Emma CarterFinding a maker
Example- The situation
- Emma wanted to find the maker behind a candle she bought from a reseller.
- What they did
- She opened the shop's public following list in a viewer and found the maker among the accounts the shop follows.
Viewers / Followers
Follower and following viewers
Who a public account follows, who follows it, who it followed recently, and how to read those lists.
- No login
- No app
- Public accounts only
In this section
Follower and following viewers.
In this sectionEvery page here is live.
About followers
What the lists tell you.
Two public lists
On a public account, the follower list and the following list are open to anyone, and a viewer shows both.
Changes over time
A follower count read today and again next week tells you whether an account is growing, flat or losing people.
Private accounts
Both lists stay closed on a private account, to everyone the owner has not approved.
The two lists
Followers and following: what each list tells you.
Every account has two lists. On a public account both are open to anyone; on a private account both are closed.
Followers listFollowing list
Who is on itAccounts that follow this oneAccounts this one follows
On a public accountOpen to anyoneOpen to anyone
On a private accountApproved followers onlyApproved followers only
Searchable by nameYesYes
Date of each followNot shownNot shown
Followers
Who chose to follow the account: customers, friends, other businesses, and accounts that are not people at all.
Following
Who the account chose to follow. For a person it shows interests and circles; for a business it shows partners and suppliers.
The ratio
Followers set against following. A long following list next to a short follower list is the shape of an account that follows in bulk.
Recent follows
Who a public account followed recently.
Instagram does not date a follow. The following list is the only public clue, and it has limits.
Newer follows sit near the top
On a public following list, accounts followed recently usually appear first. Instagram has not documented the order, so the top of the list is a hint about timing and carries no dates.
No date on any follow
Neither list shows when a follow happened. A viewer shows the list as Instagram serves it, without timestamps.
Two readings show a change
Read the list today and again next week. Names that appear only in the second reading are the new follows. That comparison is what a follower tracker automates.
Mutual follows are not marked
A visitor without an account sees no line about who follows whom back. Comparing the two lists shows the overlap.
Unfollows leave no mark
When an account unfollows, its name leaves the list and nothing records the change. Only an earlier reading shows that it was there.
Recent follows on a private account
The following list of a private account is closed, so its recent follows are closed too. The count is public; the names are not.
Follower tracker
Watching a public follower count over time.
One reading is a number. Readings taken over weeks show where an account is heading.
- Step 1
Take a first reading
Note the follower and following counts of the public account on a given day. That is the baseline.
- Step 2
Read again later
A week or a month later, read the same counts. The difference is the change for that period.
- Step 3
Read the direction
Steady growth, a flat line, a sudden jump or a drop. A jump of thousands in one day is the pattern bought followers leave.
What a change in the count can mean
- 1
A steady rise over months: an account gaining an audience through what it posts.
- 2
A flat count: an account posting to the same people it has had for a while.
- 3
A jump of thousands in a day followed by a slow fall: the pattern bought followers leave.
- 4
A sudden drop: an account clearing out inactive followers, or Instagram removing automated ones.
Tracking your own followers
For your own account, the tools section reads your lists and names the accounts that left, with no password.
Reading a list
What a follower list does and does not tell you.
Four assumptions people make about follower lists, next to what the lists show.
Myth
A large follower count means a large audience.
Fact
A count includes inactive and automated accounts. Profiles with no picture, no posts and a handle of letters and numbers are the ones to set aside.
Myth
Two accounts on each other's lists know each other.
Fact
People follow brands, venues and public figures they have never met. The list records a follow and nothing else.
Myth
The owner sees who opened their follower list.
Fact
Opening a list is not recorded for the owner, whether the visitor is signed in or not.
Myth
The following list shows every account they look at.
Fact
It shows only the accounts they follow. Accounts someone looks at without following leave no trace on either list.
Can I see who someone unfollowed?
Not from one reading: the lists show the present. Two readings compared show the names that left the following list.
Does the list show who follows back?
No mark is shown. Open both lists and compare them, or use a tool for your own account.
Why do some names show no posts?
They may be new accounts, accounts that only follow, or private accounts. A private account in a list shows its name and picture, not its posts.
Who uses them
Four ordinary reasons to read a follower list.
Most reasons are practical: finding a maker, checking an audience, vetting a partner before money changes hands.
Claire DuboisBefore a collaboration
Example- The situation
- Claire was asked to co-host an event with a local creator and wanted to know who the audience was.
- What they did
- She scrolled the creator's public follower list, saw local businesses and residents, and agreed to the event.
Daniel MoreauBefore a paid post
Example- The situation
- Daniel was about to pay an account for a sponsored post.
- What they did
- He read its follower count every week for a month and checked a sample of followers before he signed anything.
Lena HoffA new gym
Example- The situation
- Lena wanted to know whether people from her neighbourhood followed a new climbing gym.
- What they did
- She opened the gym's public follower list and searched for two names she knew.
Good for, not for
What a follower viewer can and cannot do.
A follower viewer can
- Show both lists of a public account, searchable by name
- Open any profile on the list
- Show the counts of any account, public or private
- Run on a phone or a computer, with no app
It cannot
- Open the lists of a private account
- Date a follow or an unfollow
- Follow, unfollow or message anyone for you
- Show accounts a person looks at without following them
A private account's lists stay closed.
The follower and following lists of a private account are shown only to approved followers. Every viewer sees the two counts and nothing more.
How it works
Three steps, the same for every viewer here.
- 1
Type the username
The public account whose lists you want to read.
- 2
Open the lists
Followers and following, as Instagram shows them to anyone.
- 3
Read them
Scroll, search by name, and open any profile from the list.
Private accounts
What stays closed.
Private accounts stay private on every viewer.
A private account shows its header and a lock to everyone the owner has not approved. No viewer on this site, and none anywhere else, opens the rest. The private accounts guide explains what is and is not possible.
Questions
Asked about followers.
Short answers. Each page in this section goes deeper.
Can I see who someone follows?
For a public account, yes: the following list and the follower list are both public.
Can I see who someone followed recently?
A public following list shows recent follows near the top. The exact order is Instagram's and not documented.
Does the person know I looked at their followers?
No. Opening a list is not recorded for the owner.
What about private accounts?
Both lists stay closed to everyone the owner has not approved.
Ready when you are
Look first. Stay unseen.
Type a public username and open the viewer. No Instagram login on your side, no name on theirs.
