“Likes for likes, returning all comments and follows!” So go the rallying cries of Instagram users seeking Insta-fame – the status of Instagram popularity where follower numbers reach into the thousands and every photo uploaded renders hundreds of heart-shaped likes. Well, forget earning fans through photographic skill or good old fashioned networking. You can now buy Instagram followers, likes and comments. Yes, really.
Since Instagram’s inception two years ago, users have been manipulating hashtags in an effort to get on Instagram’s most popular board. Photographers no longer have to try – provided you’ve got enough dosh to splash, services like Buy Instagram Followers claim they can increase the popularity of any Instagram user.
Buy Instagram Followers is the aptly named website claiming to offer genuine followers for sale, as well as the opportunity to purchase “likes” on your photos. Be warned, though, charges are steep: 1,000 followers will cost you $90, while 20,000 followers will set you back a whopping $1,800. By their metrics, then, each follower is worth 9 cents – food for thought the next time you whimsically click to follow your friend’s friend’s friend.
“Likes” are more affordable, with 500 of them setting you back just $35 and 20,000 likes fetching up to $1,120. According to the website, you can spread likes as you wish. Buying bulk likes ends up cheaper – from 5,000 likes upwards, the charges drop from 7 cents a like to around 6 cents per like. I had always wondered how much that double-tap to “like” an instagrammed cupcake was worth.
Buy Instagram Followers, which is apparently “owned and operated by a team of four social media marketing experts,” according to their website, did not respond to interview requests via email.
They aren’t the only website attempting to make money off the free Instagram app. Buy Instagram Likes offers a similar service, where 100 likes will set you back $15, scaling up to 500 likes at $50. While this site offers smaller bundles of likes, these work out to be more expensive than Buy Instagram Followers, costing 10-15 cents a like depending on the package you buy. Buy Instagram Likes also offers followers for purchase, where $20 will get you 100 followers and $80 will snag you 500. Comments are even for sale for around 10 cents a comment, with $10 apparently getting you 100 notes.
Buy Instagram Likes also did not respond to emails requesting more information.
It seems everybody wants to be popular on the photo sharing site. And no wonder – Insta-famous iphoneographers have gone on to be hired – and paid – by major brands. In May, Barneys New York solicited Anthony Danielle (@takinyerphoto,) to photograph the launch of its new Costello Tagliapietra line, Adweek reported. Popular Instagram user Brian DiFeo (@bridif) shot the Volva Ocean Race in Miama, while back in April Danielle and Difeo joined four other prominent New York-based Instagrammers to photograph at Madison Square Garden during a hockey playoff. They were paid by that game’s airline sponsors, Delta, says Adweek.
Facebook is currently in the process of acquiring Instagram for $1 billion, and much has been written on why Facebook chose to purchase the photo-sharing app. One reason could be the data Instagram holds on a large number of users - recent estimates place Instagram downloads at over 35 million, and those figures are only going up, according to CNN. As Instagram continues to grow, it remains to be seen how the app - and the services piggy-backing off it - change, too.
You can follow me on Instagram @natrobe. I promise I do not buy my followers.
