Teens are choosing to abandon their public Instagram accounts and resort to a more private, interpersonal social media page for close friends only. The 'close friends' phenomenon is becoming more of a focus for Gen Z'ers alike, with close friends stories taking centre stage to the advances of Gen Z preference.

So what is the 'Close Friends Only' that Gen Z is following in 2025?

Image Credit: Solen Feyissa from Unsplash

Gen Z: How Are They Using Social Media?

People prefer to keep their circles small and post for the minority, rather than publicly showing their personal lives to anyone who clicks their profile.

Instagram's Close Friends feature is gaining popularity, with users finding it a valuable way to express themselves more privately. Gen Z have become agents of acknowledging how protecting yourself online is a priority, thus Close Friends content brings about a sense of safety and trust. Privacy is everything.

Spam accounts are the new way for Gen Z to post more casual and 'unaesthetic' content, if you wish, to create a little bit of a camera roll portfolio via an Instagram account.

Some even use spam accounts to post memes and uncanny photos of their daily lives.

Image Credit: Rodion Kutsaiev from Unsplash.

The purpose of spam accounts and private accounts is so that you become impossible to find by coworkers, college and university friends, family, and those who know you. You also have the opportunity to accept people who request your account, so even if one was to find your page, it doesn't mean that they have access to what's on there. It keeps people safe, private, and free to post whatever they want!

Spam accounts are more enjoyable for Gen Z, as they don't need to worry about posting to fit the 'standard' Instagram aesthetics and new trends. They can be themselves, post unfiltered content, whatever they want and whenever they want. A lot of Gen Z Instagram users choose to put their spam accounts in the bios of their main accounts, so there's a public display for those who may consider requesting to follow.

Instagram has become so unnatural and staged that it's become a place where people are constantly comparing each other on who looks the prettiest, who's going to the most beautiful places around the world, or who's dating whom. It's all a game and competition of who's doing the most 'best off', which doesn't do anyone any favours in living life how they want to.

Through private accounts, you don't need to follow a trend. You can follow who you want, and you choose who follows you: no judgment, no criticism, no restrictions, no trends to follow, just complete freedom.

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My Experiences

I’ve always had a private account, and have only just recently made a spam account. My main account has only a profile photo, no story highlights, no posts, nothing. I suppose you could say that’s the account that people add me to, just if they need to message me as you do on social media. I’m not very ‘social’ on my social media, I just have a public account for the sake of one.

I’ve always loved aesthetics, and when I heard that a lot of people my age were using spam accounts as an account consisting of a small circle of friends and a big creative portfolio of photos, I decided to make one myself. I wanted to make it pretty, but not the ‘pretty’ you associate with Instagram. I wanted my spam to show the highs and lows, the laughter I share with my friends, the sadness I feel after my favourite show ends, the flowers I walk past every day on my way to university.

My spam account only has around 20 people, these people being either online friends or friends I see often. I don’t have any followers from people I haven’t spoken to since high school, or that one person I met in the summer holidays of 2021, which is so refreshing. I feel as if I’m posting for myself, not for others. I don’t have expectations; I just have the chance to post freely to people who actually have an interest in what I post.

My spam account is the place where I feel as if I can post whatever I want; my unedited, authentic photos from my life in a private sphere. I finally don’t need to worry about following what’s trendy, and the best thing about it; being able to control who sees your page, and who you want to see the more ‘real’ you.

Image Credit: Daria Nepriakhina from Unsplash.

Scepticism of Close Friends

'Close Friends' lists in business are common, and there's a hidden agenda as to why a lot of Gen Z businesspeople use this feature. Instagram and its link to monetisation are quite common. Taking a lead in the marketing industry, Gen Z are testing if there's higher engagement after adding followers to their close friends list. Once someone posts a Close Friends story, the circle (that is usually a pink-ish colour) turns green, which makes their page stand out above the rest.

Gen Z thus want to build deeper connections. Close Friends and private accounts give young people that chance to build direct connections with their friends. Share the photos from your most recent trip, post the 'unaesthetic' photo that doesn't quite match that of your main account, and upload cute photos with your friends. The amount of leeway when it comes to spam accounts is endless, and shows a backlash against the performative nature of main Instagram feeds.

Final Thoughts

Gen Z spam accounts are the behind-the-scenes footage to their own TV show (their public accounts). And I don't know about you, but I'm way more interested in a REAL life, rather than a carefully constructed, fabricated way of showing your life.

Be careless when you post on your spam account, and don’t feel that you’re living to any romanticised social media expectation.