The Relationship Between Use of a Second Instagram Account and Self-disclosure| 2023

The Relationship Between Use of a Second Instagram Account and Self-

disclosure

Authors :
Lutfiah Adrikni ¹, Putri Syifa Aulia², Tatu Zakiyatun Nufus³
Psychology faculty of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia

Social media Instagram users are dominated by the millennial generation. They use the second
Instagram account as a form of self-disclosure, and are aware of the importance of privacy. The purpose of
this study is to find self-disclosure with freedom of expression and to eliminate the sense of insecurity felt by
the millennial generation on the second Instagram account.This journal uses a qualitative research method
with a descriptive approach. It is known that participants more often post on their second Instagram account
compared to their main account, because the only followers of their second Instagram account are those
closest to them. This is because they need privacy, so they can show themselves more freely.The desire to
share information, personal feelings both happy and sad, motivation, ideas with others is a symptom of Self-
disclosure. Self-disclosure which is usually done face to face, as technology develops, can now be done via
social media Instagram. People are more free to express themselves through their second Instagram account
compared to their main account. The second Instagram account is a choice for them when they want to post an
upload that is private, but still wants their closest people to see it.

Keywords: Second Instagram account, self-disclosure

Introduction
Nowadays, technology is developing rapidly because of its sophistication and human
contribution to it. This can be seen from the increasing development of social media which
accompanies people's daily lives. Article uici.ac.id noted that until January 2023, the
number of social media users in Indonesia reached 167 million people, which is equivalent
to 78 percent of internet users in Indonesia which reached 212.9 million people, Muhtar
(2023). Quoting from goodstats.id, Instagram follows after Whatsapp with 86.5 percent
users. Social media Instagram users are dominated by the millennial generation, namely in
the age range 18-34 years according to Good News From Indonesia, Mustafa (2020).
Instagram is a social media platform that is used as a place for people to share information
about themselves and also to communicate with other people, both within their reach and
beyond. This journal aims to explain the relationship between using a second Instagram
account and self-disclosure.

Self-disclosure is a form of communication that provides reactions, responses, or

information about oneself that is usually hidden in order to have a better relationship with
people or a group of people. Individual values, beliefs, and desires are involved in this

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 The Relationship Between Use of a Second Instagram Account and Self-disclosure| 2023

process. We also can say that self-disclosure is an individual's behavior that aims to express
another side of himself, which do not want many people to know. The term in psychology
that explains the activity of sharing or conveying self-information to others is called self-
disclosure (Hasan, 2016). Based on the author's experience, who is also users of a second
Instagram account, is that we tend to be more exposed when using a second Instagram
account than a main account, such as by sharing our daily activities and expressing feelings
through Instagram Stories.

In the second Instagram account, the account user can freely show what they want to
show compared to using the main account. This is because the main account is a prestigious
account and usually the followers of the main account are important people, such as
teachers, seniors, friends of our friends, and even people that we don't know. In research by
Gandes & Nurchayati (2022), it is known that some female research colleagues have more
than one Instagram account. In their second account, they are more active and brave in
showing their activities and personal matters. Therefore, the second Instagram account and
self-disclosure have a very close relationship, because without realizing it, active users of
the second Instagram account will have symptoms of self-disclosure.

Literature review
a. Second Account Instagram
1. Definition
According to KBBI, a pseudonym second Instagram account is an account
that uses a pseudonym or can be said to use a fake identity (Kemendikbud,
2016). The benefit itself is that it can provide freedom of expression and at the
same time reduce feelings of anxiety and pseudonymous accounts can also
protect the user's privacy and become a place for stalking the user. One of the
functions or uses of a pseudonym on a second Instagram account is to carry out
self-disclosure.
2. Factor
According to research by Gandes & Nurchayati (2022), respondents
indicated that there were certain reasons that motivated the need for a second
account, namely, wanting to share moments or stories, not revealing their true

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 The Relationship Between Use of a Second Instagram Account and Self-disclosure| 2023

nature to many people, and the main account being felt to be lacking in
providing security and comfort.

b. Self-disclosure
1. Definition
Self-disclosure is a form of intentional communication regarding personal
information (which is usually hidden) to people or groups of people to achieve
further relationships involving several things, namely individual values, beliefs
and desires (DeVito, 2012; Masur, 2019).
2. Factor
According to DeVito (2014), there are several factors that can influence
self-disclosure, namely: personality, culture, gender, audience, and topic.

Methodology
This journal uses a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach.
Qualitative descriptive research aims to present a scientific and factual description or
description of the characteristics and relationships between the phenomena studied using
words rather than numbers (Prihantoro, Edy., et all, 2020) .The results of this research are
presented as the data is or without the manipulation process. The data was collected by
comparing the researcher's experience of using a second account with the observations of
other participants who also use a second account on their Instagram.

Result and finding

Based on research conducted by Altashya Nurul Budiani, Ferdi Fauzi, Genia
Yevandarest Bantar, & Mery Vioga (2023), it is known that participants more often
posting on their second Instagram account compared to their main account, because the
only followers of their second Instagram account are those closest to them. This is because
they need privacy, so they can show themselves more freely. Participants explained that the
posts they posted could be related to happiness, such as hobbies and jokes, or sadness, such
as how bad they were feeling with something. They feel they can freely post uploads on
their second Instagram account without fear of being criticized. However, they never

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 The Relationship Between Use of a Second Instagram Account and Self-disclosure| 2023

upload truly private things to their second Instagram account, because the second Instagram
account is still social media that other people can see.

Conclusion
The desire to share information, personal feelings both happy and sad, motivation,
ideas with others is a symptom of Self-disclosure. Self-disclosure which is usually done
face to face, as technology develops, can now be done via social media Instagram. People
are more free to express themselves through their second Instagram account compared to
their main account. The second Instagram account is a choice for them when they want to
post an upload that is private, but still wants their closest people to see it.
This journal uses a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach. Based on
research by Gandes & Nurchayati (2022), there are several reasons that ultimately made
participants who started being active on the second account for a period of around one to
three years decide to create this account. The reasons are quite varied, ranging from
wanting to share and immortalize moments to bad experiences on the main account which
causes participants to feel a lack of security and comfort in sharing their daily stories on
that account. Therefore, the use of a second Instagram account is closely related to self-
disclosure.

Bibliography

Budiani, A. N., Fauzi, F., Bantar, G. Y., & Vioga, M. (2023). Gambaran Self-
disclosure Pengguna Second Account Instagram (Studi Fenomenologi Self-
disclosure Pengguna Second Account Instagram pada Dewasa Awal), 7(Jurnal Self-
disclosure & Second Account Instagram pada Dewasa Awal), 17238-17243.
Fauzia, A. Z., Mashlihah, S., & Ihsan, H. (2019, Desember). Pengaruh Tipe
Kepribadian Terhadap Self-disclosure Pada Dewasa Awal Pengguna Media Sosial
Instagram di Kota Bandung, 3(Jurnal Tipe Kepribadian & Self Disclosure), 151-
160.
Kurnia, G., & Nurchayati. (2022, Desember). Self-disclosure pada Pengguna
Second Account Instagram, 3(Jurnal Second Account Instagram & Self-disclosure),
50-69.

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