IRL • Jul 12 2018

Here’s how to find out who’s been stalking your Instagram

It’s probably your ex, tbh

Real talk, everyone does a little bit of insta-stalking every now and then. And, if you say that you don’t, you’re lying to yourself. It’s always interesting to see what even the worst of the worst is posting. But, do you ever wonder about the people who are Instagram stalking you? Like honestly, how do you even know if you have an insta-stalker? Well, you’re in luck. There’s one specific way to see which folks are your own personal social media hangers-on.

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Thanks to the amazingness of Instagram Stories, you might get a little bit of insight into who’s pretty much obsessed with you. The only way you can see who’s engaging with your profile (besides likes and comments) is via the Instagram Story. There’s a list of who’s viewed your story, but is there any rhyme or reason to the order they list of your viewers? Again, Instagram has not expressly revealed what goes into the order. Why TF is Instagram so goddam cagey? The world may never know. However, the world may have some insight into the order, based on a very interesting theory.

As The Tab noted, one Reddit user believes that the order is dependent on who views your profile the most. They appear first on the list because, despite liking your posts or not, they frequently view your content. So it’s possible that the order could shed some light on who’s viewing your content on the daily.

To lend credence to this theory, Instagram’s Paige Thelen spoke a bit about the Instagram Story view list to Social Media Week. She told the publication, “Similar to the feed, stories are ordered based on which moments you’ll care about most.” Thelen also said that the classic Instagram algorithm comes into play when it comes to the list, which include the timeliness of your posts, the chance that you’ll like the content, and your specific relationship to the poster. “Profile visits are considered, as well as likes and comments,” she also said.

Um, do you know what that means? If profile visits play a factor in the order of who viewed your Insta Story, there’s a good chance that those high up on your list are the ones stalking your Instagram feed. While this method isn’t foolproof (would welcome a concrete explanation anytime, Instagram), it is an interesting way to see who any of your insta-stalkers might be.

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