What can I do if an Instagram username is already claimed but seems inactive?
If a username you want is being used by an account that seems inactive, you can choose an available version of the username. You can add periods, numbers, underscores or abbreviations to help you come up with a username that’s not already in use.
To change your username, you can edit your profile.
We encourage people to log in and use Instagram once they create an account. To keep your account active, be sure to log in and share photos, as well as like and comment on photos.
It’s been almost ten years since Instagram sprang into being back in 2010, and in that short time, the site has become the dominant player in the photo and video sharing space. Companies jockey for brand positioning, “influencers” make good livings pitching makeup, clothes, and travels to their followers, and the rest of us share cute pictures of our pets with our social circle.
As is always the case when a new piece of Internet real estate comes into being, having the right username on Instagram can be very valuable. Company names, TV or movie titles, album names – any Instagram account with a catchy or memorable name is automatically far more valuable than ‘jersey_guy_10293x’. And, as a result, is pretty hard to obtain. Most of the valuable usernames on any site are taken within the first few years, leaving everyone else to tack numbers onto the end of their username.
