Instagram, home of sunset shots, hashtags and puddlegrams, has a dark underbelly creating waves through the local Instagram community. The centre of all the fuss is a man, a bot, his many accounts and all the tens of thousands of followers his bot has fetched.

I’ve had some personal experience in experimenting with bots in the past. When they first emerged a few years back I did some research to see what all the fuss was about. There are a fair number of these types of bots and they’re, unsurprisingly, used quite widely. These bots run as scripts, automating likes, comments, following & unfollowing – all completely scripted without the user having to lift a finger. The bots are so automated, and the user so un-involved, that bots will literally like anything, even a square black picture of absolutely nothing.

The use of bots has become a hot topic in the South African Instagram community as the platform has gained in popularity. There is now something to gain from having a large Instagram following, status, and with status comes the ‘influencer’ title and brands in tow, hoping to cash in on the Instagramer’s social reach. As many businesses are now investing in this upcoming social platform, I feel that it is my duty to enlighten you on how Instagram can and has been abused.

The man behind the local scandal is Craig Howes and his bot is an online tool that “plays human” by trawling selected hashtags on Instagram. Howes has confessed to using bots to aggressively grow his accounts, but this hasn’t settled the issues as he continues to ‘cash in’ on his ill-gotten influence in many forms including media, influencer perks and small bites of praise.

The bot used by Howes lavishes likes, follows and pre-scripted comments with abandon in the hopes that the likes, follow or comment will spark enough interest to get the user to check out its source, and perhaps follow back. The scripted nature of these bots means they can’t actually see or evaluate the actual photos – they’ll give a like on literally anything with specific hashtags. 

This sounds like a dream to the egoist hoping for quick success on Instagram, but bots are not only against Instagram’s terms of service, they are also very much against the ethos of the platform. While you can argue, “each to their own,” when bot users start being recognised as influencers and start to cash in by doing press interviews, accepting products and glory, and ‘selling’ their social clout without directly disclosing how they grew their following, it flies in the face of those in the space who have built up genuine communities through hard work, interaction and high quality photos. 

If you have an Instagram account and have ever used one of the more popular hashtags then you’re almost guaranteed to have discovered Craig Howes or one of his many accounts by having your photos liked or commented on by ‘him’ in the past, whether it was a good photo or not. When first stumbling on these accounts, their large follower count is impressive and you’ve likely wondered how they gained their followers. These are some of the accounts you may recognise: @cityofcapetown, @cityofjohannesburg, @darkdreaminghowes (formerly @howes_bw), @southafricaZA. @howes_elite, @sa_musicfestivals, or @cityofcities.

Admittedly, the game of botting is quite clever, albeit deceitful.

This is exactly how it was done: accounts are set up, a few generic photos are posted or other users’ photos are featured. Pre-set criteria for the bot are selected and it is then put into action on the accounts, liking, following, and commenting like mad. Within a few short weeks these accounts unnaturally gain tens of thousands of followers.

Tempting, right? The accounts are then used to reference the others by cross-commenting, referring, featuring and mentioning. This ‘advertising’ across all the botted accounts gave the initial perception of a group of like-minded talented people that appreciate each other’s work.

Another tactic employed by Howes is to aggressively grow an account using bots and when it gains critical mass, change the name to something more ‘legitimate’ and sometimes the new name is untraceable (see @instapuppz above). A perfect example was @coloursplash_legends which was changed to @southafricaZA in response to launch of @southafrica, an account that has legitimately gained over 16,000 followers in just under a year. A quick comparison of engagement rates between the botted @southafricaZA and the legitimate @southafrica will show you botting your way to big numbers doesn’t work.

Collectively Howes has accumulated tens of thousands of followers across all of his accounts and various media have naively praised Craig for this perceived status as an Instagram guru. The “fake” influence is high enough for him to draw attention and appeal to local companies looking to reach his massive audience. Unfortunately, I doubt these brands or audiences know how he accumulated his following and that it’s expressly prohibited. 

Beyond being against the terms of service, using bots becomes a game of chasing numbers, and no gain is ever high enough. It becomes a massive reputational risk and shames the space of a platform that demands innovation, originality and genuine interaction. Bots have been around for a while and a number of people have experimented with them before, but when their excessive use moves beyond your own personal reputation and starts to risk the reputation of Instagram and the communities, then the people legitimately using the platform will start to have a problem.

Insta-fame, media and corporate attention seems to be something that leads these users to cheat the system. Howes appears to have fallen victim to all of these allures which is sad because his photos are legitimately good. His energy and contribution to the local Instagram community cannot be challenged, but when bot use is taken to the extreme, and the media and brands are taken for a ride, the community gets divided, it’s integrity as a whole is put at risk and everyone loses.

About the author, Gareth Pon:

Gareth Pon, named the Best Instagrammer of 2014 by African Blogger Awards is a filmmaker, photographer and the founder of the South African Instagramers Community. He believes that everyone should have at least one ridiculous dream, and his is to go to space. To see more of what Gareth gets up to, follow him on Instagram, or visit his website. You can also get connected with the local Instagramers Community.