Who are your best friends on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t rank your friends. The “Close Friends” list is one you build yourself to share some stories, and the order of your story viewers is decided by an algorithm. Neither tells you who you really interact with.
Your data export does. It contains your messages, likes and comments, so it can show who you talk to, who you support, and who you’ve known the longest.
Myths to forget
- “The first story viewers are the people who stalk me.” Instagram says this order depends on activity and interactions. It’s not a ranking of visitors.
- “Search suggestions show who looks at my profile.” No. They depend on your own activity and connections.
- “An app can show who visits my profile.” Impossible: see can you see who viewed your Instagram profile?
What your export reveals
In FollowersChecker, the Relationships tab uses your export to show:
- Your inner circle: a diagram of the people you interact with the most. The closer to the center, the closer the bond.
- Your relationship score out of 100: how many of the accounts you follow follow you back, and how many of your interactions go to people who follow you.
- One-sided relationships: people you message or like often who don’t follow you back.
- Your oldest friendships: mutual follows that started the longest ago.
- Upcoming friend-iversaries: the anniversary of a mutual follow in the next 45 days.
- Your growth, year by year: when your followers arrived.
How to get it
- Request your Instagram export with Followers and following, Messages, Likes and Comments (guide: download your data).
- Drop the ZIP into FollowersChecker. Everything is read in your browser.
- Open the Relationships tab.
Discover your inner circle in a few seconds, without a password.
See my best friendsLimits to keep in mind
- The export records your actions: the messages you exchanged, and the likes and comments you gave. Likes you received are not all in it.
- A friend you mostly see in person, or talk to on another app, may rank lower than you’d expect.
Make something of it
- Send a message for a friend-iversary: it’s a great excuse to reconnect.
- Add your inner circle to your Close Friends list on Instagram.
- Watch your year as a story with your Instagram Wrapped, including your #1 conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Does anyone know I checked my inner circle?
No. The analysis happens on your device, from your own export. Nobody is notified.
Are my messages uploaded to analyze them?
Never. Your messages stay in your browser tab and disappear when you close it.
Why is my best friend not in my inner circle?
Probably because you talk elsewhere. The circle only counts what Instagram recorded in your export: messages, likes and comments.
Does it work with TikTok?
Yes, with your TikTok export, based on the interactions TikTok includes in it.