5 Reasons Why You Should Not Use Rotating Proxies for Social Media

Do you handle several social media accounts? Are you a social media manager? Then you have probably heard of social media proxies. There is just no other way to keep your accounts safe from being blocked or disabled. We will go through the major reasons why you should not use rotating proxies for social media.

If you are an advanced user, you are free to test the limits as you see fit. Simply continue with care. You may still use this information as a guideline to avoid restrictions and not have your accounts suspended. With this knowledge, you may reset your settings to a safe limit and start pushing the limits again until you reach your sweet spot.

What are rotating proxies?

Some Internet users utilize a rotating proxy server to conceal their IP addresses for various reasons. A rotating proxy assigns a different IP address to each request or switches it after a set interval. This allows users to submit thousands of requests to thousands of sites at the same time without the sites being able to track them down. You conceal your location, device type, and other information revealed by your IP address. 

However, bot detection software on social media platforms keeps track of any accounts accessed from a new IP address. Any unusual behavior, especially for users who access their accounts from several locations throughout the day, is reported. If you are not utilizing it for its intended purposes, the account may be suspended or even disabled. That is not the kind of news you want to provide in your year-end marketing report.

1. Rotating proxies are not stable enough

Rotating residential proxies are, exactly as their name suggests, constantly rotating. As a result, the most you can hope for is 30 minutes of the same IP address. After that, you get a new one, which must trigger red flags for the social media network. Well, it is safe to say that no real Internet Service Provider changes IPs so fast. 

If the new IPs are from the same location, city-wise, let’s say that shouldn’t be that severe. But still, you must take into consideration the remaining risk. In the end, if you still decide to use rotating residential proxies, pick one that has the highest interval between IP changes from a pool of IPs from the same city.

2. Rotating proxies are spammed

Residential IPs are far superior to datacenter proxies, but they are not without flaws. People abuse them a lot, which is why many security systems ban them. Users must also consider when one or more websites restrict a residential IP address. 

The bulk of proxy services simply let their clients swap between residential IP addresses, regardless of whether the client has previously committed specific behaviors that have resulted in blacklisting. As a result, many IPs in the pool are blacklisted or banned, allowing spammers to continue. 

To circumvent this, several proxy services, like Bright Data, put their clients through a comprehensive onboarding procedure. However, there are also dedicated residential IPs, and you may be able to locate a provider who would swap the IP for another one under specific circumstances.

3. Rotating proxies are highly oversold

There is quite a high demand for rotating residential proxies now on the market. That means many users employ these proxies on a large scale, including on social media. Many could argue that this is one of the reasons why you should not use rotating proxies for social media.

To help you better understand its implications, let’s try an imagination exercise. Let’s say you have a bowl with several tickets. You pick one, read it, and then put it back in the bowl. Another person comes and does the same. After thousands or hundreds of thousands of people do the same, I can bet your ticket was picked more than several times.

Let’s pretend those tickets are IPs. When the social media network notices numerous individuals coming in with the same IP address, it will undoubtedly raise an eyebrow. However, if you use a proxy service with a bigger IP pool, such as Bright Data, you can reduce the likelihood of this happening. There is a reduced chance of the same ticket being chosen and abused if there are more tickets in the bowl.

4. Rotating proxies are low quality

The ISPs own the residential IPs and give them to ordinary home customers. These IPs are exceedingly difficult and costly to obtain. In most cases, when firms, such as proxy providers, buy IP addresses in bulk from ISPs, those IPs all have the same subnet or only a few subnets. As a result, major tech companies will discover and mark them all very quickly. Therefore, in the end, they will not be any different from data center proxies.

ISPs benefit from selling IP ownership information to firms like Google and Facebook, essentially letting them know who owns the IP subnet. To provide high-quality residential proxies, a provider must arrange an agreement with an ISP. Some ISPs do double-dipping, meaning that they sell the IPs to proxy providers while also using some of them for real home end-users.

Thus, many proxy providers employ shady tactics to get their hands on residential IPs without going through the hassle of negotiating with an ISP. People selling proxies on Facebook without having a professional website and having spelling problems do not offer quality residential proxies. If they did, it implies they have money and can afford a sophisticated website with excellent customer service and a large marketing team.

5. Rotating proxies are not safe

Residential proxies are frequently used for scraping sophisticated websites, such as search engines, big eCommerce sites, or social networking platforms, because of their authenticity. 

However, if your goal is not web scraping but social media marketing, proxy rotation places your accounts at the top of the list for the platform to ban or disable. The social media platform will see that the same person is sending requests from all over the world in a matter of seconds and will consider you a bot.

Conclusion

When researching proxy services, you will come across two types of residential proxies: dedicated and rotating. For social media, dedicated proxies are the best option. A dedicated residential proxy assigns a single residential IP address. You can simply set one IP per account.

Now you know the reasons why you should not use rotating proxies for social media. We recommend that you use dedicated residential proxies if you want to perform social media management at scale with proxies and avoid account bans. Also, have a look at our list of reputable residential proxy services.