During this stressful season, some of the best “finals got me like” memes are found on finstas.
What is a finsta, you ask?
A Finstagram, or Fake Instagram is defined by Urban Dictionary as: “A fake Instagram account, so one can post ratchet pictures without persecution from sororities, jobs, and society as a whole.” What better way to procrastinate from finals than by embarrassing yourself and your close friends to a select few followers?!
I first heard about finstas last year when I met my current roommate. She showed me some of her funny posts and another friend and I decided we had to get in on the fun.
A finsta can have a theme or it can just be any funny post that you don’t feel comfortable sharing on your “rinsta” or real Instagram. I have seen finstas parodying “Fitstagrams,” some that post every time the owner spills something, a “spillstagram,” and a few that only post embarrassing snapchats: a “snapstagram?”). Some finstas just act as an extra like or follower for the owner’s rinsta.
During the fad of “100 Happy Days,” I created my “100 Days of Mad,” which detailed funny events that happened during mine and my friends’ weekends that made me #livid. With a year of transformation, mine consists of memes at least once a week and selfies with the dog filter.
Recently, most owners of Instagram have become obsessed with the way their account looks on their profile. Finstas are meant to be a fun way to post without the worry of a “good aesthetic” for which everyone strives.
Choosing who to allow to follow your finsta can be a feat. These select few people must have a similar humor to yours and be someone that you can trust not to share some of your funny secrets with the unlucky blocked people. When it comes to others' finstas, don’t take it personally if you don’t get a follow back or get an accepted request; these accounts are meant to be intimate and usually only have 15-20ish followers of the 'grammer’s closest friends.
Beware of the dreaded screenshot. As the wise Yo Gotti once said, “don’t you hate when you get screenshot?” Even though you have the ability to block followers, remember your followers have other friends and be careful what you post! No matter how private you think your account is, it’s still a part of the internet, and even if you delete it, anything on the internet can be rediscovered. Girls have been terminated from sororities from posts on their finstas!
When working on finals, you probably shouldn’t be posting anything on Instagram, whether it be on a finsta or rinsta; however, if you are looking for a private way to share photos and stories with some of your close friends from home and from school without an awkward group chat, a finsta can be your solution!
To get started: come up with a fun @, a bio, a funny avatar, and start posting some memes!
