Does Instagram want you to make a finsta?

The Future. Instagram is prompting users to open up a second account to encourage single-account users to post more (and boost the company’s metrics and advertising). But with Gen Z increasingly deeming Instagram “uncool” and separating their public and private personas, the new feature may actually be a covert way to reel back the younger generation.

Day account, night account
Bored with your Insta? IG suggests you make a new one.

• Over the past year, Instagram has rolled out a prompt that asks users if they would like to “try a new account.”
• The prompt targets those who currently only have one account.
• Users can either link their current account to the new one, so they’re under one login, or build an entirely separate account.

Instagram says that the feature is meant to re-engage users who either have bloated accounts with random followers or would like a fresh account to explore new interests.

Double trouble
Although Instagram currently has 108 million daily active users in the U.S., it actually has 126 million active accounts… which means roughly 18 million users already have more than one account.

So is Instagram promoting the use of finstas (fake Instagram accounts)? Kind of. To Instagram, a “real” or “fake” account doesn’t really matter — they’re both accounts, which gives the company a bigger reportable metric and attracts fresh advertising.