Instagram’s Newest Feature Is a Bigger Deal Than It Seems

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Instagram announced Monday that it’s finally adding a much-desired feature: The ability to switch between multiple accounts without having to log out.

The photo-sharing app’s new functionality is an obvious boon for the social media managers of the world. But it’s likely to see adoption from Instagram’s everyday users as well, as there’s a growing contingent of people actively living double lives on the platform.

For some of Instagram’s youngest users, maintaining the carefully edited, jealousy-inducing persona that a successful Instagram account requires—every post showing you living your best possible life—has become tiring. So they have taken to creating fake Instagrams, or “finstagrams,” which are private accounts not tied to their real names. You only share your finstagram account with your closest friends, so you have the freedom to share pictures that are not agonizingly framed to get the maximum number of likes.

“You post things you wouldn’t want people other than your friends to see, like unattractive pictures, random stories about your day and drunk pictures from parties,” Amy Wesson, an 18-year-old Trinity College student, told The New York Times last fall. The spontaneity and freedom of a finstagram is similar to the vibe of Facebook in its early days, before the parents invaded, or Snapchat, whose disappearing photos encourage a certain level of visual honesty.

Stacy Kranitz Is TIME's Instagram Photographer of 2015

Butterfly in Dani's hair, Whitesville, WV
Butterfly in Dani's hair just before I saw my first rattlesnake. Whitesville, WV@stacykranitz
We are both feeling lost with all this rain, Logan, West Virginia
Logan, West Virginia@stacykranitz
@l.haymes backflip. I've stolen @littlebigmangallery muse, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, N.C.@stacykranitz
Sometimes we trap ourselves, Pikeville, Kentucky
Pikeville, Ky.@stacykranitz
Morning fog, Lost Hills/Paso Robles
Lost Hills/Paso Robles, Calif.@stacykranitz
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon, Ariz.@stacykranitz
Dupont Belle West Virginia
Dupont Belle, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Capturing spider webs onto paper, Hambidge
Hambidge, Ga.@stacykranitz
Rain on the Mountain, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, N.C.@stacykranitz
Rutland, Ohio
Rutland, Ohio@stacykranitz
Stuff, City of Maryville, Tennessee
Stuff. City of Maryville, Tenn.@stacykranitz
Cherokee, North Carolina
Cherokee, N.C.@stacykranitz
Colby and I found this picture on the ground at Skatopia
Skatopia, Ohio@stacykranitz
Instead of sleeping in my car, I get to stay at the Hatfield and McCoy Bed and Breakfast in Williamson, West Virginia
Hatfield and McCoy Bed and Breakfast, Williamson, W.Va. @stacykranitz
Carvers Gap, Roan Mountain Road, Parking Lot
Carvers Gap, Roan Mountain Road, N.C.@stacykranitz
West Columbia, WV
West Columbia, W.Va.@stacykranitz
X ray of Black Lung
West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Charleston W.Va.@stacykranitz
American Legion, Logan, West Virgina
Logan, West Virgina@stacykranitz
Logan, West Virginia
Logan, West Virginia@stacykranitz
Burn out apocalypse, Boone County, WV
Boone County, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Hi, West Columbia, West Virginia
West Columbia, W.Va.@stacykranitz
The Ohio, Country Corner Cafe
Country Corner Cafe, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Because I love you, 7-Eleven
7-Eleven, Los Angeles, Calif.@stacykranitz
South Bluefield, West Virginia
South Bluefield, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Logan, West Virginia
Logan, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Sometimes I come to Pine Mountain
Pine Mountain, Ky.@stacykranitz
Santa Rosa, NM - Grandma Tita's House
Santa Rosa, N.M.@stacykranitz
I want one of these babies, Matewan WV
Matewan, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Opening night of the football season for the Miners at Mingo Central High School
Mingo Central Football Stadium, Matewan, W.Va.Opening night of the football season for the Miners at Mingo Central High School. The whole school is built on a former Massey strip mine.
Morning Swim, Bell's Cove
Bell's Cove, Asheville, N.C.@stacykranitz
The Bear Zoo makes me sad, Cherokee, North Carolina
Cherokee, North Carolina@stacykranitz
Charlie is drinking a beer called Natty Daddy, East Beckley, West Virginia
East Beckley, W.Va.@stacykranitz
West Columbia, West Virginia
West Columbia, W.Va.@stacykranitz
Castro Ville
Castroville, Calif.@stacykranitz
Hook rug horse training day, Hambidge
Hambidge, Ga.@stacykranitz
Put the cured Queen Anne's lace from the press in a pile, Hambidge
Hambidge, Ga.@stacykranitz
Boone County, WV
Boone County, W.Va.@stacykranitz

Is this a change that will massively increase Instagram’s user base? Probably not. But it’s likely to keep teens more satisfied with the platform and less likely to grow restless and move on to the next hot social app. Now they’ll have the best of both worlds: a place to show off and a place to communicate intimately with friends.

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