finsta
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finsta is a portmanteau of fake and Instagram, a typically private pseudonym account that only a few close friends follow, and used to post more informally and frequently, ironically a more “real” presentation of self, without any of the typical Instagram posting conventions or pressures. Contrast with rinsta.
Articles
Articles and blog posts about the usage of finsta, earliest first:
- 2019-10-15 possibly contradictory/reversed-meaning use of finsta/rinsta terms: What's a Finsta? We Explain This Confusing Instagram Trend, e.g. quoting then 16-year old (Gen Z)
…"My real Instagram [rinsta] account is kind of fake -- like, only pictures of my 'best' life,"
the latter quote strongly implies the "Finsta" is actually more real since presumably its "eight" followers are very close friends that they feel safe/comfortable being more real with."I use my Finsta to share funny, inside jokes with my closest friends. My real Instagram has like, 400 followers. My fake one only has like, eight."
- 2021-09-30 NYTimes: ‘Finsta,’ Explained / What is it, really? And can one commit to ending it?
“Finsta,” a slang term, is widely accepted as a contraction of “fake” and “Insta” (short for Instagram). It is neither an official designation nor a type of account offered by Facebook.
- 2021-10-01 NYTimes: When an Angry Old Pol Shakes His Fist at the Internet
Finsta is slang for a secondary Instagram account created by someone — usually a young person — to share privately with only some friends (and perhaps not with parents).
- 2021-10-07 Slate: Why It’s No Laughing Matter That a Senator Asked Facebook to “Commit to Ending Finsta”
Microsoft researcher danah boyd’s years of foundational studies of teens’ use of social media. She found that many teenagers, including a disproportionately high number of teenagers of color, relied on pseudonyms. “The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalized by systems of power,” she wrote in 2011. “ ‘Real names’ policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people.”