I found @Instagram's finsta
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Why @Instagram has a finstaA few weeks ago, a selfie of Fred again.. came across my Instagram feed. Except it wasn’t from his account. It was posted on an account called @notfit4main with the caption “hey guys im takin overrrr”. I clicked into the account. It had no profile photo and the bio was “guess who… 🫡”. I did immediately notice one thing though. Almost every person who I follow that works at Meta, also followed this account. I scrolled through the content. A lot of it is what I’d call inspirational shitposts. Low quality photos with text like “respect anyone trying” and “make it. (i did.)”. It’s very 2014. Then there are talent takeovers from people like Tyrell Hampton and Tamir Omari. The first takeover was from Tyla, who many commenters still think runs the account as her own finsta. I searched if anything had been written about who was behind the account and found nothing.
When I emailed Instagram about @notfit4main, they confirmed that they are indeed behind the account. Of course, I was curious about the strategy, but I was also curious why Instagram wanted to create a finsta in the first place. What does it mean when the platform itself has an account called @notfit4main? I found out below. Rachel Karten: First, can you tell me a bit about your role at Meta? Jackie Tan: I’m the creative strategist who oversees the @Instagram channel, as well as @Threads and @Facebook. I lead the strategy of our finsta @notfit4main. I also help with various projects like Close Friends Only, Carversations, fashion initiatives and other various talent driven projects on @Instagram. Rachel: Why did Instagram create a finsta? Jackie: We have been talking about starting a finsta for so long now. We really wanted creativity at the heart of the account. We do a lot of programming on @Instagram, but we really thought @notfit4main could hone in on that brand ethos. It’s a carefree and open space that celebrates and unlocks creativity through spontaneous and mysterious posts.
Rachel: How did you come up with the name for it? Jackie: There was a lot of back and forth. We had a lot of names. We were like, should it be @instagrammer or @instagram_user? We always wanted it to feel anonymous though, which is why there’s no profile photo. We felt that @notfit4main really encompasses what a finsta is—alluding to close friends, being intimate with your friends, and posting things that maybe you wouldn’t exactly share to main. We really love the idea of it not having a singular identity and being anonymous. Like those ghost accounts you see on Instagram and playing into people not really knowing whose account it is. And that’s exactly how people use their finstas, like Addison Rae who has @freedomandcontrol, which she never outright says “hey this is my finsta”. We want @notfit4main to feel separate from @Instagram since this is how people are using finstas on the platform. Rachel: There are two buckets that the account posts, the first is talent takeovers. People like Tyla, Fred again.., and more have all posted from the account. Can you talk to me about how those work? Jackie: @notfit4main takeovers are a great way for our partners to talk about their own projects in a new way. For example, the Fred again.. takeover coincided with Instagram’s Ask It Anyway campaign. His team was excited about centering the takeover around his time in NYC. We were able to feature some of the shows he played in NY as well as his new song “scared”. We see these takeovers as a fun way to show that Instagram really stands behind these people by giving them another outlet and way to show up on the platform. We’ve also worked with content creators. We just did our Close Friends Only podcast episode drop recently and had a screening at a movie theater in NY. We invited the creator Tamir Omari, gave him an old vintage iPhone, and just said go do your thing. At Instagram events, like this one, we’ve been handing them off to creators and letting them run wild. Rachel: The second bucket is what I’d call…inspirational shitposts. It reminds me of photos I’d take in 2014. They feel intentionally ugly. Jackie: I grew up on the internet and just feel like what’s old is new again. It always recycles. On the platform right now I’ve been seeing a lot of creators doing text posts on images. We actually commissioned the artist Lola Myers, who’s based in New York, to take these photos. Her work includes these sort of “Post it anyway” lines. So we thought it was a good tie-in to the brand ethos.
Rachel: Does the official Instagram account ever interact with the finsta? Jackie: We don’t want to outright be like “This is @Instagram’s finsta” or whatnot... When we do interact with @notfit4main, we use the repost feature on @Instagram as a subtle way to connect the two accounts. In the past, we would have to share content through @Instagram Stories, but now we can use the repost function from @notfit4main to @Instagram. This feels more lightweight and anonymous, since the content just appears on our audience's timeline rather than being posted on our stories. We typically reserve these reposts for talent takeover moments, allowing us to interact between the accounts without drawing too much attention to the connection... Rachel: Finally, the entire concept of a “finsta” was created to combat the pressure of maintaining a super curated main feed. Some might argue that a lot of that pressure has come from the changes made to Instagram over the years. What would you say to a person who might feel confused by the fact that even the official platform has a finsta? Jackie: @notfit4main highlights a different side of sharing from @instagram. It embodies the creative risk at the heart of our brand: connecting creativity and self-expression directly to Instagram. We’ve been seeing a cultural shift, with people like Justin Bieber and Steve Lacy, that are actually posting it all on their main accounts. For us, @notfit4main is not meant to replace @Instagram; they’re supposed to live together. They support and amplify each other. You can see this tie in our talent takeovers. With Tyla, we shot a Creative Process feature on @Instagram with Tyla about her upcoming tour followed by her takeover on @notfit4main, allowing her to go deeper into her creative process on the making music video for CHANEL. So I wouldn’t say it’s a response to the pressure to post, but that there are all kinds of ways to post and express yourself on Instagram! Here’s what else is in today’s newsletter:
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