InstaFamous: A person who is famous due to a high amount of followers on Instagram.
The Instagram ‘popular’ page boasts a collection of the most ‘liked’ images on the application. The page is updated in real time based on what photographs collect more ‘likes’ than others, typically to appear on the ‘popular’ page, a photograph will need upwards of 5,000 ‘likes’. An appearance on the ‘popular’ page practically guarantees that the user becomes ‘InstaFamous’.
It would seem only obvious that many teens are in search of that ‘InstaFamous’ status. But how does one gather so many likes that they can end up on the ‘popular’ page? Enter, Instagram Likebots, who promise to take the hard work out of developing a following for your Instagram page and make it easy to gather’ likes’ and ‘followers’, for a price.
Instalike.com’s tag line reads like an Instagram ‘like hungry’ teen’s dream, ‘Get new Instagram likes and followers for FREE! Our service promote your Instagram account.’ (no, the absence of the s on ‘promote’ is not a typo). Instalike.com advertises that users can pay the service in virtual coins to accrue more likes and followers, and it’s not the only service of its kind. Instafamous.co exists, as does Linkzoneex.com, both which advertise themselves as a way to increase users likes and followers. People who utilize services such as ‘Instalike.com’ (currently no longer available to download as an application) enter their Instagram user IDs and passwords, giving the service unlimited access to their accounts and visibility into not only their content, but their Instagram followers and habits as well.
Why is it dangerous?
Instalike.com has been revealed to have been a scam, using Instagram account information such as username and password entered by users to develop a giant social botnet. While other options such as Instafamous.co and Linkzoneex.com haven’t been revealed as scams, it is definitely worth a discussion with your teen about who they are sharing their information with and why. As a parent, you can also follow your child on Instagram, and keep tabs on whether or not their images are making it to the ‘popular’ page by following their activity on the application.
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