Instagram’s a social media platform we’re all familiar with. You edit and post photos that represent the highlights of your life. It’s the “best version of you” so to speak. It contains the most aesthetic sceneries and the photos where you look picture perfect. Finstas are essentially quite the opposite.
Finstagram, derived from “fake instagram”, is also colloquially known as “Finsta.” Finstas are usually a second account people (more commonly girls) have that aren’t about their perfect lives. Rather, it’s quite the opposite. A Finsta account contains ugly selfies of themselves or of friends, with a caption complaining about something semi-relevant and kind of dumb. It’s the side that real Instagram doesn’t want to capture, because it’ll ruin the Insta’s layout. Finstas are supposed to be funny, connecting friends with common miseries, without stressing about the number of likes per photo. They’re usually set to private, follow other Finstas, have other Finstas following them and the usernames are rather absurd. Here are some examples for your amusement.
I first discovered what a Finsta account was through my sister, who was a sophomore in high school at the time. Apparently it was gaining momentum at her high school and I initially dismissed it as a “young people thing.” However, over the past year or so I’ve noticed an increase of Finsta users, including those outside her high school and those closer to my age.
This increase in Finsta usage has made me realize that social media’s previous attempt to create perfect lives has gotten boring. Whereas before we would only post photos that had the best edits, making our digital lives seem like something it’s not. However, if you look at newer social media platforms like Snapchat, you can see the everyday life of a person. It’s not usual for people to post Snapstories with your best photos because you can’t edit them the way you want and snaps are temporary. We have gotten bored of the flawless posts and are more interested in the everyday: ugly, boring, sad, etc.
Although Finstas aren’t nearly as popular as regular Instagram accounts, it’s definitely a new trend happening among Insta users. Haven’t decided if I personally want to make one because frankly, I just don’t think I’m funny enough. Maybe one day. But for the time being, it’s definitely been fun just being a follower of several Finsta accounts.
