Have you noticed a drop in the amount of people watching your Instagram stories? I have too!

I started to noticed this about a week ago. What was weirder, was that before this change, I noticed a lot of random accounts were watching my stories. These were accounts that I didn’t interact with at all.

So why is this happening? Well, Shannon Lutz with The Social Bungalow seems to have figured it out!

You do have to join this group before so that you can view the video.

She says, “It started with larger accounts doing this, and then others jumped on.” What we’re seeing is an uptick in the use of third-party growth hack apps and sites that lock onto your stories and followers. Basically, bots are watching other peoples’ stories on your behalf in the hopes that someone will notice this and then follow you.

It’s freaky because you may not even know that one of these sites is doing this with your account.

In response to this, Instagram has set up a new algorithm and filter that prevents these third-party sites from invading your stories. They can no longer “view” other stories for you. Which, to me, is the right way to do this.

Some of us aren’t happy with the decrease in stories views since this new setup was put into effect, however. It’s meant that “less” people are viewing your stories. It’s definitely messing with insights and data.

Keep in mind, while the numbers appear smaller, these were not authentic accounts following you to begin with. You’re better off with Instagram cleaning them out!

I was averaging about 300 story views a day before this change, and now I’m seeing around 100 – 150. Yep, I’m bummed – but I do understand that this was a necessary “rule” for Instagram to put in place.

Have you noticed a change in your story views too?