Instagram Following List Order Algorithm Explained

If you’re confused about the Instagram following list order, the first three sections of this guide will show you how the list order algorithm works. This guide also covers proven strategies for managing and re-ordering your client’s followers and following lists.

Everything can be done with the free mobile app. You do not need premium Instagram marketing tools. 

Let’s get started. 

How the Instagram Followers List Is Sorted

Instagram organizes the user’s followers list based on a handful of factors.

New accounts may initially see alphabetical order, but Instagram now prioritizes relevance signals from the first interactions.  These signals show how often you view someone’s profile, how often they view yours, along with interactions and connections. This makes the list move away from alphabetical order faster, and some users do not see the alphabetical phase at all depending on their activity.

Instagram starts adjusting the order as soon as it gathers enough interaction data to understand your behavior. You might still see alphabetical sorting when your account is new, but once Instagram detects patterns like who you view or message or search for, the list shifts into a relevance-based order. You can see a mix of alphabetical placement and interaction-driven placement and relevance-focused placement even while your account is still growing.

Instagram evaluates many signals in the background each time it refreshes the follower list, so the order can change often. The faster a new account builds connections while generating engagement and receiving interactions, the quicker Instagram can sort its follower list. That’s why most old and active accounts have a followers list (even those with less than 200 followers) that appear randomly-sorted.

If your client’s followers list isn’t in alphabetical order anymore, you’ll find that user accounts at the top or rank higher on your list are the ones who interact with your client more frequently. Engaging with your client frequently, including responding to Instagram poll questions, can deepen their connection with followers.

Do Stalkers Appear First on the Instagram Followers List?

No, being a social media stalker doesn’t propel your client’s Instagram account to the top of someone else’s followers list. Instagram favors interactions that show genuine engagement between users. Likes contribute, but carry less weight. Repeated profile views are tracked but have minimal impact on follower list placement.

How the Instagram Following List Is Sorted

Contrary to the followers’ list, the Instagram following list order is more straightforward. 

Instagram primarily orders your following list based on your interactions with accounts, though ongoing tests may add minor relevance signals. This is Instagram’s “Default” method of organizing the following list, which is meant to help users find their closest connections.

It’s worth noting that your client’s following list may look different when viewed through other accounts. The exact default order is only visible to the account owner. Other users can still see the following list but Instagram shows it in a different relevance-based order. 

Instagram frequently experiments with follower and following list ordering, so placement may vary slightly between users. It varies from user to user, which is why your list may not match someone else’s.  

This helps Instagram users find contacts they interact with often in a shared circle.

How the Followers / Following List Instagram Algorithm Works

Instagram never publicly released the details of their followers/following list algorithms. 

However, widespread evidence and independent studies from the social media community that includes Instagram influencers reveal what many users consider the biggest factors that affect the order of the followers or following list. 

1. Mutual Followers

When viewing another person’s followers or following list, mutual followers will appear at or near the top of the list. Mutual followers are Instagram accounts that follow your client as well as the account you’re viewing. 

Your client doesn’t have to follow these users back for them to appear. This is intended by Instagram to help users identify people they may know based on their association with the account being inspected. 

2. Mutual Followings

When checking someone else’s following list, Instagram may bump up the position of profiles your client also follows. Mutual Instagram followings help users identify shared interests between them and another user.

For example, your client and another brand may follow the same group of food influencers. When viewing the followers list of one of those influencers, your client and the other brand may find each other near the top.

3. Mutual Interaction Data 

Instagram prioritizes interactions that show real interest, such as comments and saves. Likes still help but carry less weight now. Shares are tracked, although they no longer have a strong influence on how follower lists are sorted.

The more your client interacts with another Instagram account, the higher their positions will be in each other’s followers/following lists.

Users that your client doesn’t follow may still appear at the top of the list if they frequently engage your client’s account. However, they will be overtaken by users who are followed by your client AND often interact with your client’s Instagram content. 

Instagram interactions that indicate a personal relationship, such as tags and Direct Messages (DMs), also heavily influence the followers and following lists. For Instagram, these interactions mean that the relationship between two users goes beyond the social media app.

4. Recent Followers

On your client’s follower list, users who recently followed on Instagram may appear near the top just below people who interact with your client often. New followers may appear near the top initially, but consistent interaction with your content determines how long they stay visible there.

5. Geo Location 

Location has minimal influence on list placement. Instagram focuses more on engagement patterns than proximity.  The app pays more attention to how often you interact with someone. Where users live matters far less than the steady interaction patterns you create over time.  Someone who is located closer to your client city-wise is more likely to show up at the top.  

For instance, accounts located in the U.S. are likely to appear at the top of your US-based client’s following list. The same goes for users and clients in the same cities.  The chances of appearing at the top of the following list are also higher if the followers interacted with your client’s account before, on top of being in the same location. 

6. A High Following and Number of Followers

A high follower count does not affect list placement much now. Instagram cares more about how recently you interacted with someone and how relevant that connection is to you. Instagram accounts with smaller followers and the number of people followed are likely to be placed at the bottom of your client’s following list.

7.  Lots of posts

Another factor that can position followers and following in your client accounts at the top of the list is the number of posts. The number of posts does not directly influence list placement; Instagram prioritizes recent interactions over posting frequency. 

Instagram now puts more weight on your recent activity with someone. It looks at how often you view their profile, message them, search for them, reply to them, visit their content. The number of posts they have does not influence the order of your following list. 

Essentially, if your client’s account has many posts, chances are high that Instagram’s algorithm can place it at the top of follower lists since it can offer more content. 

8. Popular Followers/Following

Lastly, popular Instagram users may easily find their way to the top half of anyone’s followers and following lists. Verified accounts placement is determined by your engagement and relevance, not verification status alone. If you keep interacting with them, Instagram can push them higher in your client’s following or followers list.

The Order of Followers on Instagram: Why Should You Care?

The order of the followers and following lists may not seem like a big deal. But if you know how to use them, they can be used to further social media marketing goals.

1. Show off the Most Influential Followers

Having popular and verified Instagram accounts at the top of the list lets you build authority by association. 

Following people who are influential in your client’s niche shows they stay in touch with the community.  If popular users follow your client, showing them at the top of the followers list elevates the brand’s image and credibility. 

2. Keep Instagram Content Inspirations Close

Borrowing inspiration from popular Instagram creators ensures you never run out of content ideas for client campaigns.

With talented users at the top of your client’s following or followers list, it’s easier to plan your next Instagram post. Just look at their profiles and analyze their top-performing posts to plan your own content pillars for Instagram. You can also check out how to make a Reel with photos if you want a simple format that keeps your client’s feed fresh.

Instagram now surfaces creator suggestions at the top of the Following list. Many users see modules like More suggestions, although older categories such as Least Interacted With may still appear for some accounts due to ongoing tests. 

While handy, this feature doesn’t include Instagram accounts below a specific popularity threshold. This can be problematic if you regularly obtain content ideas from smaller Instagram profiles. 

3. Screenshot Purposes

You can capture media for analytics reports or embedded guides, and you can reuse content only when Instagram’s features allow it through options like Download, Save, Remix, or Collab. This keeps everything fully aligned with Instagram’s current content sharing rules.

Rather than a list of different accounts, you may want to use screenshots that show popular Instagram profiles. You can adjust who appears at the top by interacting naturally with relevant accounts since Instagram responds to genuine activity.

Instagram screenshots can be used in many ways to engage your audience.

4. Identify Your Hottest Prospects

The algorithm-based followers and following lists make it easy for businesses to identify their most active connections. This can lead to high-value leads that express strong purchase intent through multiple social media interactions.

If your client’s top followers are influencers or accounts with a sizeable following, you can seize the opportunity to work on a collaborative project. This will help your client win their target audience’s trust, raise brand awareness, increase followers, drive more conversions.

5. Gauge the Performance of Recent Content

Publishing Instagram content pieces may lead to a boost in followers. However, it’s only beneficial if you draw the attention of the right kind of audience.

Looking at your client’s followers list and analyzing recent followers helps you gauge the effectiveness of your content strategy in generating high-quality leads. If you only attract users who don’t fit your client’s ideal customer profile, you may need to rethink your Instagram content strategy. 

Don’t forget that you can also evaluate your strategy by checking if your client is gaining or losing followers on Instagram. Again, a quick look at the followers list from their Instagram page will point you in the right direction.

How to Order Your Following or Followers List on Instagram

Manage the order of your client’s following and followers list on Instagram with the tactics below. 

1. Interact With Your Top Profiles

Frequently interact and engage the Instagram profiles you want to appear at the top of your client’s lists. Remember, the only way to influence the default sorting of your client’s following or followers list is to do it naturally.

Once you identify your target accounts, develop an ongoing relationship-building strategy that consists of regular interactions, like:

• Writing constructive comments on their Instagram posts
• Exchanging regular DMs 
• Consistently liking and sharing their content

Streamline your relationship-building efforts with a social media management platform like Vista Social. 

With the consolidated “Inbox” feature, stay on top of social media conversations across all linked accounts. 

2. Arrange your following list chronologically

Sort the followers in chronological order using the Instagram app. There is no need for third-party IG tools.

In the Instagram app, go to your client’s profile, tap ‘Following,’ then tap the three-dot menu (or Sort icon) and select ‘Date Followed’ to view accounts chronologically. The interface may vary slightly depending on your app version.

On the pop-up bottom menu, tap the order you prefer to refresh your following list. 

‘Date followed: latest’ will prioritize the accounts you recently followed. ‘Date followed: earliest,’ on the other hand, starts the list with the accounts you followed or you’re following first.

3. Use Social Media Interaction Posts

Publish content pieces that encourage other users to interact with your posts. This strategy is perfect if you want your client’s followers list to reveal high-quality prospects.

Some of the best social media interaction post ideas for Instagram are: 

• Instagram Stories: Use interactive stickers to make your audience engage and share their ideas.  These interactive assets are also helpful in extracting feedback from followers and acquiring user-generated content. 
• Hashtag contests: Hashtag contests still work, but participation has dropped. You may want to focus on branded prompts, Stories engagement stickers, or collaborative Reels instead since these spark more interaction.
• Reel response videos: Instagram still supports remixing but some creators disable the feature by default. If remixing is off, you can still respond with a standalone Reel and tag the original creator.

If you have a list of priority accounts to bump up in your followers or following list, be sure they see your content first. You can share it with them via DM or mention your content in a comment. 

4. Build Mutual Connections

Lastly, aim to build a similar following and followers list to increase the position of your target accounts on Instagram. Head to their profile and tap ‘Following’ to see potential mutual connections. From there, tap the blue ‘Follow’ button beside each account as you work your way down the list.

Tips to Make the Instagram Following List Order Algorithm Work for You

Do you want to rock the Instagram game? 

Here are some sweet tips to get your client’s brand noticed by making Instagram’s following list order algorithm work for you:

• Make your client’s profile pop: Make your clients’ profile pop with a catchy bio that captures attention while showing off their brand personality. 
• Slide into follower DMs: Engage directly with followers via comments and DMs. Genuine interactions increase the likelihood of appearing higher in their following list.The more you engage with client followers, the more likely they are to interact with your client’s account, and voila! Your clients are on top of their followers’ “Following” list.
• Keep it on fire: Keep your client’s content hot and fresh by posting regularly. The more your followers engage with your client’s content, the higher their visibility on their “Following” list.
• Hashtag like a boss: Use relevant and niche hashtags to improve content discoverability. Instagram prioritizes engagement and relevance over generic tags, which helps content reach the right audience. 
• Collaborate with influencers who fit your client’s niche: This helps their Reels reach new viewers and encourages more interaction on each video. Influencer partnerships also make the account more visible and help the algorithm understand who your client is relevant to. It will not change how the following list is sorted, but it can grow the audience faster and improve how often your client shows up on feeds.

Get started with these tips and see how the Instagram Following List Order Algorithm can do wonders for your marketing efforts.

Reasons for a Decreasing Instagram Following

You can do what you need to make the Instagram following list order algorithm work for your clients, but they can still lose followers because of these potential reasons. 

1. Content Fatigue

Stale, ordinary, repetitive content can become boring quickly. Sharing similar-looking content can tire out your client’s followers. It creates content fatigue that nudges people toward the Unfollow button. Keep things fresh with smarter variety in your posts, especially when you rely on IG tools to plan and publish your content.

So keep your client’s content fresh by mixing up your content and throwing in unexpected elements now and then. Doing so makes your clients’ content interesting and captures the audience’s attention, keeping followers coming back for more using IG tools. 

2. Unfollowing Can Just Happen

People can appear or disappear from your follower list at any moment with no clear explanation even if you did nothing wrong.

It’s nothing personal. Some people end up unfollowing accounts by accident while refreshing their feeds or changing what they like. It’s simply how Instagram works now so try not to take any unfollows personally.

3. Quantity Over Quality

Regularly posting content is an excellent way to stay within the radar of your clients’ followers. Even Instagram considers this a good thing. But the focus shouldn’t be on churning as many content as possible without ensuring quality.

After all, if your clients’ feeds are filled with sub-par content, followers aren’t likely to be impressed. It can cause them to rethink why they’re following your clients or, worse, lead them to hit the Unfollow button.

So, prioritize quality over quantity. Set a regular posting schedule but ensure you’re dishing out top-quality content that can hold the current followers’ attention while gaining your clients more fans.

4. Shifting Trends

Many Instagram users are generally into what’s popular at the moment. Something that’s buzzing today may not be as popular in a day or two.

If your clients fall behind on current industry or niche trends, followers can see them as outdated and bow out from being loyal followers. Know the latest trends and pivot your clients’ content strategy to keep up and stay relevant in the eyes of their followers.

5. Follower Cleanup

Not every Instagram follower is real since many profiles turn out to be bots or fake accounts. Instagram periodically removes spammy or inactive accounts to maintain platform integrity. This may cause follower counts to fluctuate unexpectedly. That’s a good thing since your clients will engage with real users and gain genuine results.

6. Excessive Self-Promotion

Yes, your clients are great, and they have every right to promote themselves and their brands on their Instagram feeds. But while self-promotion is okay, making every post on Instagram about how fabulous and wonderful your clients are can be a real turn-off, causing followers to jump ship. Instagram users are curious about your clients but want to know more beyond the bells and whistles.

The key is to balance authentic, personal content and self-promotion posts. Mix up your clients’ content to show who they are behind their brands or influencer personas. It can humanize your clients, making them more relatable and easier to connect with. This kind of content also lifts engagement because people feel closer to the story behind the brand.

7. Little To No Engagement

Effective audience engagement isn’t one-sided. If your clients are not interacting or engaging with audiences, such as replying to comments or even acknowledging their existence, followers are likely to lose interest and unfollow.

Remember, Instagram is a social media platform so failing to engage with followers defeats the purpose of being on the platform. Engage with followers to connect with them and build a community and followers who will stay and potentially increase.

8. Algorithm Changes 

Instagram’s algorithm is always changing. The way it orders your followers can shift without warning. These shifts can affect how well your clients’ posts show up for their audience.  The less visible your clients’ posts are, the higher the chances of their engagement rates declining.

And you already know that low engagement can slowly create a disconnect between your clients and their followers which can even trigger a wave of unfollowing. So be on the lookout for the latest updates and what the Instagram algorithm considers relevant to adapt your clients’ content and engagement strategies accordingly. This way, your clients don’t miss opportunities to stay visible and engage their followers effectively.

Build a Healthy Follower Base With Vista Social

Manage your clients’ Instagram content, social media content, profiles, conversations, engagement, followers with one powerful platform from Vista Social. 

The modern Social Media Management (SMM) platform offers essential and advanced features to streamline your workflows.

Vista Social’s key features include the following:

• A social media listening tool for monitoring social conversations and mentions of your clients’ brands. The tool helps you uncover valuable insights to improve your clients’ brand health. You can track social media conversations based on specific phrases and keywords. The data helps you understand your clients’ target audiences and industries while revealing opportunities to connect with potential customers and nurture brand ambassadors. 
• A social media content Publisher that allows you to plan and schedule your clients’ posts for auto-publishing. Connect your clients’ Instagram and social media profiles. Use Vista Social to upload and schedule posts automatically. 
• User engagement analytics help you understand the performance of a client’s content and the overall audience response.
• Artificial Intelligence or AI-powered tools, including a hashtag generator that gives you relevant and trending hashtag suggestions and a username generator that recommends new Instagram handles in a snap. Vista Social features a ChatGPT-powered AI Assistant that turns your prompts into engaging content. 
• A link in bio tool with Vista Page, a micro website with a customizable landing page for your clients. Vista Page lets you put a client’s essential links in one landing page with clickable grids that show off their online portfolio or products. It includes YouTube video embedding for dynamic content and lead capture and payment processing tools via seamless integrations. Vista Page includes analytics features. With Google Analytics, you can track your followers. Google Tag Manager lets you manage tags efficiently. Meta Pixel helps you retarget your audience.
• An Employee Advocacy tool that lets your employees will be able to repost, like, comment and share brand content with a few clicks and stay compliant with a pre-approved copy.

Vista Social offers more features, from a centralized content calendar to a direct product tagging in Instagram posts via the platform. Create a Vista Social account now to power up your IG marketing campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions in Instagram Following List Order

1. Is Instagram following list in order of interaction? 

The order of Instagram’s following list depends mostly on how often you interact with other accounts. Profiles you engage with most often tend to appear first. 

2. Is Instagram following in chronological order? 

By default, Instagram sorts the following list by interactions. You can also manually sort accounts chronologically using the app’s built-in option. 

3. Can you see what someone likes on Instagram?

Instagram removed the ability to view another user’s full like history, and that has not returned. You can only see your own activity through the “Your activity” panel. Instagram may still surface suggested posts that match someone’s interests, although these suggestions are algorithmic and not a direct window into their likes. 

But you can see who someone follows by checking their following list if you are connected or if their account is public.

4. Why does Instagram often place verified accounts at the bottom of the following list?

It’s unclear why Instagram does this. Instagram does not rank verified accounts in a separate category in your follower or following list. Their position now depends on relevance and how recently you interact with them, so they only move up if you actually engage with their content. 

It means that Instagram assumes accounts don’t necessarily want to interact with brands like users normally would with actual people, so it does not tend to put verified accounts at the top. 

5. Can you view an Instagram user’s following in order?

Yes. The list does not always appear in strict chronological order. Instagram may show the newest followers first on some accounts while other lists load based on relevance. This depends on the account type, your relationship with the user, along with ongoing Instagram tests.

6. Can you hide your client’s following list on Instagram?

Yes. Open the profile icon at the bottom-right corner (on the mobile app). Select the three horizontal lines at the top-right and open Settings. 

Tap Privacy and swipe the Private Account slider to On. This version avoids a straight enumeration by weaving the elements into a sentence. 

Switching to a private account hides your content from non-followers, but approved followers can still see the following list. 

7. Can restricted accounts see who your clients follow?

Restricting users or accounts doesn’t have an effect on follower or following list visibility. The restricted users can still view your Instagram followers or following list.

8. Can you see someone’s Instagram followers list if the account is private?

No. There’s no trick or tool that can show you a private Instagram account’s followers list. The only way to find out is to send the user a follow request and wait to be accepted to view the account’s following list.