact

While many awaited the recent Instagram purge of fake followers with baited breath to see who was guilty of buying their followers, it passed over fashion and style bloggers with little damage done. Fohr Card, a service that connects fashion influencers with brands, reported that of the 1,300 bloggers it follows, only 40 accounts lost more than half of their followers, and 380 accounts – more than 10% – with the average loss being 9.1%. According to Fohr Card co-founder James Nord, accounts that lost a suspiciously large amount of followers will be closely monitored to see if they are buying followers to restore their numbers. This can be detected by an increase in an account’s followers coinciding with a drop in user engagement, as fresh authentic followers will often see the most engagement when they first start following an account. Some of the bigger names that did lose several hundreds of thousands of followers such as Bryan Boy most likely had little they could do with the loss of followers as often bots and fake followers created often gravitate towards high-profile personalities. However, the fact remains that no major bloggers were called out on, unlike certain rappers and pop stars.