Lurk Follow Index · Updated October 12, 2026
What share of Instagram follow activity is gaining new followers?
The short answer
In Lurk's anonymized Instagram follow graph, 52.7% of tracked follow-activity events are accounts gaining a new follower — 448,493 gained-follower events across 851,675 total (as of October 12, 2026). Getting followed is a large, steady share of activity, second only to new follows made.
Where new-follower gains sit among all events (851,675, October 12, 2026)
| Event type | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| New follows made | 379,011 | 44.5% |
| New followers gained | 448,493 | 52.7% |
| Unfollows | 842 | 0.1% |
Shares are of all tracked follow-activity events in the observation window.
How this is measured
The gain rate is the count of gained-follower events divided by all tracked follow-activity events (851,675) in Lurk's follow-edge store. Lurk records public follow transitions as an anonymized aggregate — no individual account is exposed and no private data is used. Figures refresh from the live get_follow_index RPC roughly every 6 hours.
Cite this
“What share of Instagram follow activity is gaining new followers?”, The Lurk Instagram Follow Index, October 12, 2026. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to getlurk.app/data/instagram-new-follower-gain-rate.
Frequently asked questions
How often do Instagram accounts gain new followers?
Gaining a follower makes up 52.7% of all tracked follow-activity events (448,493 of 851,675), updated October 12, 2026.
Is gaining followers more common than unfollowing?
By far. Gained-follower events (448,493) vastly outnumber unfollows (842) in the same window.
Related
- The Lurk Instagram Follow Index (full dataset)
- Instagram unfollow rate
- Instagram follow-back rate
- Best Instagram follow trackers (2026)
See who anyone really follows on Instagram
Lurk tracks public Instagram accounts and shows who they recently followed — anonymously, with no login.
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