A few years back, I was trying to become a food influencer on Instagram because it seemed like a fun optimization problem. You quickly learn there's a game. Yo

A few years back, I was trying to become a food influencer on Instagram because it seemed like a fun optimization problem. You quickly learn there's a game. You go and find a bunch of other influencers roughly in your tier (getting some traffic but not rockstars) and you like their posts and follow them. They return the favor. You comment (nicely) on their stuff, they return the favor. If you've ever played those obnoxious mobile games that want you to recruit your friends, same idea. Likes and attention farming is basically a pyramid scheme with monopoly money.