Social media is often a hive of activity, with some people posting over a hundred times per day. If you have a social media account such as Instagram, then you no doubt follow people that share the same interests or perhaps celebrities. However, sometimes a constant stream of posts can clog up your feed or just become overwhelming, so what can you do? Here’s how to mute an account on Instagram.
What is Muting?
Muting an account means you are not receiving posts from a particular person anymore. However, it isn’t the same as blocking them, as you will still be able to see their posts if you choose. The person you mute will not be told you have done it, so it avoids any conflict which will appeal to many people. Other social media platforms also have this feature, so you can often be selective as to what comes into your news feed.
Why Would You Mute Someone?
Sometimes it can be as simple as getting too many posts from them. They can get in the way of you seeing other things in your timeline, so muting them can be a good way to declutter.
There are also other reasons you might want to mute someone. For example, if a person is posting things that upset you, or has an opinion you decide isn’t for you, then you can mute them while still following their account.
Another reason may be that you have had a disagreement with another person but you don’t want the conflict of blocking them. You can then use mute so they are not aware of what you have done and you won’t see any posts from them in the future.
How to Mute an Account
Firstly, you want to go to the profile page of the person you want to mute (You should do this from the Instagram app on your mobile device).
You will see three dots in the top-right corner of the app page — click on this.
A menu will pop up that gives you several options. Click the one that says “mute”.
When you click that, another menu will pop up. This gives you the option to mute their posts only, their story only, or both their posts and story.
You can also mute an Instagram story by long pressing on the profile picture of the account you want to mute. Then, click “mute.” You can still see their stories, but they won’t appear on your feed.
To unmute an account or story, you just need to repeat the above process, but select “unmute”.
Don’t Get Muted
Now you know that muting is a thing, you might be worrying that people are muting you without you knowing. Of course, some people might mute you even if you don’t do anything wrong, but there are a few tips to not becoming muted:
Try not to post too much in one day.
There may be a lot you want to share, but too much will seem like spamming and people will get overwhelmed. Try to keep to a set number (10 per day for example), then you can spread these out throughout the day.
Use the right hashtags in your post. Though you might want to catch as many people as possible, adding a hashtag that isn’t relevant will frustrate people.
Interact with those on your timeline. If you simply post and don’t respond to comments, then people will get bored.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of posts, then consider having a declutter session and muting those that are either posting too much or not posting interesting content.
