Deactivating Public Instagram Account
As of this month, I would say it has been about a year since I've deactivated my Facebook account. I don't have any intentions of going back, so I would consider my attempt to get off Facebook, a success. Now I'm turning my attention to Instagram.
Update: I ended up creating a new Facebook account, here's why. My public Instagram account is still deactivated.
I have two Instagram accounts; a public one and a private one. I'm looking at deactivating my public Instagram account.
The plan is to replace that public Instagram account with this online journal. Instead of posting photos on that account, I will post the photos on here. I'm thinking of starting a new series called “Photo Log” which will basically feature photos, just like posting photos on Instagram. My first attempt at trying out that idea was this post.
I know Snap.as has a photo album feature. I might look into that as well in the future.
Why Am I Doing This?
I want to take back control of my data. I want to move it out of a social network and move it into a domain that I control. I want this site to be the place that you go to, if you want to look at photos that I've shared online.
Before I can deactivate my account though, I need to figure out the following steps:
- Download all the photos from my public Instagram account.
- Notify my friends who are following that account to either follow my private account, or better yet, just follow this online journal instead.
- Deactivate (or maybe even delete?) public Instagram account.
Now The Irony
Part of the reason I still have Instagram accounts is because there is content on there that is hard to find elsewhere online.
- For example I follow the #Mazdaspeed3 hashtag because Instagram seems to have the most photos of Mazdspeed3s. I follow that hashtag because seeing other people share photos of their Speed3s, helps me stay motivated to keep driving my car instead of buying a new one.
- Another hashtag I follow is #SoloBoardGaming because as you can guess, I have an interest in playing solo board games.
- There are also a number of cycling hashtags that I follow, because some of the most beautiful photos of bicycles I have only seen on Instagram.
All that to say, I might end up creating an Instagram account purely for curating a feed and viewing content. No posting of photos, just a way to view content. Ironic, yes I know, but I don't know of an alternative solution to being able to view content from a curated feed without an account.
Anyway, I could probably re-use my public Instagram account to just view photos, but people might start asking what happened with my account or why I un-followed their accounts, etc... I don't want to deal with that. So I'll just create a new one.
Tags: #QuittingSocialMedia #Instagram