Instagram seems to be embracing the idea of creating multiple accounts on its platform.
The Wall Street Journal reports that at some point in the last year—Instagram won’t say when—the service introduced a pop-up that actually encourages users to create second accounts.
The message is reportedly displayed when people who only have one Instagram account “long-press the profile icon at the bottom of their feed, or tap their profile username,” within the app.
Instagram then encourages those users to create a new account that can help them “keep up with a smaller group of friends,” the Journal reports, or focus on specific areas of interest.
A company spokesperson reportedly told the Journal that Instagram users creating multiple accounts have the option of setting up standalone accounts that have no real effect on each other or making linked accounts that rely on a single username and password combination.
It’s not clear if the pop-ups are shown to all Instagram users who perform the actions described in the Journal report or if they’re limited to a subsection of the service’s audience. Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information about this pop-up.
Still, it makes sense for Instagram to support people creating multiple accounts. That way someone who’d normally self-censor the photos they share or people they follow might be more willing to use the service. (And, in turn, provide more opportunities for Instagram to show ads.)
