Buying Instagram followers isn’t quite the secret it was anymore. In fact even though industry insiders often criticize it they are also the ones encouraging the trend. Yes, everybody buys Instagram followers, from politicians, musicians to the everyday teenager. However it’s the SEO companies who continuously purchase Instagram followers for their clients that really keep the business going. Considering the ongoing debate of whether social signals affect your SEO it comes as no surprise that many within the online industry continue to purchase followers. This habit continues even though there are many consequences and most people believing it is unethical.
What Are The Consequences
It may seem like an easy and cheap way to instantly get insta-popular but there is a downside to buying Instagram followers. These consequences can include anything from Instagram suspending your account or deleting it completely. Losing your followers trust and having a hard time getting new followers as they notice that you are faking it. To numbers dropping or being inconsistent providing an easy way for people to notice that you have bought Instagram followers. The most serious pitfall would be the risk of the service provider running away with your money and not delivering the purchased followers.
Considering the fact that the people proving the service are already breaking the terms and conditions of Instagram by provided fake accounts. Do you really want to give these people your credit card details?
Is It Ethical
Within the industry there are many who are against this habit of buying Instagram followers. Most people believe that building an online profile takes time and hard work and shouldn’t be bought. As anyone with a few hundred dollars to spare, could automatically have thousands of new friends. This seem highly unfair to those who have worked hard at building their profile online and are constantly working hard at creative posts to accumulate organic followers.
Buying Instagram followers also means that you are lying to new people who visit your profile everyday. For some Instagram users, who only follow trending or popular pages; finding out someone that they are following has faked their followers is a turn off for life. Figuring out who has bought followers is easy, all you have to do is look at the profiles of the followers, as usually bought Instagram followers have very generic images as their profile photo. A lot of the time followers are from countries like Turkey, Pakistan and other developing countries where the click farms are located.
This leads into the third reason why many consider buying Instagram followers is unethical. Many people think it’s highly unfair to take advantage of the disadvantage and unfortunately a lot of fake Instagram profiles come from disadvantage countries. Places poor enough that they would like profiles for a very low price. This is often compared with being a modern day sweatshop.
Conclusion
Like with everything in life there are pros and cons and only you can decide if whether buying Instagram followers is ethical or not. The key importance is to do your research beforehand and make sure you are going with a reputable business. Looks for user reviews and forums, as this will give you an insight to whether the business is trustworthy. If they aren’t honest and upfront then that will most likely be the case with all their business ethics.