"Follow first, then we'll send the discount code" is a common setup on Instagram — but built wrongly it sends "you are not following me" to somebody who has followed you for years. The Following section on the contact card and the follow condition in a flow are deliberately three-valued to prevent that. This guide explains the rows in the section, what the third value means, and how to build the flow correctly.
⚠️ Follow information exists only for Instagram contacts. WhatsApp has no such concept; the section is never drawn there and the follow condition never says "yes".
In this article you will find:
The rows in the section
What "Unknown" means
When the information is refreshed
Building a follow condition in a flow
Limits and known issues
Common mistakes
The rows in the section
On the card of an Instagram contact, a section headed Following sits in the right column. The same information also appears in the contact panel in the inbox.
The section holds these rows:
Follows you — Whether the person follows your account. The value is Yes, No or Unknown.
You follow them — Whether you follow the person. The same three values.
Followers — The person's follower count. This row is drawn only when the number is known.
Verified account — Whether it is a blue-tick account. Also drawn only when known.
Last checked — When the information was last read, with date and time. This row appears only if a real answer has been received at least once.
If none of the follow values is known, an explanatory line appears under the section: it says the information can only be read for Instagram contacts who have sent you a direct message.
What "Unknown" means
The most important detail in this section is that No and Unknown are not the same thing.
No means Instagram explicitly said "this person does not follow you".
Unknown means the question could not be answered.
The information is unavailable when:
The person has never sent you a direct message. Someone who only commented or arrived from an ad carries no follow information.
Instagram did not return the field on that request.
The request failed or hit a temporary limit.
In all three cases the panel does not erase the value it already had: a network error can never turn "follows you" into "unknown". The row stays Unknown only when the information was never obtained at all.
⚠️ Note: This is a restriction on Meta's side and applies to every tool using their interface. The panel cannot work out follow state on its own.
When the information is refreshed
Follow information is updated at two moments:
When the person's profile is refreshed. When the person messages you, their profile (name, username, picture) is refreshed if needed, and the follow information comes from the same call. Profiles are refreshed every few days, not on every message.
When a follow condition runs in a flow. At the moment the condition is asked, the information is read from Instagram again. There is no stored value that counts as "fresh enough".
The second rule is the heart of this feature. In a "follow and write again" setup, if the condition read an old value, someone who followed and wrote back immediately would still be told they do not follow. The condition asks the question again every time.
There is a rate allowance on those queries (60 requests per minute per account). When it is used up, the condition continues with the last known value and the Last checked stamp does not move forward; the next condition tries again.
If the value on the contact card changes while a flow runs, an open card updates itself.
Building a follow condition in a flow
Add a Condition step in the flow editor.
Choose Follow state as the rule type.
Pick the operator: yes, no or unknown.
Connect the condition's two outputs to the right steps.
The correct setup covers all three states. The recommended layout:
First condition: Follow state is yes → send the reward.
On the no branch, a second condition: Follow state is no → the "follow and write again" message.
The no branch of that second condition now means "unknown" → send a non-accusatory message ("I could not see your follow — could you check and write again?").
That way somebody who really does follow you, but whose information could not be read, is never told they do not.
The note under the condition says the same thing: if the information cannot be read, the result is "unknown".
Limits and known issues
Follow information exists only on Instagram; on WhatsApp the fields stay permanently empty.
The information can only be read for Instagram contacts who have sent you a direct message.
The Followers and Verified account rows are not drawn at all when the value is unknown.
There is no filter by follow state on the Contacts screen. To filter, add a tag with a flow and filter by the tag.
Follow information is not included in the CSV export.
There is no condition for the follower count; the number is shown on the card but cannot be used as a rule in a flow.
Queries have a rate allowance; when it is used up, the condition runs on the old value.
When someone unfollows, the card does not update instantly; it changes on the next real query.
A worked example
A jewellery brand builds its giveaway flow like this:
Trigger: the person comments "enter" on a post.
The flow sends a private message: "Got your entry — checking that you follow the account."
Condition: Follow state is yes → sends the entry code and adds the giveaway_valid tag.
On the no branch, Condition: Follow state is no → "Follow the account and write to me again to enter."
The remaining branch (unknown) → "I could not verify your follow; send me a message here and I can check."
When the person follows and writes again, the flow restarts; the condition reads the information from Instagram at that moment and this time says "yes".
Without the third branch, every entrant who had never sent a DM would unfairly be told they were not following.
Common mistakes
Reading "Unknown" as "No". The two states are different; always build the third branch in your flow.
Expecting follow information for someone who only commented. The person must have sent you a DM.
Looking for follow information on WhatsApp. The section does not exist there.
Trying to filter the contact list by follow state. There is no filter; turn it into a tag.
Trying to build a condition on follower count. There is no such rule.
Assuming the card value is live. What you see is the last answer received; the Last checked row tells you how old it is.
Building the follow gate with a single condition. One condition shuts out the followers whose information could not be read.
If a follow condition does not take the branch you expected, check the Last checked row on the contact card and your third branch, then get in touch with our Support team.