To see a web page disappear from the face of the earth can actually mean only one thing. Someone did something that really bothered someone. In this 4gram review, I take a look at what happened to this service and make it easier for you to understand how some of these services can end up.
Knowing that it’s a thin line between crossing and not crossing the border between being inside the lines of Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter guidelines, and outside the lines just enough to be shut down forever.
4gram is a perfect example of walking outside the lines and not caring too much if they get shut down. This is precisely what happened, and to show you what leads to that I dug deep on the internet to find some old reviews and stories that might clear up the air.
To learn what exactly happened, I suggest you take a few minutes of your time and scroll through my thoughts on the subject. Let’s get to it!
If you (by any chance) want to take a break from websites and services that constantly get shut down or don’t work, I suggest you take a look at Upleap service. Trust me, it’s worth your time. If you need a little more convincing, you can always check out my Upleap review to cement your opinion!
In case you need some services to compare Upleap to, check out these and see for yourself:
| Growth Service / Tool | Rating (according to users) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Social | 4.8 | Check Rates |
| Upleap | 4.6 | Check Rates |
| Stim Social | 4.5 | Check Rates |
| SocialFollow | 4.3 | Check Rates |
| Nitreo | 4.2 | Check Rates |
| KENJI.AI | 3.9 | Check Rates |
What happened to 4gram?
This is a question that people who heard about 4gram ask often. Needless to say, they really made a mistake. It’s not very clear what exactly happened, but if you remember that in 2012 Facebook bought Instagram for a staggering $1 billion and made some changes.
Everyone knows that 4gram had a part in these changes as well as a number of other companies that offered Instagram-related services before 2012. An important fact is that many similar companies stayed alive and didn’t get shut down when the purchase was made.
This implicates that 4gram did something seriously bad and something that really didn’t fly with Facebook’s new administration over Instagram. I tried really hard to find out what 4gram did exactly to deserve this, but it seems like nobody knows. The shutdown wave happened so quickly, people didn’t even have time to process it.
A situation like this is not uncommon for Facebook, but it’s not too frequent as well. 4gram was not the only one that got banned from providing their service, so it means there were some competitors who met the same end.
Let me be clear with one thing. From the conversations with people who used 4gram and were familiar with it, I can tell you this is not a great loss for the social media world. I found out pretty quickly that this service was a low-end one and that it wasn’t a shame that 4gram shut down.
So if I were you, I wouldn’t stress about it too much.
How Does 4gram Work?
A better question is “How did 4gram work?”. From what I said earlier it’s pretty clear that 4gram doesn’t work anymore so a question of how does it work is a redundant one to ask.
I know they offered Instagram likes and followers for a pricy fee, but nothing more than that. Not many people remember this service because it was not exactly something worth mentioning to other people that are big on social media.
Knowing they got shut down for violation terms and conditions, they probably really irritated the Instagram algorithm and caused the new administration to shut it down (seemingly forever).
As I said, the mediocre service they offered and many unhappy customers indicate that this wasn’t a colossal loss for people in social media. Even if you meet someone who used 4gram before it got shut down that says it was good, keep in mind that 4gram was probably the only service of that kind that they had tried.
4gram – My Honest Opinion
I know I should keep a level of professionalism when making my opinion public, but I can’t stay silent when services like 4gram are the main topic of discussion.
These companies are not bad only for themselves, but for companies that work in the similar or the same field as they used to work in, and give off a bad vibe in people’s eyes when situations like these happen.
Just because 4gram got shut down, it gave a reason to people who hate on products that offer Instagram likes and followers to hate it even more. It brings a bad name to honorable companies who do their jobs without endangering anybody and who don’t cross the lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
The reason I’m mentioning this is that I had an opportunity to speak to a person that despises the concept of buying followers or likes, so the moment I brought up 4gram and how I was interested in what happened to it, they went on the offensive.
To someone who listened to that conversation from up close, the person bashing 4gram was completely correct, and when they started going after other companies, it seemed they had a perfectly valid reason to do that as well.
In situations like these, it’s hard to help a person make a distinction between low-end Instagram services (like 4gram) and others that pay close attention to Instagram terms and services and don’t endanger other companies or their users.
Another thing to remember about these kinds of service-providing companies is that they not only endanger themselves and their employees but their customers and users as well.
This is something that no company should allow itself to do because the main goal of any service-providing team is to provide the service and protect its consumer. Not only 4gram didn’t do that, but it offered a low-quality service in the first place.
4gram Instagram Review – How Bad Was It?
In the days where 4gram was able to provide any kind of service to its consumers, there were a few red flags and downsides to it.
The first one was that they asked for your Instagram username and password. Not only did this endanger the user and put its profile at risk, but it was a dishonest move on the 4gram staff’s part.
They knew, even then, that it was possible to gain followers even without giving up your username and password to a third party.
Yes, we can take into consideration that it was one of the earliest services of this nature, but it doesn’t mean that was an excuse to take their user’s password to their personal account and put them in a vulnerable situation as a consequence of this.
The only thing I like about the picture above is that it depicts that old Instagram aesthetic that brings me back to the old days of Instagram where everything was much more simple, but my fascination with 4gram really ends there.
To put it into perspective, when I entered 4gram into Sitejabber or Trustpilot nothing came as a search result. You can do this as well and make sure I’m not exaggerating.
4gram Review – Summation
When these kinds of websites are in question, you can’t really make a pros&cons table without missing some things. You have to understand this service is long gone so it’s kind of hard to remember everything and gather data, but I did my best to make one for you so you can form a better picture of how mediocre it was:
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| One of the first Instagram services | Clunky |
| Required an Instagram password | |
| Expensive | |
| Endangered their users | |
| Frequently violated Instagram terms and services |
As you can see, there are a few things that were truly wrong with 4gram’s service, and that made it barely usable. For this reason alone you shouldn’t be sad that you didn’t have an opportunity to use it.
The internet is full of fantastic service-providing companies that will fulfill your needs when your Instagram page is in question that you shouldn’t even waste your time thinking about the long-gone 4gram.
What I suggest you do is you research all of the services really thoroughly, make your choice, pick one and stick with it. If it makes it easier for you, you can always get to the beginning of this article and find a few that are worth checking out.
I hope you find what you’re looking for and that your social media requirements are met at the highest level!