Every once in a while I will be flicking through a magazine and an article will catch my eye. A couple of days ago I was reading LOOK magazine, (my favourite) and I read a piece about Instagram. It got me thinking and a little riled up!
I have had an Instagram account since the app was first launched. It has quickly become one of my favourite social media outlets and I find myself refreshing my feed constantly. I just love how there is no ‘fluff’. It is an app for images and that is what you get. You can follow people, like their photos and comment too, but it doesn’t get much more complicated than that. It is the simplicity of it that I love the most. I have always been a sentimental person who wants to capture every moment through a lens. Instagram helps me do that instantly, sharing my photos with like minded people but also to see things through somebody else’s eyes. Yes, there are a lot of pictures posted of people’s lunch choices or shoes, but its just a bit of fun and a great way to interact with others.
The article in ‘LOOK’ was about a new ‘craze’ that is taking over Instagram – apparently. It was titled, ‘Rinsta or Finsta?’. It would seem that some people now have two Instagram accounts, one which they use to post the ‘perfect’ looking pictures which they hope to get a lot of likes on, white background, high brightness and everything ‘just so’. This is what is known as their ‘Finsta’ account, their fake Instagram. As opposed to their ‘Rinsta’, their ‘real Instagram’, where everyday, no frills pictures are posted. I think this is absolute codswallop.
I completely understand that some people, i.e ‘celebrities’ often have two different accounts on social media to keep their personal life separate from their work/public life. I’m not talking about those kind of profiles here, however. People are creating ‘Finsta’ profiles to present themselves in a desired way. In the article, it had an example of a girl who had both types of accounts, a ‘Rinsta’ and a ‘Finsta’. Her ‘real’ Instagram feed was full of pictures of Nando’s, pyjamas and watching Corrie on the TV. In complete contradiction to this, her ‘fake’ Instagram feed featured pictures of avocado on toast, the beach and gym selfies. The idea is that the fake account, the one where the pictures are set up to ‘look’ like appealing Instagram pictures, is the one that will achieve the likes, gain followers rapidly, follow a theme and portray a certain person’s lifestyle the way they want. No fast food, no pictures of home made brews or a night spent in very old but very comfy sweats. No reality, basically.
Everybody jokes and makes light of the typical ‘Instagram’ way and certain images being Instagram worthy. Feeds definitely have a routine look to them, but why wouldn’t we want them to represent us as we really are? Some days I go to Costa and have a caramel latte and a blueberry muffin for lunch, others, well most, I have a jacket potato that I’ve popped in the microwave for 8 minutes. I know the Costa picture would look lovely on my Instagram feed, but why wouldn’t my jacket potato? We are who we are. Choose what you want to post on social media, pick one photo over an other, but for goodness sake don’t have two accounts. We aren’t even talking about to accounts that keep certain things private. We are talking about two accounts, one of which is used to post perfected and idealistic pictures to appear a certain way. A certain way that is different to the other account, which is full of real life photos. I know which one I would rather have people following. I am myself and I will only ever portray a version of myself that is true to who I am. It is hard enough trying to figure that out half of the time.
I hope this didn’t come across as too much of a rambled mess and that you catch my drift. Be yourself. If you are going to put yourself online, put yourself online, not an edited version.
Have a fantastic weekend,
ALF x
Very good and interesting post, never thought that normal people would do that, but obviously thet do. I totally agree with your point of view.