On Monday afternoon, Kanye West floated an interesting idea on Twitter:
on another note... I was thinking about getting an Instagram but only on one condition......
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 14, 2016
no one can ask me or try to tell me what to Instagram... It's my art...
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 14, 2016
Although he has recently returned to Twitter after a long period of relative silence there, Kanye has historically been resistant to using social media. A 2009 Wall Street Journal article about celebrities using social media, quotes a Kanye blog post from that year, about a fake Kanye West account: "WHY WOULD I USE TWITTER???. ... AND IT MAKES ME QUESTION WHAT OTHER SO CALLED CELEBRITY TWITTERS ARE ACTUALLY REAL OR FAKE." In the year's since, he's been slow to adopt new platforms—not signing up for Instagram, or Snapchat. Kanye's wife Kim Kardashian, a longtime power user of Instagram, recently created a Snapchat account.
It's possible that Kanye's recent warming to social media has been influenced by Kardashian:
My Instagram is definitely my expression and what I love to show the world. My snap is kinda my silly sarcastic alter ego
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 14, 2016
I love social media! #SocialMediaAppreciationPost
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 14, 2016
A visit to the Instagram "@kanyewest" shows a profile that says it's "unavailable." If the account was already claimed by him or by someone other than Kanye, the account would be publicly visible, even if it had no uploads yet. It is not yet publicly visible.
For what it's worth, the accounts @Kanye, @Yeezus, @Yeezy, @ye, @kwest, and @thelouisvuittondon are all taken.
It's likely that the account has been whitelisted, or reserved for him, which is a process familiar to ex-Twitter employees and social media observers. In which case his reps would have to reach out to Instagram for access to the reserved account.
Reps for Kanye West and Instagram did not immediately return a request for comment.
