Urban dictionary describes a finsta as:
“A fake Instagram account, so one can post ratchet pictures without persecution from sororities, jobs and society as a whole”.
This is basically true, but since they have become so popular there is no hiding what really gets posted on them. Plus, it’s easy to tell who these private accounts belong to, even with the play on word names that most people use. These simple things hold the power to get you in serious trouble. So the question is, why are they so popular? And if they’re so bad, why do I still have one?
I believe they are so popular because of the things that are deemed okay to put on them, pictures or videos of kids doing illegal things or selfies that have been unworthy of someone's real account, a rinsta (real Instagram) if you will. Since I’ve been home from college I’ve found that a lot of high schoolers have finstas. For them, I get it, they don’t have many superiors who need to be monitoring their social media. In college, if you do join a sorority they will not just monitor your regular Instagram, but your finsta too. I know this to be true because my sorority really cracked down on them this past year. Many friends of mine decided to just delete their finstas when they joined a sorority because they knew someone from the house would find it and possibly get them in trouble anyway. There is less risk if you just don’t have one.
They are also pretty popular because they’re a lot less stressful. Unless you're trying to hide it from someone. Compared to a real Instagram account, people tend to not worry about the amount of likes they get on a finsta post. Usually, the follower count is lower and consists of people who are closer to the owner of the account, allowing them to not care what people think about them.
For me, I have it as a place to keep my friends up to date on my life. A lot of my friends took gap years abroad and when you go abroad it's not always easy to text or call people. But most places have wifi so you can easily get Instagram. I actually had a friend tell me she was grateful for my finsta because she was able to stay up to date on everything happening in my life. Unlike some people who use finsta as a way to post party pics without any backlash, I use my finsta like a diary. Yes, that may include the occasional party story, but it mostly involves ugly selfies with a caption about stressful classes, boy trouble, the fact that my makeup looked horrible that day, or just straight-up life rants.
I don’t see the harm in having one. Even if you are the type of person who may post the occasional risky picture. The whole thing with a finsta is that it’s a private account, so you can choose who you want to let follow you. I personally feel more in control of my finsta than a real Instagram account and what I put on my finsta is more true to me than what is on my rinsta. As a good friend of mine once said, your finsta is really your rinsta because it's the real you.