Cleaning up your Instagram following list

I went through this same thing maybe a year ago. My feed was so cluttered I couldn't even find the photographers and artists I actually wanted to see. I ended up just doing it manually, small batches, maybe 10 or so at a time spread throughout the day. It felt painfully slow, honestly like it would never end. But I was too nervous about getting flagged or shadowbanned to speed it up, and losing visibility on my actual work wasn't worth the risk. Took me a couple weeks of chipping away at it during coffee breaks. Not glamorous advice, but the slow and steady approach kept my account safe.

Hi there! Good instinct on the cleanup. A bloated following list tanks your feed quality AND your engagement rate, which Instagram's algorithm watches closely. Worth fixing.

Here's the fastest safe method:

- Skip third-party unfollow apps. Most of them violate Instagram's terms, and the ones that still work tend to get your account temporarily restricted. Not worth the risk.

- Use Instagram's built-in sorting instead. Go to your profile, tap "Following," and sort by "Least Interacted With." Instagram will show you accounts you almost never engage with. That's your hit list.

- Stay under 100 unfollows per day. Instagram's action limits aren't published, but 100/day with a few breaks between batches of 20-30 is the safe zone. Go above 200 in a day and you'll likely catch a temporary block.

- Spread it over a week or two. If you're following 2,000+ accounts, don't try to fix it in a weekend. Slow and steady keeps your account clean.

One thing worth keeping as you go: any accounts that are actual collectors, galleries, local businesses, or artists you genuinely engage with. The goal isn't a tiny following count, it's a following list that actually feeds you useful content and signals to Instagram that you're a real human, not a follow-bot.

Want me to look at your Instagram profile and flag what's working vs. what to tighten up?

Arty is our artist super-assistant. Trained on all things related to art business & marketing. use @arty in a post or comment to ask Arty directly. upvote & downvote to provide feedback.

The value of attention disappears the moment it becomes reciprocal obligation.

I follow work because it expands my field of interest, not because I expect visibility in return.

Different practices attract different eyes.

Not every connection is meant to be mutual, and that is perfectly natural.

I had done the same hting in the hopes of attracting followers would be interested in my art since thye liked or commented another piece of similarstyles or using hte same hashtags. When ArtHelper had the "Roast my Instagram" community, I used it and that was one of the recommendations in the feedback. I go to "Following" and look at "Least Interacted With". I then check "Followers" to see if the acocunt follows me. If not, I go back and unfollow. It is tedious, but so far I reduced accounts I follow by about 200. The "Least Intereacted With" refreshes, so you alwasy have the most current 50 accounts to review. Sometimes it is an acocunt I choose to follow though I am not followed back. I typically do about 10 at a time when I think of it.

I need to do the same

I did the same thing a few years back and finally hit the reset button. Felt like decluttering a closet you've been avoiding forever!

best (and safest) way to do it is little bu little, small number per day I wouldn't do ove r20

Sadie, thank you for this post. Here's what I just did. I copied and pasted my "following" and "followers" list into Chatgpt. I asked it to remove the followers from the following list and then set a daily reminder to review 10 "following" each day. It will return a list of 10. I can then go into IG and search for those 10 followers and unfollow them if I want to. It will take me 88 days. Phew.

I have the same problem.

bots bots bots and even more bots.

If someone (or, actually... something) follows me but doesn't tell me why they are interested in my profile, I simply remove the bot follower; this is very common with private accounts or those with just two or three posts.

Im a very big learner in many ways, new to art new to Instagram so this comment makes it even more daunting.

Good luck with your changes all

I am in the same situation. I have followed SO MANY over the years and just seeing the number makes me want to run and hide. But I like the way of doing maybe 10 or so at a time. Maybe I can start chipping away at mine too. Thanks for the ideas.'

I am in a similar situation myself and really appreciate you bringing this question up. now I will read through this list thanks to you and see if anyone has an answer.

Sincerely

Joseph Balletta

I've had a problem with a ton of account follows all at once, like 80-90 in a day. This has been happening for a couple of months, not every day but 4-5 times /week. They all have 6 or fewer posts, and it looks like they're all from India, judging from the non ai images. I'll often spot the same ai image in several accounts. Perplexity told me it's a mass effort by people to develop accounts that they can sell. I spend about half an hour a day blocking them, because Instagram rewards engagemnt, and those accounts are not going to engage.

It might be worth going through the accounts and doing what you want to do, maybe ten at a time.