Happy Halloween: I choose TRICK

you're not even halfway done

welcome to swiftie tumblr here’s a style guide

are you afraid of people making judgements about the way your profile looks but you don't know enough about tumblr to tell what people might judge you about? then this post is for you!

this is mostly gonna apply to specifically swiftie tumblr, and even then like. you’re totally free to present yourself however you want, but these are just the dominant cultural norms

URLS

album and song titles are the most sought after

lyrics are also very popular (the shorter the better)

dashes are considered a bit cringe but slight misspellings or adding an s to words are fine

adding your name to your url will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

PROFILE PICTURES

you should have a pfp chosen before you start following people, otherwise people will go “oh fuck a bot” and automatically block you

pictures of yourself will also make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

gradient/one color backgrounds behind a picture of taylor are still very common, but plain pictures of taylor are also a vibe

if they have that one particular pale pink-ish with a bit of grain filter people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

displaying your pfp in a circle format on your mobile theme is more common but if you have it square people won’t judge you

BACKGROUND IMAGES

there’s lots of acceptable ways to do this but something unique to tumblr is playing with the border between the background and the rest of your blog

a few years ago it was super popular to add a ripped paper effect to the bottom, and that’s still hanging on

a curved border (either a wave or a bowl shape) is also fairly common

making the picture smaller than the borders has started to gain traction (i started noticing it becoming popular like, mid pandemic)

hiding the pfp from your mobile theme to make your background flow more is super common but the color schemes should still compliment each other

MOBILE THEME

you can use this handy dandy tool to make your background/text color match a color in your background/pfp

i’d say white or black backgrounds are still the most common but i’ve found the colored background with white text to be making a strong comeback

there’s not a ton of judgement about this, as long as it all matches

BLOG TITLE

blog titles can really be whatever but in general keep it short (less that one row)

a short lyric, a word, or an emoji are the most common options

DESCRIPTION

i’ve found getting on a computer and going to yoururl.tumblr.com and clicking on the little painting thing on the top right corner to be the best way to edit text but the mobile app works fine too (unless you’re adding links then you have to go on a computer)

in general 2-3 rows are the most common, and ideally it’s not just one big wall of text

general format is name (this is where you link your caard/about page) / age/age range / pronouns in the top row and a (short) lyric you like in the bottom

another popular format is everything being a lyric and adding links to stuff on important words

if you like to make edits/art/some other type of original content feel free to add a link in your description

you can add links (again only on desktop) like this

MISC BLOG SETUP STUFF

if your likes/following are visible (especially if both are visible) people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

some people show their most popular posts, some people don’t, to my knowledge there’s no judgement either way

your pinned post can be whatever you want it to be but it’s super common to have it be a short about/navigation page

most people have a tag they use for personal posts (“name speaks/rambles/etc” is probably the most common) but you don’t have to if you don’t want to

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE

follow for follows are not super common. it happens (if you follow someone people it’s common for that person to check out your blog but not in any way a guarantee) but for the most part being tumblr mutuals is a higher bar to clear than “oh this person follows me.” if you want to get peoples attention i would recommend this method, but even then the person can chose not to follow you without it being an insult to your character

blocking is more common than it is on twitter and not an insult to your character. repeatedly starting shit with other people will cause your followers to block you. if you want to start a fight with someone just block them instead

feel free to reblog old posts and spam like

while the mechanics and terminology are very similar, in terms of the way they are perceived a tumblr like is not equal to a twitter like, a tumblr reply is not equal to a twitter reply, and a reblog is not equivalent to retweet

likes are generally utilized as a little hello or bookmarks

reblogs are closer to twitter likes than anything else

replies have a fairly unique function in tumblr interactions but i think the closest way to describe it is like a semi-public dm to the op— chances are no one else is going to see it but the op (except if you replied through a reblog, then the reblogger will see it, but the reblogger will still likely read your reply as intended for the op)

if you have a comment put it in the tags. you know those old screenshots of tumblr posts that have a million “oh my god this is so funny”s breaking up the content of the post? that’s widely considered not only cringe but a bit rude now, please don't do that

if you like someone’s tags, reblog from them and say “prev tags”. every few weeks you’ll see someone from a different corner of tumblr say “prev tags is dead!” but on swiftie tumblr prev tags has never died and doesn’t show signs of dying in the near future

@-ing taylor in a post (edit: unless it’s a joke, @-ing taylor as a joke is very funny feel free to do that) will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

again you can present yourself however you want, tumblr is the home of cringe, these are just the dominant cultural norms that i’ve noticed on swiftie tumblr specifically

I can't find it now because of the nature of social media but a few days ago I saw a post about someone describing all the pitfalls you'd come across trying to onboard someone onto a new Thing of some type and I was just immediately awestruck by how all but one of the things they described were symptoms of the internet as we know it today, most of which didn't exist over a decade ago.

So it was along the lines of, hey, you wanna check out my TTRPG? Here's a link to it! Simple, right? except for the other person to follow through, they have to click the link, go to itch, create an account if they don't have one, log in if they do, pay for it, download it, and open it before they can read it.

And like. None of that sounded like work to me, but that's because I'm at my desktop, like, all the time. Those things only become obstacles if you're stuck in a mobile environment.

Like, here's what it looks like when I follow those steps vs a mobile user (who, let's assume they also don't have an itch account for the sake of this)

Click link. (opens in new tab, I don't lose my place in the social feed, takes 2 seconds to load the page)

Log in. (I already have 4 accounts so I can just log into one and I know that the process is fast and painless)

Pay for the game. (A window for Paypal login is drawn over my web browser. If anything goes wrong I can restart the process without having to reload the store page.)

Download the game. (My internet isn't fast but it's a PDF, it's fine.)

Open the PDF. (Web Browser automatically opens the file. I have access to intuitive and clearly labeled controls for browsing and reading the document. Despite the fact it was formatted for print, my screen is 14-27 inches, depending on whether I'm using my laptop or desktop computer. Reading the PDF poses no real challenge)

Now, the same process, but from my phone and pretending I don't already have an itch account.

Click Link (I am redirected to a browser tab within the social media app I'm using. The browser built into the social media app is dogshit, so I have to then request the site be opened in my mobile web browser. Making this request will likely force the social app to refresh, making me lose my place in the feed, which I may never find again thanks to The Algorithm. This website was not designed with mobile users in mind. I have to scroll through a long description to reach the download button.)

Log In. (I don't have an account. All I know about this site is that the person I'm following is selling stuff on it and its mobile interface is dogshit. Can I really trust it? How long will it take to make an account? Do I really want to deal with this right now?)

Pay for the game. (Using Paypal through the mobile browser takes me away from the store page, so if anything goes wrong I may end up charged for a product I don't receive.)

Download the game. (It's a simple PDF, but most of my storage is taken up by photos and other apps, and besides, this device was made for streaming, not storing. Do I even have the capacity to open this?)

Open the PDF. (The download notification went away and nothing happened. I have to check the file browser, which was not designed well because there's rarely ever a use for it. Found the file, finally, and am prompted to open it either with my cloud storage, web browser, or some app I didn't even know I had installed. I choose web browser. The pages are formatted for print and not mobile readers and my screen is less than 7 inches long so the text is hard to read. All the controls for searching and navigating are either hidden, or in the way of me reading the file. there is no in between.)

So, moral of the story is that phones and tablets suck and we should all reinvest in good personal computers.

No but seriously, mobile phones and tablets are designed to make using them for anything outside an app's intended purpose into a tedious nightmare and it's a real fucking problem. Everyone wants to panic about losing discovery from Twitter dying or whatever but THIS is what you're fighting against. You're fighting against companies that have used barriers and restrictions to shape user patterns in ways that will hurt your onboarding even if you do everything right.

Alright, I’ve had it up to here with all of these ‘anti-ao3′ posts every time the yearly donation drive comes around. Some of ya’ll truly do not understand nor realize just how lucky we are for having a fanfic site like the Archive. And some of you haven’t endured purges like Livejournal, FFNet, or Quizilla— oh, and the one that happened here on Tumblr not too recently in Dec of 2018. And it’s not like you can’t find a timeline of fandom purges from 1992-2019. Along with a list of fanwork content banned by different archives/companies. 

AO3 is NON-PROFIT and VOLUNTEER RUN they are NOT a greedy company that will delete decades of work at a drop of a hat without prior warning. No one makes money from the archive or its content. The OTW (Organization for Transformative Works) pays to host the archive and it takes a lot to keep these servers running. They don’t host advertising, and instead, they hold pledge drives to ask for support from the users. 

Let’s be real for a second. Do any of you who are against the archive and what they do, really want to go back to the dark ages of being afraid that you’ll get sued if you post that 300-word drabble that you wrote at 2am? Yeah, you probably still do because you have no idea what you’re advocating for. 

“Make your own archive,” you cry out as if the Archive wasn’t created for that exact reason. 

“But they allow certain icky tags that I don’t like,” you screech into my ear as I shove a college-ruled sized paper into your face reading: OTW was created to work toward a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative, and accepted as legitimate creative activity. (x)

“That doesn’t matter! I said I don’t like it and I want it taken down right now,” you scream while stomping your feet on the ground, jaw dropping when I pull out a mile-long scroll in large text: If a tag is found to have violated the Terms of Service in some way, we will never change the tags on a work or bookmark. (x) 

So that one fic that grosses you out? Don’t read it, scroll right on through and continue on with your life. It cannot possibly harm any real people since it’s fictional. What’s the difference between an explicit horror novel at your local used bookstore VS a 100k+ recovery fix-it involving heavy-themed tropes? None, that’s what. 

AO3 is against censorship and will never cherry-pick what can or cannot be allowed on the Archive if the TOS has not been violated, of course. If they were to do that (they won’t), then that would mean real people in real time would have to manually go through every flagged content. They thought that it if was worth protecting the things they loved, then it was worth protecting the things that they themselves don’t particularly like, too.  

If you think BDSM is abuse (it fucking isn’t, the whole point is that it’s consensual for both parties and if not, that’s getting into abusive relationship territory), then what is to say that a fic that contains dom/sub undertones wouldn’t be considered under the same category? Yeah, that’s where censorship gets tricky and well, bad. You’d have thought that you’ve won your long-time battle, but turned out, your favorite fics would vanish in a blink of an eye. Just like FF.Net back in 2012! 

Also, we do not need an app because then, AO3 would have to cave to Apple and Google’s strict guidelines that discourage anything from nsfw to rpf. Use the desktop version, use it on your mobile browser, and download fics to your phone. 

Be grateful that AO3 exists.

aftermarket hacks: a love letter

Not reblogging directly from @star-anise​ because the post is long e-fucking-nough already, but yeah, hey, let’s talk about actual useful things you can do with third-party code on AO3!

Simple stuff you could potentially do with the contents of the page, plus maybe some on-the-spot data-fetching:

Detect quotes from the fic text in comments, and float a little expandable comment marker next to that line in the text.

Make user links point to the user’s full works page. Or their profile.

Or auto-attach profile info to the default user-dashboard view.

On individual works, look for a “remix/reuse policy” paragraph in the author’s profile and display it after the notes section if found.

Set a work’s bookmarks page to only show the ones with tags/comments

Guilty Pleasure Ratio #1 on all work pages: anon kudos to logged-in kudos

More complicated stuff you could potentially do with local storage and periodic background fetches:

Guilty Pleasure Ratio #2 on your stats page and your works: private bookmarks to public bookmarks

Sticky / always-on “exclude” filters

Designate certain users as trusted bookmarkers, and whenever a fic they’ve bookmarked appears anywhere on the site, display the bookmark tags in a separate section below the work tags. I’ve seen this floated as a way to share warnings for, e.g., untagged racism while dodging the absolute shitshow of abuse potential you’d get with full crowdsourced tagging.

Not gonna venture into extensions that submit actions on the user’s behalf, because you really don’t want to fuck around with that lightly, but I do wonder if you could turn the “create bookmark” form into something along the lines of XKit’s one-click reblogs. Or pre-fill its tags/collections fields with ones you’ve used recently.

Stuff you can already do:

Floating Comment Box aka the best thing ever

Sticky / always-on filters - Exists as a userscript but I’m not sure whether it makes full use of the new “exclude” filters, someone should experiment with that... there’s also another one that lets you save searches and track them for updates

Bookmarking extras: star ratings, specific chapters, last-read date, update checking, track last reading position

“You might also like” recommendations (one userscript, in beta; note that it collects browsing data to crunch into recs; plenty of room for other people to post their versions of this too)

Filling localization gaps (translating menus into Chinese, adjusting typography and word counts)

Shortcuts: download buttons and “entire work”/”last chapter” links in work listings without having to click through, estimated reading time, tag ID on tag feeds, first/last chapter links on work pages, a subscribe button at the end of the work as well as the beginning, full user menu in the global dropdown, chapter navigation by arrow keys, quick links to more by this author in this fandom/pairing/etc

Highlighting (or hiding!) fics you’ve already read/kudosed

So many blacklisting options to go with your filters. So many. By user, including comments and kudos. By specific work. By pairing, character, freeform tag, whether it’s a crossover, whether your OTP is a secondary pairing, whether it’s a non-beginning part of a series. Hide works with too many tags, or just too many relationships. If you’ve got a blacklisting need that’s too fine-grained even for these, someone will probably write it for you just so it exists.

Selectively hiding parts of a work you don’t want to see: individual tags (or highlight ‘em!), lowercase tags, images, author’s notes, empty/double-spaced paragraphs...

Many, many options to display various ratios of kudos, bookmarks, hits, and hits-per-chapter. Although I haven’t seen any with the Guilty Pleasure ratios yet.

Most of these are userscripts; a handful are browser extensions. None of them are mobile apps because, well, any helpful AO3-related mobile apps just got nuked from orbit along with the scummy ones. That means custom functionality is mainly a desktop thing at the moment. AFAIK Firefox for Android allows extensions, including Tampermonkey, but I’m not actually running any userscripts on it so I can’t personally vouch for their availability. iOS users, to the best of my knowledge, are shit outta luck unless they’ve got a jailbroken iPhone.

Stars And Fire (Nalu Fluff Week 2019)

Nalu Fluff Week (2019)

Genres: Romance, Fantasy Friendship, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Lyrics/Poetry, Young Adult Fanfiction

Prompts: Smile, Harmony and Spirits (Implied)

Rating: K(+) and older due to designated reading level. No mature, or  sexual/ adult content included.

Summary:She is the stars to his fire- originally one of my entries for Nalu-fluff-week 2017 on a previous account. Hoping to have it resubmitted for this year @nalu-fluff-week.

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A/N: Hey peeps, it's your girl MillenialStarGazer ( @millennial-star-gazer) back again! This time it's with an entry for  @nalu-fluff-week  2019. I originally entered this Nalu inspired lyric/poetry piece for Nalu love fest back in 2014, (under my teamedwardjace/twishadowhunter alias) and for fluff week 2017 on my deactivated celestialgeekmage account after further revisions. Now, I'm hoping to resubmit it again for this year's fluff week. Anyway hope you enjoy, and don't forget to check out my the rest of my writing!

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Disclaimer: I swear I don't own the rights to Fairytail, though if I did Natsu would have (consensually) kissed Lucy senseless with wild abandon by now . (But hey, they did officially become canon - if not already before- just not in a way some were expecting, so bonus!)

(Scroll down  past the cut for the  legend, corresponding links, and actual  poem/lyrics). 

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Read Stars and Fire on other plaftorms and the rest of my writing here:

(Note:  The Tagging feature and hyperlinks don’t seem to function properly  on the desktop site in recent months  for  any users ( which is hopefully temporary)  . However, both features seem to work just fine on the  ios/android app and mobile site for everyone.   If on desktop,  copy and paste the  below links into another tab or window on your browser.

1. Stars & Fire

A.Tumblr

B. Fanfiction

I.  Primary Fanfiction (Click Here:) (or here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13379456/1/Stars-and-Fire)

II. Secondary Fanfiction (Click Here:) (or here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13143482/1/Millennial-Drabbles)

C. A03

I. Stars and Fire (A03 Version) (Click Here:) (or here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20443970)

II. Sizzling & Fluffy Millennial OTP, & Paring Ship Drabbles/Teasers (A03 Version) (Click Here:) (or here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18244343/chapters/43167767)

2. Mast Post Of My Fic and Writing (Click Here:) (or here: https://millennial-star-gazer.tumblr.com/post/179665258923/master-fic-rec-post)

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Legend:

Italics: lyrics/poetry prose Bold: Song Section Marker (Bolded Italics Within Brackets: A/N/ authors note on which point /arc in the manga/anime the lyric references for a clearer picture)

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1. Do you remember the day when we first met? I swear it was fate for our paths to cross Thought you were strange, but I liked you anyway You showed me kindness when I was down an my luck that day

(A/N: Reference to first few episodes)

Pre-chorus

Now here we are, we've come such a long way. Follow me and I promise to see you through

Chorus

You are the stars and I am the fire (reference to Lucy being a celestial wizard and Natsu being a fire dragon slayer) You and I- We were always meant to collide You are my best friend , The one who will always hold a special place in my heart Hope you know that I'll be always be here for you To catch you when you fall (Reference to all the times Natsu catches Lucy) To be the one to hold you, to dry your tears late at night I'll protect you from the demons in the world, keep them at bay, fight by your side That's how much you mean to me So take my hand and we will take on this world together

2. Do you recall that day, the battle of our lives? You were trembling, terrified out of your mind (Reference to the epic battle with Hades during the Tenrou arc) I'll never forget, the image imprinted on my mind Believe me, I was afraid too But then I found courage in your resolve Do you remember the time you wanted to give up? You were crying, tears flowing like cascading rain Till I held your hand in mine

You found the strength to pull through

(Reference to that iconic Nalu moment in episode 122)

Prechorus

Your smile, your laughter, they light up my life When you're grieving, I'll be the one to dry your tears fall late at night

till' you see the sun shine again Hope you know I'm always here for you Never forget how much I care for you

Chorus

3. Come with me and we will take on this world together So glad to have you in my life Never forget how much I care for you Come what may, hell or high water , whatever lies on the road ahead of us, we will face together I will shelter you from the storm, will protect the future for us to we go on more adventures together

(Reference to Grand Magic Games Arc)

I will always be there to smile and laugh with you, to stand by your side Never forget how much I care for you

Chorus (x3)

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Fic Tag Squad: @fuck-yeah-nalu @fortheloveofevents

@nalubookclub @nalu-week

@petri808 @magnolia726 @ccrispy

@yukimcffblog @i-write-fanfics-to-procrastinate   @writer-appreciation  @caandleworks @caandlle  @rougeminded @rougescribe @cobblepottantrum @lovelyluce @dark0angel13  @sovay-says

@soprana-snap @phoenix-before-the-flame @phoneboxfairy @bearpluscat @narutoyaoifan

@mautrino @goddesofimortality @nalufever  @thecelestialchick @nalu-natic @bearandbirdfan @pyroandtheprincess @mautrino @lucielhyung @smappybubbles @seehunnybees @lover-of-the-light117

@rayhneatess  @nothingbutwordsstuff     @shootingstarssel @chamilsanya  @acidrain1698  @chamilsanya   @narutoyaoifan @superfreakerz  @nalu-natic @thecelestialchick @nalufever @moeruhoshi @h-eartfilias @lemonade-of-gods @fairywithajetblackheart  @katana-no-neko @mercurius-orion @nunnatheinsanegerbil @bearpluscat @shootingstarssel @kayty-of-fiore @narutoyaoifan @kaycha1989 @chiire @pyroandtheprincess @lovelyluce @sovay-says @satyrykal @wildest-dreams-at-midnight @phoneboxfairy @phoenix-before-the-flame @yukimcffblog @precenna @sugarpolis @fairywithajetblackheart @mercurius-orion @dark0angel13 @h-eartfilias @hungrypeanut  @shootingstarssel @sovay-says @satyrykal  @narutoyaoifan  @moeruhoshi @doginshoe @bmarvels

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A/N: Just to clarify the other A/N:s throughout are to make the lyrics more accessible to readers who may have difficulties understanding the meaning behind certain metaphors for a variety of reasons (including those with disabilities or anyone who has just gotten into Fairytail which is by no means to insult their intelligence at all). Not to mention, it would be far too tedious to explain it all in the final author note. 

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to like, leave a comment/review, reblog or all of the above-feedback would very much be appreciated! Feel free to check out my other the rest of my writing! (Corresponding links are in above, in the navigation bar, and bio if on tumblr.) Oh and be sure to stay tuned for chapter updates of my other fics and various projects in the work! Why not check out my fellow friends/mutuals' writing too! Same goes for the other participants in fluff week – a whole lot of talent there! Alrighty, that's all for now folks! Thanks so much to my all my friends/ mutuals , followers and readers for the all incredible support so far! Until next time- take care!

Marco Arment sucks at GDPR.

Hey!? I tried to reblog THIS POST today, funnily enough to complain about having the exact same problem. (I'm in the UK btw.)

Here's what happened when I tried to reblog it on desktop: (I thought maybe @golbatgender had blocked me, but I was still able to follow them and reblog another of their posts.)

So I tried replying on mobile instead. No such luck. Here's what happened when I tried to send the post or save it as a draft in the iOS app. Only this time it was much more annoying because these nasty little errors don't show up until after you've finished writing.

Note that it is only this post that does it. Other posts work fine. So, not points for guessing what happened when I tried to reblog it on the mobile website.

@staff Are you fucking joking or what?!?

This may or may not be related to GDPR, but I have also found I can't view any page at all on anyone's blog without this clusterfuck website redirecting me to tumblr.com/dashboard. What the fucking fuck?

I have tried logging in with two accounts, three different browsers, and incognito mode. None of these did anything at all until I realised I could fix it temporarily with Hola VPN.

And while this is almost certainly unrelated to Tumblr, I do find it amusing this would happen on the same day that Instapaper, another site created by Marco Arment, decides to come back online after two months of shitting the bed with regards to GDPR.

Pictured: the page that European Instapaper users had to look at for TWO FUCKING MONTHS.

And as much as it is tempting to blame it on deliberate sabotage, I think that for both websites it was just a case of pure incompetence. Instapaper for one thing was so badly managed by its parent company, understaffed, didn't have any idea how it wanted to make money… sounds very similar to Tumblr when you put it that way!

And no, while Marco doesn't work at either of them anymore, he might just have left in some faulty code. Something like this perhaps?

1) If GDPR() = true; run command ShitTheBed.exe

2) Goto 1

I mean… I'm no programmer, but I imagine this is basically how this works. Right?

When this is fixed, I just know something in gonna go wrong with Overcast, Marco Arment's latest project. Luckily all my podcasts are stored in Pocket Casts which is the superior app in my opinion. THERE, I SAID IT.

I saw there was a post on this recently, and after reading the comments saw there was some good advice, and some bad. In today’s world online and social media marketing are becoming not only important, but actual tools to increase revenue and profit. There’s a bunch of ways to grow an IG account, and a bunch of ways to tank one. This will be a long post, so I’ll try and break into bits. Apologies for mobileSorry guys, I know I'm super late on this, I've just been really busy the past couple months. Here you go, and please don't hesitate to reach out for specific help or advice. Also I'm sure I missed some points, so feel free to add your experience. Just be very careful about using suggestions. Saw some advice in the comments on my last post that was good, and some that was bad. Do your research, and be careful. Have at it​UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE​It really doesn't matter all that much what you're using your IG account for, whether it's to sell a product, to increase brand awareness, to create connections, or just to generate hype, if you don't understand your audience. Know the consumers you're trying to target and what kind of things they like and follow. Do your research, google searches, ask random people on the street, ask friends and family what they think and how would they feel. As with all things marketing, the most important step is to put yourself into their shoes and think strategically the best way to engage with themTHE IMPORTANT THING IS TO COME AT IT WITH A STRATEGY. Each post is an opportunity to gain followers. Your waves of followers will come from quality posts, so make sure you attack each post with a strategy and a hungry mentality. If you're on this sub, y'all are fucking sharks. Be a shark.​THE ALGORITHM​In all honesty, we don’t really know what the algorithm is, but understanding how it works is far more important. Basically, like Facebook, Instagram has a formula that ranks its content (posts) in the feed and in the explore page (more on the explore page later). It has variables such as time of post, total likes and comments, hashtags, location, details on the account that posted, and even includes software to recognize what is in each post, and boost or demote it that way. Therefore, if you tend to only like pictures that have luxury cars in them, IG will boost those pictures in your feed. If you only pics of food or dogs, IG will boost pics of food or dogs in your feed and explore page. Each account has a slightly different algorithm in this regard.This is why it’s important first of all to understand your target audience, and get in their shoes, not yours. So if your product is a technology that primarily benefits middle aged woman, but you only post pictures of the technology, you won’t do as well as if you posted pictures that were applicable and likeable by middle aged woman. Like and comments are your direct assessment of your post. If your audience like it, they’ll engage with you. If not, they won’t.Also the algorithm changes every few months, so what worked last year or even last quarter, probably won't work the exact same way now.​POST FREQUENCY​Some of the comments on the previous post touched on this, but gave some poor advice. Do NOT listen to anyone who tells you you have to post as frequently as you can or post twice a day no exceptions. This is shit advice. Anyone who makes a sweeping rule is clearly not a real entrepreneur, or at least not a very good one. Theres more than way to skin a cat.In general, posting twice a day is a safe option. Once a day, isn't bad either, 3x a day can work. I've had success with even posting 3x a week. I would say somewhere between 3-20x a week. But make sure you aren't oversaturating your feed. You can easily bother your followers by making too many low quality posts. Quality over quantity every time. I know this probably sounds vague, but the important thing to remember is each account is different and unique. Please feel free to ask questions specific to you in the comments and I bet as a community we can really give some good advice.​TIME OF POST​Pretty simple here. 12-9pm EST tends to be best. 12, 3, and 9 specifically. This is when most people tend to be on IG. Sorry if you're international, but I would suggest a quick google search looking for best times to post on IG. Generally speaking, Sunday tends to be the least engaging day of the week, but I've still found plenty of success these days.​CONTENT​Quality content is so important to have. There are three types of posts you can make on Instagram. Just a regular picture, a video, or a gallery post, meaning multiple selections where the user has to swipe in order to see the full post. Generally speaking, videos that are 10-30 second long will perform best, but this is absolutely not a rule of thumb. All posts that have a clear resolution, aren't cropped weird, and are professional are capable of performing well. People are forgoing their websites to only use an Instagram page for their business. Therefore, you have to use professional and quality content on your page. I've only had one post that was blurry that performed well, and it was in the middle of a good week (all other posts were getting thousands, and some tens of thousands of likes and engagements). IG boosts accounts that show consistent positive results.I know that it can be hard to find quality content to post, so if you have questions in this regard specific to your account or business, let me know in the comments.Otherwise, there are a couple apps that let you pull down other profile's posts off the app. I like Grab the best, but it is a bit clunky to use. Buffer lets you do reposts, but I've had a lot of bad experience with Buffer, but one of my mentors has really loved it, so you can try it out and decide for yourself.Always tag people in your posts as well. Instagram lets you tag up to 20 accounts in one post, and you can now tag in videos too! this is awesome. So find influencers in your niche and tag them. Find big accounts related to your niche, and tag them. Find pages your audience follows, and tag them.We also need to discuss the concept of a powerlike. A powerlike is when someone with a big following likes your picture and engages with you. Your post is then much more likely to be displayed in their followers feeds and explore pages. Certain accounts likes have more value than others, so use this to your advantage.​EXPLORE PAGE​Your ultimate goal through organic growth is to consistently get on the explore page and get promoted this way. The explore page is the page you access through the little magnifying glass at the bottom of the mobile app, or the compass when using desktop (don't use desktop, IG's desktop sucks). It shows suggestions to you based on your previous likes and comments and who you follow. This is a great way to utilize OUTSIDE ENGAGEMENT, which I'll get to later.​HASHTAGS​Probably the best improvement you can make on your content is the correct use of hashtags. Each post can have up to 30, so use 30. I also suggest “hiding” them in the comments section by posting them as a comment, but there’s no evidence to support that this truly makes a difference. Use hashtags relevant to your niche. If you’re niche is in to cars, but your using hashtags like #hairstylistlove or #cutedogsoninstagram, IG will actually tank you for incorrectly “gaming” the algorithm.There’s a couple of strategies you can use. 10/10/10 is a good start. Basically, there are big hashtags (over 500,000 posts), medium hashtags (50k-500k posts), and small hashtags (under 50k). You’ll see these ranges vary depending on who you ask, but for 10/10/10, I like these ranges. 10/10/10 basically means to use 10 big hashtags, 10 small, and 10 medium sized ones to properly market your post. Pretty simple. There’s also 25/5, and all smalls. In this case I’d use 25 hashtags under 100,000 and 5 over, or all hashtags under 100,000.The important thing with hashtags is to keep experimenting and find what works. Not all posts are going to do well in a good set of hashtags, and not all good posts require a good set of hashtags to do well. Ik that sounds confusing and tricky, but if you take the time, and put effort into making quality content, Instagram will reward you. They want people to USE the app, to SPEND TIME using their product. The more you use it the more you’ll gain.Geotagging is using a hashtag specifically related to your area. So for example #beverlyhills90210 or #minneapolisweather. These can be great if you're specifically trying to grow your brand in an area.Tagstealing is a term I use, but basically, it means going into the explore page and searching a hashtag relevant to your niche. Find a post that performs well compared to that profile's usual posts. So if someone posts a picture and it gets 500 likes when all their other posts get 50, use the hashtags that they did. They already gamed the algorithm and did the hard part for you.​SHADOWBANNING​This is a widely misunderstood concept and its important that we cover it in its own section. Shadowbanning is where Instagram bans certain hashtags from showing your posts in the explore page. usually these hashtags are porn related or can be porn related. So for example, #petite is banned and won't show results when searched. You can just Google banned hashtags checker and find free online tools that determine whether or not something is banned.​Shadowbanning is NOT however, Instagram demoting your posts for whatever reason. it is strictly related to hashtags​CAPTIONS​Captions are the voice of your posts. It gives you an opportunity to share your opinion, connect with your audience, drive engagement, or really determine the direction of your post. I almost always recommend having a call to action ("let me know what you think in the comments below") to help drive engagement on your posts. Encourage people to want to interact with you, but don't be desperate. That shit turns people off. Some people have long winded, winding stories as captions, while others have maybe a sentence at most. It really depends on you and who you are. Be genuine and real with your audience, and they'll respond to that. Never try to do something just for the likes, always attack IG with the mindset of being yourself and putting your best content and effort into the page.You can use hashtags here, or you can post them in the comments section. I like utilizing the comments method because it "tricks" the algorithm by showing your post as having an extra comment right away.​LOCATION​This is a tricky one but can greatly be used to your benefit. This mainly affects the explore page. Basically, you want to use a location that garners a lot of activity, and more importantly, people on their phones. Stadiums, famous malls, public monuments, or popular Instagram spots are good locations to use. I’ve had mixed results when using restaurants. If you’re trying to grow in a specific city this is wonderful. But make sure you get a little more specific, if you’re just going to do a certain city. Use a neighborhood instead, i.e. Brooklyn not New York, Beverly Hill not Los Angeles.​OTHER TOOLS BESIDES POSTS​This is going to be things like Stories, Live, IGTV. Instagram wants you to use the app, so that they can make more money off of ads. Therefore, they're going to boost you for using the other aspects of the app. Post stories once a day or 5x a week, as a general rule of thumb. An easy strategy with stories is to just do reposts on similar accounts and encourage them to engage with you. Minimal effort for decent reward. also turning the camera around and showing you, talking into the camera, showing your workspace, or you in the field is great as well. More effort, but also probably more reward. Live feed maybe once or twice a week, or more, if you have the content/activity. Things like talks, lectures, videos, lessons etc. Sometimes you can do giveaways exclusive for your live viewers. This encourages viewers to come back consistently and engage in your live stream. IGTV is the newest tool here, but I've best seen it used and used it in the form of interviews, similar to a podcast, or in lectures or announcements. Amanda Bucci has a really great use of stories, live, and IGTV, so check her out for inspiration. These are now so much more important for gaining followers. Make sure you're using hashtags and tagging people in your stories etc as well.​OUTSIDE ENGAGEMENT​This is where you'll really separate your account and make huge strides in growth. I grew an account from 3k followers to 10k in 3 months throug this. You should be spending 30 mins to an hour a day, going out and liking and commenting on other people's posts, to help drive engagement to your page. If you haven't noticed by now, the key word in IG is engagement, and you have to give if you wanna get. You can open a post in the explore page, like it, leave a comment that opens/starts a conversation, and move on in literally less than 10 seconds. Great, swipe right, and do it again. and again. and again and again and again for 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after each post. I've seen this strategy work, but also doing this multiple times throughout the day. Experiment and find what works for you. Each account is different and unique. Each method is going to be different and unique. More than one way to skin a cat.Also make sure that youre replying to all your comments on your posts. This will not only increase loyalty and motivation among your followers, but also trick the algorithm. if you get three comments on a post, and reply to all of them, you now have 6 instead of 3. Always be engaging and active with your followers, and try to reach out to other accounts in your niche and bring them in.I saw a question about bots and stuff, there are plenty of bots on instagram. If they leave a comment, then leave a generous reply, and ignore, unless they respond and seem to be more than just automated. Bots are another follow, but having a group of loyal active followers will grow your account much faster than a bunch of bots who don't engage.​DONTs​Don't buy followers. Most of them tend to be bots, or the wrong type of followers, and won't engage with you at all. Instagram tries to ban these accounts, which could negatively affect yours. Organic growth is infinitely more valuable than buying followers.Don't forget about it or give up. Stay consistent. IG rewards consistency. If you keep at it, you'll eventually break through. Ik trust me, it is very tough and difficult, but can be very rewarding as well.Don't post just to post. Make sure each post has care and effort. Think of it like a new baby each time. You are shaping and raising your baby to give it the best possible opportunity to succeed. If you have a kid just to have a kid and don't put care into, it's going to turn out like shit. Be diligent​DOS​Consider paying to boost your posts. Get a couple of posts to perform really well, and consider spending 10 or 15 bucks on each post. This can easily bring you a thousand or more followers, depending on your account and history.Do consider reaching out to influencers, asking for help, or a shoutout. This is a livelihood for a lot of people, and they will want to gain off your following as well. Most of the time, it's win win.Engage engage engage. If you come away with one thing from this, it's that engagement is key in Instagram, and you need to find ways to drive engagement on your page. Experiment, try new things, have multiple accounts and cross promote.​That sums up the generals guys, but I know that I missed plenty. Please please don't hesitate to bring up any issue or question you have, through either comments or PM. Im super busy right now, but will try to get to all of them. I've worked with single person accounts in past and helped people grow over 100k followers. Currently, I'm working as CMO at a startup, and have experience in all things marketing and sales. I'm looking to get into coaching/consulting, and would love to use you as a guinea pig.​Take care, and best wishes