Instagram class accounts: Engage and make friends before setting foot on campus. Or, post and make quick money off of featured posts.

INTERESTING, RIGHT?

Instagram class accounts: You make friends, someone else makes profit.

I see these all over Instagram, and I swear more and more of them pop up every year: Instagram class accounts. If you’re a recently-graduated high school senior, one of them has probably already snagged you someway, somehow. They’re usually named something like @nc.state.2028 or @umiami2028_official.

The idea behind these pages is simple. You, the incoming college freshman, DM the account with photos of yourself and a short bio. The account, managed by an anonymous user, will then post your content on their page and tag you. Eventually, the account holder will start charging students a fee to post.

It’s a basic yet oddly profitable side hustle that seemingly benefits all parties involved. Students get ‘clout’ and throw their names out there in the hopes of meeting a potential roommate or friend, and the account holder makes bank.

The people behind the page

Usually, there are three types of people who run these accounts:

• College students or alumni

• High school students

• Larger companies or organizations

A lot of times, it’s likely that the user behind the page is not enrolled at or even associated with the particular university that the account is dedicated to. For example, a page for Penn State’s class of 2028 might be run by a student at a completely different university or someone who works for a company that thrives off of a business built on offering social experiences and products to college students.

So… are they worth it?

Depends on who you ask. I know people who have both paid to have their photos and bio posted and those who have actually made hundreds of dollars by running these kinds of accounts.

For the account holder, it can be very lucrative. Many will charge anywhere from $3–6 per post. Although the business of Instagram class accounts isn’t truly passive, it does come with minimal effort. Once a new DM and payment comes in, account holders simply have to download the photos, copy the bio, paste it, and post—it’s that easy.

For the students looking to get featured on one of these pages, it can be worthwhile to make the social connections offered by one of these accounts. It’s a way to get your name and social media profile out to others who may be attending the same school as you in the fall, and it can be a great way to potentially meet a roommate if you’re looking for one.

But let’s cut to reality.

A nice, friendly post on one of these accounts isn’t going to land you a college friend group. And even with a large following and multiple students wanting to be posted, account holders aren’t guaranteed to churn out a single penny by running one of these pages.

It really boils down to leverage.

Social media is a digital hub for connection, and class accounts are merely offshoots of that hub that create real, convenient, and easily accessible networks of incoming college students. With this in mind, it’s up to each party involved in the operation of these accounts, both students and account holders, to leverage these pages as social playgrounds to achieve their goals.

You can read more about Instagram class pages by checking out the detailed phases of my experience creating and running one of these accounts.

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