50K and Counting: Why Instagram is Losing Its Wild Spark

October 7, 2025

This is somehow a follow-up to yesterday’s post, where I talked about not feeling the lust to jump into Lightroom to edit and then post to Instagram—the joy’s just not on top right now.

Well, today I hit 50,000 followers on instagram. Jay! It’s a number that should feel like spotting a leopard in the tall grass—thrilling. I’m somehow thrilled, no question. But instead of pure joy, there’s this nagging ache. This milestone feels more like a fake smile than a victory. Let me unpack it.

Earlier this year, I doubled down on Instagram, posting more regularly through the summer and engaging with fellow wildlife photographers—swapping comments and likes. I was pulling in a steady 20-40 new followers a day, a solid number for a wildlife photographer grinding away. Then, in early August, I was in South Africa shooting, posting shots of cheetahs and lions in my black and white style. A few of those took off, grabbed by the algorithm. My account started growing faster than a running cheetah. My followers used to be a tight crew, mostly European wildlife photographers. Then the tide shifted. New followers flooded in from Asia—India, Indonesia.

India alone added 83 million Instagram users last year, and my posts got caught in that surge, popping up in feeds halfway across the globe. After those Africa shots, I’ve been gaining around 500 followers a day on average, as you’ll see in the screenshot below. Even now, when I’ve barely posted lately, the growth just keeps going. At first, it was fun, knowing my shots of lions or white-tailed eagles were hitting new eyes.

But then I started checking my notifications. I’d expect a like from a fellow wildlife shooter, someone who gets the grind, only to see profiles that feel… off. Few posts, names that look like someone smashed a keyboard. Bots? Spam? Or just folks swept up by Instagram’s algorithm? I’ve read that up to a quarter of followers can be fake, clogging your feed and killing real connection. Even if some of these new faces are real, they don’t seem to be photographers. Their likes pile up, but they’re from accounts that don’t care about nailing focus on a moving cheetah or tweaking an edit to make it POP.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not ungrateful. I know 50K is a “luxury problem,” as I’ve said. But Instagram used to feel like my camp in the wild. That spark’s fading, drowned out by likes from strangers that feel like empty noise. And yet, Instagram still pulls me in. Every now and then, I find a wildlife photographer whose work amazes me. But their following? A few hundred, maybe a couple thousand. It’s crazy. Instagram’s algorithm plays favorites, burying talent under its weird algoritms. Still, those small followings are often a hardcore crew of wildlife photographers who live for the craft, swapping real feedback and inspiration. That’s worth more than any big number.

I’m aiming for 100,000 now, not for the ego but for the tools Instagram unlocks at that level—better analytics, sharper filters (not photo filters, notification filters), ways to sift through the noise and find the photographers I want to connect with, the ones who’d obsess over wildlife photography over dropping a quick heart emoji. It’s weird: I’m chasing a bigger number to make my world feel smaller, to get back to a place where every like feels like a nod from someone who gets the wild. But it bugs me that Instagram locks these tools behind high follower counts. I get it for monetization—brands need big numbers to justify their budgets. But filtering who I connect with? That should be a given, not a reward for hitting some arbitrary milestone. It’s frustrating to need a massive following just to find the conversations that keep my fire lit.

Today, I learned you can request Instagram to limit your follower list to fight possible bot scraping or spam accounts. Normally, it’s a feature for accounts with 100K+, but you can file a support case and request it. I did just that—fingers crossed they enable it. Still, I don’t know if it’s spam, real people, or a mix, but I’m a bit tired of not knowing. That uncertainty is wearing me down, making every scroll feel like a guess.

I’m not done with Instagram. I’m still posting, tagging my shots with niche hashtags to reach the right crowd. I hang out longer on the grids that feel real. It’s slow, tough work, but it’s worth it. Wildlife photography isn’t about the numbers—it’s about the moments we capture and the people we share them with.

If you’re a wildlife photographer—shooting wildlife—I want to hear from you. What keeps you hooked on Instagram when the algorithm feels like it’s working against you? What’s one moment in the wild that made you remember why you lug that gear around? Drop it in the comments or DM me a shot that’s got you buzzing. Let’s make our instagram feeds feel like a hide again, just a bunch of us nerds geeking out over wildlife photography, gear and the perfect shot.