Lurk Stat Drop · Verified accounts · Updated July 3, 2026
Do verified Instagram accounts follow more accounts than unverified ones?
Verified Instagram accounts follow roughly twice as many accounts as unverified ones — a median of 773 versus 377 (about 2.05×). The blue check is not a signal of an exclusive, follow-nobody account; verified profiles are among the most active followers on the platform. Even so, 13.0% of verified accounts follow fewer than 100 accounts, and 250 verified accounts in Lurk's graph follow literally no one. Scope: this describes the accounts Lurk has observed — a set skewed toward searched, tracked and frequently-referenced accounts — not a random sample of all of Instagram.
By Lurk · Original research · CC BY 4.0 · Cite this
Verified accounts on Instagram are often remarkably engaged, actively following and interacting with other users. Despite their high-profile status, they maintain a strong connection to the platform.
The blue check follows more, not less
Across 116,719 accounts with a known following count, the 5,623 verified accounts follow a median of 773 others, versus 377 for the 111,096 unverified accounts — roughly 2.05× more. Their mean following is also higher (1,206 vs 692). Verification correlates with a broader, busier feed, not a walled-off one — though a stubborn minority stays exclusive: 13.0% of verified accounts follow fewer than 100, and 250 follow no one at all.
| Account type | Accounts | Median following | Mean following | Median followers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verified | 5,623 | 773 | 1,206 | 87,747 |
| Unverified | 111,096 | 377 | 692 | 563 |
The dataset behind this number
This figure comes from Lurk's live follow-graph — the same anti-flap store that powers the public Follow Index — which currently spans 116,719 Instagram profiles, 2,021,740 mapped follow-relationships, and 1,505 accounts under active tracking. No competitor publishes a distribution like this because no competitor has the underlying dataset.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Instagram profiles in the network | 116,719 |
| Follow-relationships mapped | 2,021,740 |
| Accounts under active tracking | 1,505 |
| Follow-activity events observed | 406,123 |
Methodology & limitations
Data source. An aggregate query over Lurk's cached_profiles store, splitting the 116,719 profiles with a known following count (and a positive follower count) by their Instagram verification flag, and comparing the median and mean accounts-followed of each group.
Sampling & scope. Not a random sample of all of Instagram. Verified accounts are far rarer than unverified ones in the wild, so the verified sample (5,623) is smaller; medians are used to keep a few outliers from distorting the comparison. Data was captured July 3, 2026.
Every figure on this page is an exact aggregate derived from Lurk’s production follow-graph — the same data behind the public Follow Index — captured July 3, 2026 and frozen in source so it can never silently drift. The sample is 116,719 Instagram profiles with a known following count, split by verification. No individual account is exposed; all figures are anonymized aggregates.
Frequently asked
Do verified Instagram accounts follow more people?
Yes. In Lurk's data verified accounts follow a median of 773 accounts versus 377 for unverified — about 2.05× more.
Do verified accounts follow fewer people because they're exclusive?
Mostly no — verified accounts follow more than unverified ones on average. But a minority is exclusive: 13.0% of verified accounts follow fewer than 100, and 250 follow no one.
How many accounts does a verified Instagram account follow?
The median verified account follows 773 accounts and the mean is 1,206, across the 5,623 verified accounts Lurk has observed with a known following count.
Cite this
This statistic and its underlying dataset are released free under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Reuse the figure with attribution to Lurk and a link to the permalink:
https://getlurk.app/data-drop/stat/instagram-verified-following-count
Lurk. “Do verified Instagram accounts follow more or fewer accounts than unverified ones?” July 3, 2026. https://getlurk.app/data-drop/stat/instagram-verified-following-count
For the live time-series or a custom cut, see the Follow Index, the flagship State of Instagram Following 2026 report, or the recurring Monthly Data Drop.
Related Lurk research
- Why 1M+ accounts follow almost no one →
- Following count by follower size →
- The Lurk Instagram Follow Index (full live dataset) →
- Best Instagram follow trackers (2026) →
Lurk builds this dataset by tracking Instagram following activity for its users. See what Lurk tracks →