Haley here, Head of Community at
FOXY.
I've been in the community threads all week and I keep seeing the same thing. Creators working really hard. Posting consistently. Getting likes. And still not growing.
I want to tell you why. Once you see it you can't unsee it.The algorithm doesn't care about likes.I know that sounds wrong. Likes feel like proof that something worked.
But to the platform, a like just means someone tapped your screen while they were scrolling. It doesn't tell Instagram or TikTok anything useful about your content.
What actually moves your account is
saves and sends.A save means someone thought
"I need to come back to this." A send means someone saw your post and immediately
thought of a specific person in their life. Those two behaviors tell the algorithm your content is worth showing to strangers. Likes don't do that.
So the question to ask before you post anything isn't "will people like this?" It's
"will someone save this? Will someone send this to a friend?"If the answer is no, the content isn't ready yet.
Formats that earn saves: 