In the vast realm of Instagram, where users express themselves through captivating visuals and engaging stories, there exists an intricate network of rules and limitations. A common encounter for users is the message, “we limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram.”
This cryptic notification often leaves users questioning its origins and implications. In this exploration, we delve into the intricacies of these limitations, deciphering the reasons behind the message, and uncovering strategies to navigate through this digital landscape seamlessly.
Join us on a journey to understand why Instagram places restrictions and how users can effectively navigate within these boundaries.
What Does “We Limit How Often You Can Do Certain Things On Instagram” Mean?
Like we said before, all social media platforms have rules, and Instagram is pretty serious about them. They set these rules to keep their community safe.
If Instagram sees something weird happening on your account, you might get a message saying, “We limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram.”
The full message says, “Try again later. We limit some actions on Instagram to protect our community. Tell us if you think we made a mistake.” This is like a warning from Instagram. If you keep doing things you shouldn’t, your account might be blocked.
Every social media platform doesn’t like bad accounts that can harm others. It messes up the experience for everyone and makes the platform look bad. So, all social media platforms, including Instagram, take steps to stop that from happening.
Yes, it’s annoying to see these messages, but they don’t only show up when you break the rules. Other things can trigger them too. That’s why it’s important to know about Instagram limitations.
What Are Instagram Limitations?
If you see the “we limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram” message, it signals that you’ve crossed some of Instagram’s limits. But, how do you figure out which limit you hit?
Understanding this is crucial so that you can steer clear of it next time and keep your account safe. Currently, there are a few things that decide the limits on any account.
Factors for Limitations
The limitations aren’t uniform for every account. While some, like rules against hate speech, apply to all users, restrictions on likes, comments, and following may differ. The age of your account is a key factor — newer accounts usually have higher limits.
The total number of accounts you follow and those following you also influences limitations. Additionally, the engagement your posts receive matters. If your posts reach a lot of people, you might get more leeway.
Limitation on Forbidden Content
You can check out Instagram’s “Community Guidelines” to understand what kind of content is okay and what’s not. But there are some fundamental types of content you should always steer clear of to stay on Instagram:
- Sexual content, including nude pictures.
- Hate speech targeting race, ethnicity, social status, sexual orientation, disability, or illness.
- Encouraging violence in any form.
- Harassing or threatening other users.
- Online gambling.
Limitation on Following and Unfollowing
On Instagram, following and unfollowing are seen as the same thing, and you can only do it 200 times a day.
It doesn’t matter if you follow 200 people, unfollow 200, or mix it up, it’s all counted the same, and you’re breaking the rules if you go over. If you’re new on Instagram, they keep a close eye on you, so it’s a good idea to be careful, especially in the beginning.
Start slow, follow or unfollow a few people, and gradually do more. If you’re just starting, don’t follow more than 50 accounts a day, and you can double that by the end of the week. If you suddenly follow or unfollow a lot, Instagram might think you’re spamming and treat you like a robot.
Limitation on Liking and Commenting on Posts
We all like to heart and comment on posts from friends, right? Well, surprisingly, this can cause issues on Instagram.
But don’t stress, Instagram is pretty chill about it and set the limit to 1000, which is a lot. Even if you spend a ton of time on Instagram, it’s unlikely you’ll hit this limit. For comments, you’re allowed 200 per day, which is fair since commenting takes more time.
But be careful not to comment the same thing a bunch of times because that could get you banned for spam. So, if you’re trying to win something by commenting a lot, watch out.
Limitation on Direct Messaging
There’s also a limit on how much you can use direct messaging on Instagram. You can message one person anytime, but if you go overboard and start spamming, Instagram will catch on.
The limit for direct messages is 80. Most people message around 10 to 20 users a day on Instagram, so hitting this limit is pretty unlikely.
Limitation on Hashtags
Using hashtags is great for increasing the reach of your posts to a specific audience. Although social media platforms support using hashtags, Instagram also has a limit on them.
Currently, you can include up to 30 hashtags on each post. If you go over this limit multiple times, you might see the “we limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram” message.
Limitation on Length of Videos and IGTV
Instagram has always encouraged users to share both pictures and videos, but there’s a time limit on videos.
Videos for your profile can be up to 60 seconds, and for your story, it’s limited to 15 seconds. If you have a video longer than 60 seconds, you can only upload a part of it, up to 60 seconds.
However, Instagram noticed that many users didn’t like this limit, so they introduced two features: IGTV and Instagram Live. IGTV allows videos from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
Instagram Live lets you broadcast videos in your story, with a limit of 60 minutes per session, but you can start another live video right after reaching the limit.
Limitation on Stories
You might be curious about how many stories you can post on Instagram daily- 10, 15, or perhaps 30? Well, Instagram offers more flexibility than that. You can upload up to 100 stories per day, which is more than sufficient.
Even if you’re having a great time on vacation with friends, chances are you won’t reach this limit. If you want to add more than 100 stories, you’ll need to wait 24 hours from when the first story was uploaded. As the older stories vanish, you can keep adding more.
Limitation on Tagging
The primary aim of tagging other users is to involve those who were with you or captured the images or videos you posted in your posts and stories.
However, some Instagram users went a bit overboard, using this feature excessively to boost the visibility of their posts.
Consequently, Instagram imposed a limit on tagging people in your posts, stories, and comments. For posts, you can tag up to 20 people, but when it comes to comments, this limit is reduced to 10.
Limitation on the Character Count, Username, or Bio
Instagram allows you to choose a unique username for your Instagram account. This could be your real name or your nickname with some added characters.
Instagram lets you choose a real name having up to 30 characters. This makes sure that you choose a name that is easy to read and concise. As with the bio of your account, it gives an idea of who you are, what you do, and what your hobbies and interests are.
The maximum number of characters in the bio of an account is 150, which is enough to describe your personality.