Bumble added the option to add Instagram to your profile last year, and even now it still has mixed reviews. When asked several times whether you should link Instagram to Bumble, I thought it was time to respond.
I personally don’t think you should associate your social media accounts with your dating profile. I firmly believe in keeping dating separate from normal life. For one, you often act differently on dating apps than you do in real life. Second, a healthy separation between private and public life is healthy. Three, if something goes wrong with a date, they know on Facebook, Instagram or whatever. Four, it’s good to hold yourself back a little and release when you’re ready.
Bumble does a lot of things right. It’s best to let women make the first move. Giving an option to link Instagram to your Bumble account isn’t bad, but I think it’s wrong.
First I’ll show you how to connect Instagram to Bumble, and then I’ll think about why it’s not a good idea.
Connecting Instagram to Bumble
Connecting Instagram to Bumble is simple and can be done at any time.
- Sign in to Bumble on your phone.
- Select the Edit Profile screen and select Link Your Instagram.
- Add your Instagram login and allow Bumble to access your data.
Once connected, Bumble takes your 24 most recent pictures and displays them on your profile. Fortunately, Bumble will not display your Instagram username with them.
Associate social media accounts with dating profiles
When dating apps started changing the way we find love, you had no choice but to link your Facebook account to them. Some get data from Facebook to complete your profile and even take pictures to add for dating. An app even took your Facebook friends and listed them as potential dates!
Fortunately, most dating apps quickly realized we didn’t want this and started offering alternative ways to open a dating account. Social media and dating apps should never mix.
Plus, Tinstagramming.
tinstagram
I didn’t know Tinstagramming was a thing until someone told me while researching this piece. If online dating didn’t ruin the spirit enough, Tinstagramming adds another layer of despair to what should have been a delightful experience.
It turns out Tinstagramming is where someone rejected on a dating app searches for the same person on Instagram. They then contact the person via Instagram (or any social network) and ask for a second chance or ask the person to change their mind about a second date. The link above seems to imply that only guys do it but I’ve heard of girls doing it too.
Linking Instagram to Bumble is very simple, even though Insta does not share your handle, performing a reverse image search or finding images taken from your Instagram account. Anyone with the time and patience to do this will quickly find you on Instagram, even if you don’t mention anything identifiable.
Your Instagram says a lot about you
One thing about using dating apps is keeping the distance between your profile and your real life. Given the dangers of dating, it makes sense to keep him and your real life completely separate. Linking Instagram to Bumble bridges that gap in a good way.
Like all of us, I browse Instagram a lot and you can tell a lot about a person from pictures alone, even without a comment or story. It’s easy to share details about your life that can be used to define you. This can range from simply annoying to downright dangerous, depending on your situation.
Plus, if you’re a psychology fan like me, you can tell more about a person from how they portray themselves on social media. This piece from Peace Quarters is enlightening to say the least, and goes into a bit of detail about how different types of posts or sharing habits on Insta provide a glimpse into your soul.
So should you link Instagram to Bumble? In the end, what you do with your profiles is entirely up to you. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it but I’m a guy with only one opinion. If you don’t mind tying them together and have nothing to fear or hide, or if you don’t think anything bad is going to happen, go ahead.
Have you linked Instagram to Bumble? Did it work for you? Was it positive or negative? Tell us about your experience below!
