Read JSON Object without API

get_follower_count_ex.php

<h1 class="follower"></h1>
<?php
$instagramUsername = "instagram";

// Get Instagram page source code
$instagram = file_get_contents('http://instagram.com/'.$instagramUsername);

// extract follower count from json with regex
$pattern = '/\"edge_followed_by\":\{\"count\":[0-9]{1,10}\}/';
preg_match_all($pattern, $instagram, $results);
$string = print_r($results[0][0],true);

// Transform result to JSON type
$myJsonObject =  "{".$string."}";
    ?>
     <script>
        // Transfer PHP variable to Javascript
        var js_Obj =  '<?php echo $myJsonObject;?>'

        // String to JSON object
        obj = JSON.parse(js_Obj);
        console.log(obj.edge_followed_by);

        // Prepare and send to HTML
        document.getElementById("follower").innerHTML = JSON.stringify(obj.edge_followed_by["count"]);
    </script>