Behind the Instagram private accounts

Aisyah Lyana

Published: 22 February 2016, 3:00 AM

Sometimes being choosy will save your image.

Our virtual profiles influence how others perceive us and it is human nature to want to paint a good image of ourselves. It is thus no surprise that teenagers are starting to have two Instagram accounts – one “main account” and another “private account” that is exclusively for close friends.

 

But if rants and personal thoughts are shared only through the private account, why do we bother with maintaining the virtual façade with a “main account”?

Here are some problems with handling two Instagram accounts.

PRIVATE ACCOUNTS DISTINGUISH CLOSE FRIENDS FROM ACQUAINTANCES.

1. The "main account" exists solely to boost our ego.

We love it when our “followers” and “likes” count are high. We upload the photos that we think will get the most likes from people and only post them at “peak periods” when there is heavy traffic on Instagram. We want that validation and reaffirmation of being worthy. With the more honest and personal posts kept for the private account, the “main account” now becomes a mere platform to flaunt glamorous photos.

FEW FOLLOWERS BUT A LOT OF POSTS.

2. We have to be choosy of the people that are allowed access.

We begin to become exclusive with our friends. Of course, the parties denied access will feel hurt, especially if she feels that she is a good friend. We also expect our friends to like or comment on our private posts. But as time passes, some friends become inactive on our accounts and we begin feeling that is necessary to “clear followers” to keep our follower count low. This could create misunderstandings that may spark petty friendship problems.

WE SHOO PEOPLE TO FOLLOW MAIN ACCOUNT INSTEAD.

3. Our personal life may be leaked.

On our “private” account, we express the intimate details about our lives, such as bad days and angry moments which we otherwise would not want to share publicly. We get to freely spam “unglams”, “non-mainworthy photos” and random posts without being judged or having to think of creative captions. However, trust issues and paranoia will start to haunt us as we worry about hackers and betrayal from our close friends.

A SNEAK PEEK INTO AN EMBARRASSING “PRIVATE ACCOUNT”.

4. You may accidentally upload an embarrassing post on your main account.

I had a friend who would post photos of a guy she was obsessed with on her private account. One day, she forgot to log out from her main account and continued uploading her creepy stalker posts. Her phone died immediately after she uploaded it and everyone saw her post, including the guy. Needless to say, it was embarrassing.

As many “private accounts” have been made, maybe we can ponder over why we have “main accounts” in the first place since we do not truthfully reveal our real image here. We do not need many “likes” to prove our worth.

Do you have a “private Instagram account” as well? Tell us how you choose your followers!

P.S: We have Instagram too!

You may like these

Trending