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Finsta Nicole Pavlovic
As part of my research in identifying a keyword, I consulted with an adolescent family member of mine. I selected the keyword finsta, a word that I was unfamiliar with but intrigued to learn more about. As defined by Urban Dictionary, a finsta is an Instagram user’s fake account. Its meaning centres around the fact that some Instagram users will have a real Instagram account (rinsta) and a finsta. The real Instagram account is carefully curated and is accessible to the outside world and their extended social network, while the finsta is only shared with a small network of friends. The finsta account name is usually comical or includes a purposeful misspelling of the real account’s name. The account also typically features humorous or potentially compromising content that the user would not want to share with a larger online community (Kang & Wei, 1). Instagram launched as a social platform over a decade ago with the intention of featuring photography. However, over time, users began posting only the images that showcased themselves at their personal best (Kang & Wei, 3). This has become rather problematic, especially for younger and less critically literate users who tend to interpret these curated representations as someone else’s real life. They will then compare it to their own lives, which affects their overall self esteem and in some cases their mental health (Nesi, 118). Social media platforms have also been criticized due to their respective digital permanence; this refers to the irreversible nature of online posting where posts from the past can critically impact a person’s future (Nesi, 116). This has led to some users opting to make their social activity private in order to avoid the respective consequences if their parents, potential employers, or university recruiters came across it (Kang & Wei, 6). Additionally, not all followers of a person’s real Instagram account share the same core values, worldviews, and interests as the account holder. As a result, they need to be careful about what they post in order to avoid alienating themselves from their extended social network (Kang & Wei, 3). Even with the option to make an Instagram account
