Grace O'Malley
For anyone over the age of 25, a finsta was / is a separate Instagram account used to shit post and dump funny drunken pictures. It was also used as a sage space to update everyone on your silly little life.
There are two unspoken rules about finsta:
1) Your username must be a funny play on words
2) You should only let people you trust follow you
Other than that, finsta is was your own little Instagram oasis.
I first found out about finstas from my older cousin. She was an Alpha Phi at Alabama and they created finsta as an outlet to post pictures that standards would crucify them for it posted on their main account.
This was around the time that Instagram started getting “serious” so I couldn’t wait to tell my friends all about this whole new world we’ve yet to create.
I posted consistently on my finsta for a solid four years. I liked keeping my people update on my life.
I uploaded anything from, getting jumped at a 21 Savage concert:
to little funnies I thought my small circle would chuckle at:
It was an online diary, if you will.
Finstas were both a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand you had this safe space made by you, where you can post whatever and whenever you want. But on the other hand, you were spilling your guts out so much that when you went to tell a friend something they’d say “yeah I saw your finsta.” A real buzz kill in modern highschool gossip.
Anyways, finstas were HUGE in girl world from around 2015-2019 until…
Private Stories.
Private stories put finstas into a body bag. They couldn’t stand a chance. Why would you switch between accounts when you could go in on a 2 for 1. The death of finsta is truly tragic in my eyes for a few reasons.
The first reason, I’d say, was that we lost a sense of trust between mutuals. On finsta there was an understanding that if you let someone follow you, they’d accept your request. But on private stories, you have no idea who is invited into this little circle unless it’s your own.
Now, there’s no way to tell if someone just doesn’t have a private or they just don’t fuck with you. Another thing private stories lack is the public archive. Yes, you personally can go back and look at your private stories but they go away for the rest of us in 24 hours.
Let me just say, I get the switch from finsta to private stories. I just miss the inner circle and mutual understanding we all had on our finsta accounts. They were a sacred and private space. If you still use your finsta, good for you. I’m happy for you, truly. Just know, it’s more of a personal project at this point. No ones checking in anymore babe. Come join the private story world.
