Instagram users have always gone the extra mile to ensure that only the best of their photographs appear on their stories and handles. Now, in a new trend, many click-happy Instagrammers who are tired of the prying eyes of parents, or of making the effort to look flawless are creating private secondary profiles where they can be as goofy as they want. Youngsters in the city dwell on this new rage of a secondary account where they can get away with not being their perfect selves, and what they think about this new trend — Finstagram which has entered the world of social media. Which is essentially a ‘fake’ instagram account or politically correct on and another that’s candid and personal.
Even bad candid pictures have a home in this particular youngster’s personal feed. City-based student Anna Mariam says, “I have two accounts, one for myself, and an official one for college. My personal account has pictures that do not necessarily look good, but they still mean a lot to me. Rather than my feeds, my instagram stories are goofier, and even have some bad candid shots. The captions I try to come up with on my own are fun as well.”
It’s nice to have a space where you can be yourself in this world, especially when everything is so over the top. Tanya Manavalan loves her two accounts, “Finstagraming is quite nice as in today’s world, everything is made up. Through the accounts, one can express who they actually are instead of painting a perfect picture for the world to see. My Instagram stories on my personal account are real life pictures and candid shots, where as my feed is sober. I tend to write quirky and funny captions. There was also a phase where I was into putting up philosophical captions for my pictures.”
Some feel that social norms encourage us to open a secondary account. Lochan Aparna comes from that group of people, “I think this trend is more popular in Indian cultures because of the social norms we have to abide by. Here, people are more worried about what others might say. I like to keep the aesthetics of my photography account intact. My personal account has a no-restriction rule. So I don’t spend hours sifting through pictures. What I like, I put up, no matter how bad it looks. I am more open on my personal accounts.”
Wanting to maintain the artistic aesthetics of her main account Abhishree J Kumar came up with two more accounts where she can be herself. She adds, “My entire family is extremely private, therefore it made sense to have a secondary one. My first account doesn’t have anything private. Honestly, this trend is good as it’s not important for everyone to know everything about you. With my private account, I am able to be myself and not share everything with the rest of the world. The funny version of a nice picture makes its way into my personal account and it also has those pictures that are ugly! Caption are mostly ad hoc and what’s on my mind.”
