The recent “Instagram Purge” or “Instagram Rapture” slammed stars of all variety after the social media service got rid of what it called “spammy” accounts. The purge removed millions of fake or allegedly purchased followers, but the exodus also affected the bottom line of some of the celebrities’ wallets as well.
Taking a look at the numbers, Justin Bieber was one the biggest loser of them all with a whopping 3.5 million followers lost. The hit to Bieber’s account gave rise to Kim Kardashian, who ended up becoming Instagram’s most followed star now. Kanye West’s better half was also hit by the Instagram Purge, losing 1.5 million followers as reported by Standard Media.
Business Insider has also been covering the purge trend, reporting that singer Akon went from 4.3 million to 1.9 million. Some experts speculate that some stars have been padding their stats by purchasing followers. In a Page Six article, a social media expert explained the process of how celeb accounts are handled by a team and how they buy followers.
“It’s very inexpensive, so that’s why many social media teams [buy followers],” said Micheal Heller, CEO of Talent Resources. He added that some of these padding sites charge little as $30 for 2,500 followers.
These numbers can lead to big endorsement deals from advertisers who see the star’s social media pull and offer big cash to seize some of those eyeballs. With the purge, many of these stars stand to lose these lucrative deals.
As we reported last week, rapper Mase was so angered by the loss in followers that he just deleted his account after going from 1.6 million to around 100,000.
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Photo: Instagram
