There was a time not too long ago where making a secondary account on Instagram was rather risky. Plenty of users wanted to make a second account because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing you to keep certain things private and restricted to your closest friends whereas your main profile could be used for more public facing content. However, the problem with this was that Instagram often locked your accounts or deleted them outright due to the reason that it had a policy regarding preventing users from doing anything of the sort.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Instagram might be changing its tune in this regard. According to the WSJ, Instagram has started showing users a popup that recommends that they make a secondary account. While it is not quite certain when these popups started showing up, it’s highly likely that users have been seeing them for at least a year, and an Instagram executive recently also said that users could choose to link their multiple accounts or create separate standalone accounts based on whatever preferences they might have.
This is a strong indication that Instagram is starting to embrace change. After all, some users might post more often if they have multiple accounts because they wouldn’t have to censor themselves, and that would naturally result in Instagram earning more through ad revenue and the like. Instagram’s initial aversion to this type of behavior might have been because it would have made them lose control over their platform to one extent or another, but all of the company’s attempts to clamp down on this behavior pretty much failed so it makes sense for Instagram to start leaning into it instead all in all.
Read next: Instagram Is Adding 3D Backgrounds To Video Calls On The Platform, While Also Testing A New Feature Via Which Reels Can Be Used To Reply To Comments
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Instagram might be changing its tune in this regard. According to the WSJ, Instagram has started showing users a popup that recommends that they make a secondary account. While it is not quite certain when these popups started showing up, it’s highly likely that users have been seeing them for at least a year, and an Instagram executive recently also said that users could choose to link their multiple accounts or create separate standalone accounts based on whatever preferences they might have.
Anyone else get asked to create *another* Instagram account by ummm Instagram? Seems like a strange concept / way to solve a problem 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/T3fjyHKIRF
— Nate Bolt (@boltron) February 12, 2021
This is a strong indication that Instagram is starting to embrace change. After all, some users might post more often if they have multiple accounts because they wouldn’t have to censor themselves, and that would naturally result in Instagram earning more through ad revenue and the like. Instagram’s initial aversion to this type of behavior might have been because it would have made them lose control over their platform to one extent or another, but all of the company’s attempts to clamp down on this behavior pretty much failed so it makes sense for Instagram to start leaning into it instead all in all.
Read next: Instagram Is Adding 3D Backgrounds To Video Calls On The Platform, While Also Testing A New Feature Via Which Reels Can Be Used To Reply To Comments