The secret world of instas

Many Blazers can relate to that mini panic attack that they get when they realize they've accidentally posted something meant to be on their finsta account on their rinsta account.

It's basically a sin to double post in one day, let alone triple or more. Expect many unfollows if you're a user that likes to post multiple times throughout the day, unless it's a finsta account. A finsta account has no rules. It's a free-for-all, post-whatever-you-want kind of deal. Rinsta accounts have to be polished and clean. "My rinsta is where all my perfect, edited moments of my life go. My finsta account, on the other hand, is where only my inner circle of friends have to suffer my unfiltered, raw self," senior Judy Tram says, laughing.

With our online presence becoming more public, Blazers turn to finstas and sinstas to post their more scandalous and/or private moments on the social media site, instagram. Finsta stands for "fake instagram", and sinsta goes even further and means "secret instagram". As opposed to a rinsta account, or a "real instagram", finstas and sinstas are locked accounts that Blazers only let true friends follow. They share moments from throughout their day including their worst selfies, funniest memes, and unnecessarily long emotional rants. Tram made her finsta account because she thought it might be fun to mass share her memes with her friends. "I didn't want to completely ruin my reputation but I also needed a place to post my fire memes. A finsta account seemed like the perfect solution to my problems," Tram explains.

Modern day finstas can be compared to private tumblrs or something students used back in the day, Xanga. Tumblr is a blogging site that allows users make notes and repost notes from other accounts on their dashboard, creating a whole website full of their thoughts. Students still use tumblr, but it is not as widespread as instagram is these days. Xanga was used when social media first started to become popular. Users were able to blog about their day with photos and status updates. It was one of the first blogging platforms to become mainstream back in 1999. These accounts were not meant to be private, everything shared was unfiltered and unedited (so perhaps it should have been, but that was before we all realized what should and should not be shared on social media). Finstas now compare in the same way where users share pictures and funny posts about their day with their followers.

When comparing a finsta to a rinsta account there is a large discrepancy between the number of followers. While Tram's rinsta account has 444 followers, her finsta account has only 62. "I can't let too many people know exactly what's happening in my head or else they'll all think I'm weird. My finsta account is only for the people who already know how weird I am," Tram says jokingly.

Sometimes, a finsta account can even become too public. And that's where a sinsta comes in (bear with me). Sinstas have even fewer followers and users share even deeper thoughts (as if that was possible). Some turn to sinstas when their finsta follower group grows too big. Honestly, I think two instagram accounts is enough for me," Tram says. Sinstas are more rare than finstas, which most Blazers seem to have.

Social media culture can be brutal. There is an unspoken competition about who has the most followers and who gets the most likes. "I always feel the pressure whenever I post something. There's stress with every like that I get a notification for. It's not the same for my finsta," Tram explains. The ability to be raw and real on a finsta account relieves the pressure for likes on the posts.

This fad isn't expected to end any time soon. Although sinstas might be taking it too far, finstas allow Blazers to feel free to be themselves in their posts. They can mass share their moments with their friends all at once and blog about their day. A personal digital diary just for them and their 60 closest friends.