insta_deck

like tweet deck, but for instagram

about

i began dreading my instagram feed. it became an overwhelming stream of content that juxtaposed cute animals, influencer thirst traps, engagement announcements from acquaintances i could barely remember, and a highlighted selection of the worst news of the day. i was also terrified of posting. with so many glossy celelbrities in their feeds, why would my followers care about a mundane update from my mundane life? the app became unusable for me, even as i understood it's power to maintain social connection, and to provide a lens through which i could refract myself into the world.

i realized i was missing context — the ability to pick and choose what kind of content i wanted to engage with and when. i wanted an experience like tweet deck for instagram. i wanted to be able to categorize the accounts i followed (art, lifestyle, activism, entertainment) and to engage with each feed on my own terms. so i made this — a collection of python scripts and a notion template that i used to turn my monolithic feed into seven distinct accounts i can easily switch between on instagram's mobile app.

prerequisites

to make your own insta deck, you'll need:

1. basic familiarity running scripts in terminal
2. a free notion account

usage

1. install the dependencies

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip3 install --upgrade pip && pip3 install -r requirements.txt

2. add your instagram account info to a file called env.json in the following format

{
    "ACCOUNTS": [
        {
            "INSTAGRAM_USER": "your-username",
            "INSTAGRAM_PASSWORD": "your-password",
            "MAIN_ACCOUNT": true
        }
    ]
}

3. export a csv file of all the accounts you follow

python scripts/export_accounts.py

4. duplicate this template in notion and import the csv of followed accounts to notion
5. categorize the accounts by dragging them under the category header that fits best. (you can make your own categories too!)
6. export the categorized account info from notion in the "Markdown & CSV" format and move it to the uploads folder in a file named categorized_accounts.csv
7. add info for additional instagram accounts to the env.json file in the following format. FOLLOW_CATEGORIES should use the notion categories you applied in step 5, specifying "+" to start following accounts in a category or "-" to unfollow accounts in a category

{
    "ACCOUNTS": [
        {
            "INSTAGRAM_USER": "your-username",
            "INSTAGRAM_PASSWORD": "your-password",
            "FOLLOW_CATEGORIES": [
                "-activists",
                "-animals",
                "-memes"
            ]
            "MAIN_ACCOUNT": true
        },
        {
            "INSTAGRAM_USER": "your-username",
            "INSTAGRAM_PASSWORD": "your-password",
            "FOLLOW_CATEGORIES": [
                "+animals",
                "+memes"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

7. follow (and unfollow) accounts in the categories you specified above (this may take some time to avoid rate-limiting from instagram)

python scripts/follow_accounts.py

8. log into your new accounts to start using your insta deck 😎