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A spirit that is not afraid

Student shares the secret life of the American finsta

Auburn Sophomore Madison Brooks* is a business major from a north-eastern state. Her real Instagram feed is flooded with photos of her sorority’s socials, Auburn football and adverts for a popular Auburn organization. However, the last photo on Brooks’ fake Instagram was of her double-fisting two drinks while simultaneously drinking out of both straws captioned, “Here’s a pic of me living the dream. Drinking away my GPA.”

Brooks is not an abnormal student; she has a 3.4 GPA, is a member of two campus organizations and holds an executive position in one of them. Brooks is also the "quintessential" fake Instagram owner.

A "Finsta", or “fake Instagram,” is a second private Instagram account, as opposed to a "Rinsta", short for “real Instagram,” and usually has carefully selected, exclusive lists of followers. 

“You have to get the word out fast on things that happen to you," Brooks said. "I used to always have to text a bunch of group chats when something happens to me, but now I can just post it on my Finsta and everyone will know and that makes my life easier."

Finstagrams are becoming increasingly popular on college campuses and have even reached older high school students because there are no rules, Brooks said. 

According to Brooks, it’s the only form of social media where the user can post a photo more than once a day, screenshots of text conversations, embarrassing selfies, memes and rants without being judged by the masses. 

“Finsta is a free for all," Brooks said. "There are no rules. You should be careful about posting about others because they’re probably going to find out, and it’s happened to me approximately four times, but I don’t care. Some people might care, so they should be careful about that if they don’t want it to get out.”

Brooks said she doesn’t use specific names when she’s venting and that she usually uses nicknames given by the Finsta community.

“I kind of just bluntly call people out and say exactly what happened with direct quotes, screenshots, video proof, you know?” Brooks said. “I’m always on the phone, always catching the action.” 

Brooks said Panhellenic has strict rules on Finstas and she knew of girls in sororities having been kicked out because their accounts were found.

Brooks said she doesn’t think those girls should be punished for their accounts. 

“You’re only sharing it with your close friends," Brooks said. "It keeps you from posting bad things on your real Insta and making the sorority look bad."

Brooks said she blocks people who could potentially share these private posts with people outside of her followers list.

“Screen-shotters get blocked automatically,” Brooks said.

Brooks said the reason fake Instagrams are more popular with women than men may be because women are held to a higher standard on social media.

“I’d say I know around ten [boys] that have them, but I just don’t think they’re as funny," Brooks said. "Boys’ Finstas are way more mellow and less dramatic than girls’.”

The pressure of posting a perfectly edited photo to a large follower base with countless likes and comments is relieved through fake Instagrams, Brooks said.

“My [real] Instagram is filled with everyone I’ve ever met once in my life and just random people I don’t know follow my Instagram," Brooks said. "I post things on there that are Facebook appropriate. Parents can see, people that I babysits’ parents, my aunts, my uncles, all that."

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Brooks said her real Instagram is catered to the masses rather than the smaller, exclusive group designated to her fake account.

“My Finsta is just for close friends only and people who know me pretty well," Brooks said. "It’s for things that aren’t appropriate on real Instagram but I still want to share with my friends.”

Ironically, it can be said a fake Instagram is actually the real Instagram. Brooks said Finstagrams show who the user truly is: unfiltered, unedited and uncensored.

“My Finsta is who I am, and my Rinsta is what people who don’t know me well see me as," Brooks said.

* Name changed 


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