01
The short answer
Social Janitor assigns each account to a relationship group based on the Followers and Following records in the snapshot you imported. If those records change in a later snapshot, the account can appear in a different group.
The result group is not a permanent label. It describes what the imported data shows at that point in time.
02
What does each result group mean?
- Mutual: the account appears in both Followers and Following.
- Following only: the account appears in Following but not Followers.
- Followers only: the account appears in Followers but not Following.
For the basic definitions, read Instagram Followers vs Following.
03
Why would an account move from Mutual to Following only?
This happens when the account appears in both Followers and Following in the older snapshot, but in the newer snapshot it still appears in Following and no longer appears in Followers.
You still follow the account, but the newer snapshot no longer shows the account following you.
This can indicate that the follower relationship disappeared between snapshots, but the exact reason or exact time is not shown by the comparison.
For the unfollower logic, read how to find who unfollowed you on Instagram.
04
Why would an account move from Mutual to Followers only?
This happens when the account still appears in Followers in the newer snapshot but no longer appears in Following.
The account still follows you, but the newer snapshot no longer shows you following that account.
Social Janitor only reports the relationship state in the imported files. It does not perform the follow or unfollow action itself.
05
Why would a one-way relationship become Mutual?
A Following only account becomes Mutual when it appears in Followers as well in a newer snapshot.
A Followers only account becomes Mutual when it also appears in Following in a newer snapshot.
The newer snapshot shows that the relationship now goes both ways.
06
Why do snapshots matter?
One snapshot tells you the relationship state at one point in time. Two snapshots let you see that the state changed between those points.
Social Janitor does not monitor Instagram in real time, so the comparison cannot tell you the exact moment the account moved from one group to another.
For the full comparison workflow, read how to track Instagram follower changes over time.
07
What if the group change looks wrong?
Check that both snapshots belong to the same Instagram profile and that each export includes the complete Followers and Following data.
Also check whether an export was split across multiple files or whether one snapshot is incomplete.
If the source data looks incomplete, read Instagram data export not showing all followers?.
Open the free preview with your current export and use a later export to see how relationship groups change over time.