UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Communication ANGELA COLEEN CRUZ AYUSON Is it IG-worthy?: An exploratory study of Finstagram accounts and their Contribution to the Online Self-Representation of Filipino Users Thesis Adviser: Assistant Professor Jane O. Vinculado, M.M.C. College of Mass Communication University of the Philippines Date of Submission May 2019 Thesis Classification F This thesis is available to the public.
Transcript
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Communication
ANGELA COLEEN CRUZ AYUSON
Is it IG-worthy?: An exploratory study of Finstagram accounts and their
Contribution to the Online Self-Representation of Filipino Users
Thesis Adviser:
Assistant Professor Jane O. Vinculado, M.M.C.
College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines
Date of Submission
May 2019
Thesis Classification
F
This thesis is available to the public.
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work in accordance with the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code of
the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8293), especially for teaching, scholarly,
and research purposes.
ANGELA COLEEN CRUZ AYUSON
College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines
IS IT IG-WORTHY?: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF
FINSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE
ONLINE SELF-REPRESENTATION OF FILIPINO USERS
by
ANGELA COLEEN CRUZ AYUSON
has been approved for
the Department of Broadcast Communication
and the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication
4 ‘Online Social Network’ (Wani, Ahmad Wani, & Ahmad Sofi, 2017).
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accounts are generally private5—sometimes secret—secondary accounts compared to the
main Instagram accounts that are usually public, followed by more people, and has an
organized feed.
Finstagram accounts may show content that represents the innermost and more
confident side of their users. According to an observation made by Homayoun (2017) of
some teenage high school girls in America, aside from posting and sharing unedited
photos of their lives, users assign their Finstagram accounts with a distorted and/or
shortened version of their names in order to establish their ownership of the account, yet
have a sense of anonymity to post random photos that are different from their main
Instagram accounts (Homayoun, 2017). This desire for anonymity may be used for
sharing content that the users may feel shy or scared to show to a wider audience on
Instagram and even on other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In her own
analysis, Abrashi (2018) said that a Finstagram account gives its user the freedom to post
any content that may be perceived as unacceptable in other social media platforms.
Moreover, she added that having a Finstagram account, personally, is empowering
(Abrashi, 2018). These observations suggest that these accounts provide their users with
another avenue for free self-expression and representation, even freer than what they get
from their main Instagram accounts.
5 Private accounts are profiles with settings such that you can approve or reject other users’
requests to follow you and see your content.
Definitions from Langevin, M. (2016). Social Media Glossary. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from
https://thrivehive.com/social-media-glossary.
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C. Secondary accounts on other social media networks
In order to see a bigger picture on why people make secondary accounts on social
media, it is also helpful to look at what are considered ‘fake’ accounts on other platforms,
particularly on Facebook and Twitter.
The presence of fake accounts is considered a pressing issue that Facebook has
been trying to eradicate. According to Wani et al. (2017), a fake account on Facebook is
an account which is managed by an individual who has a different principal account or an
account which doesn’t match the identity of the user behind it (Wani et al., 2017). In the
context of fake profiles on Facebook, their presence is assumed as an illegal act. Conti,
Poovendran, & Secchiero (2012) focused their paper on how fake Facebook profiles are
being exploited to steal identities from existing people and connect with their friends and
relatives in order to steal private and personal information of the victim (Conti et al.,
2012). This type of fake Facebook profiles is called impersonator by Wani et al. (2017),
in addition to other types of fake profiles like troll accounts (made to provoke quarrel
among users) (Wani et al., 2017).
Troll accounts have been gaining attention over the past couple of years due to the
visible effects of its presence in social networking sites like Facebook. Cheng, Bernstein,
Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, and Leskovec (2017) consider the act of trolling on social
media as an “anti-social behavior” that “disrupts constructive discussions” among social
media communities (p. 1217). One of the main causes of such behavior is the repeated
exposure of individuals to prior trolling behaviors on social media (Cheng et al., 2017).
This suggests that the urge to create new social media accounts to do acts like this may
pass on from person to person in a social media network; this also applies to any
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phenomenon in social media whether they are positive or not. On the other hand, if these
illegal profiles are to be compared to what are considered as fake profiles on Instagram,
Finstagram accounts are actually created in favor of the users and their online self-
representation rather than cause harm to them and to others—proving to be a different
type of secondary account.
Secondary and/or ‘fake’ accounts are prevalent on Twitter as well. Marwick and
Boyd (2011) argued that Twitter, a microblogging social networking site, is a versatile
platform where users can use their Twitter accounts to target and address many different
audiences using just a single account, eliminating the need to create and use multiple
identities and accounts (Boyd, 2011). However, this is not always the case, as other
people tend to use different accounts for many other purposes that they would like to
disassociate from their primary accounts. Mendelson and Papacharissi (2010) said that
social media users use multiple versions of their social media accounts for different
audiences (ie. one for peers and one for parents) (Mendelson and Papacharissi, 2010).
Fake accounts are not just found on popular social networking sites like Facebook
and Twitter, this type of account is also considered as a problem on professional social
networking sites like LinkedIn (Adikari and Dutta, 2014) and in many other types of
social networking sites. The common reason why they are discouraged, if not officially
prohibited by the sites’ policies, is due to the high possibility of identity theft. This shows
that forging identities on social media platforms is quite easy; and by extension, it is easy
for users to control his/her self-representation online using social networking accounts.
Despite the negative connotations associated with fake accounts on other social
media platforms, the available literature and articles about Finstagram accounts imply
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that its presence on Instagram is not something to be alarmed about; instead, the
connotation for Finstagram, as Abrashi (2018) described, is that it is an empowering
avenue for a user to express more of his/herself on a social media platform (Abrashi,
2018) that, Miller (2016) added, is known for its “aesthetic standards” (p.71-73). This
study aims to answer why Finstagram has such a connotation among its users.
D. Online self-representation
Humans can use whatever thing they can get hold of to represent themselves.
Nowadays, with the rise of technology and digital media, new ways of self-representation
have emerged. According to Rettberg (2017), online self-representation is divided into
three modes: visual, written, and quantified. Visual representation includes selfies,
memes shared on social networking sites, and even designs of personal blogs and
websites. Written representation includes captions, written status updates on Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr, etc., and even the hashtags used. Quantified representation, according to
Rettberg (2017), is a new mode that is becoming increasingly common with the rise of
smartphones and portable devices that are used to track users’ activities like steps
counter, applications that measure temperature, and many more. Quantified representation
is similar to converting one’s daily activities into numbers and graphs, therefore, it is also
a form of self-representation (Rettberg, 2017). For example, step counters represent how
much a person traveled by foot in a day, calorie trackers convert one’s daily meals into
countable calories and list of consumed nutrients, and mobile finance applications
represent and compute how one spends.
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All three modes of self-representation can be found on Instagram. As a photo-
sharing application, visual representation is apparent on the photo-sharing application.
Users can add captions and hashtags to accompany the photos and add more meaning to
each post—which shows written representation. Users can add temperature, location tags,
and time stamps onto their Instagram Stories and even posts, therefore, recording their
information into numbers and graphs which is what quantified representation is according
to Rettberg (2017). All these combine to form the message of each post—either sending
the message as to how the author wanted his/her post to mean or how the audience
receives and understands it.
There are several arguments about how visual content on Instagram represents the
identity and personality of its author. Instagram is described by Miller (2016) as a ‘baby’
Photoshop because of its selection of settings, filters, and enhancements that can be
added in order to manipulate photos before being posted (Miller, 2016). With this
Instagram feature, Wadjih (2014) explains that the meaning of a photo will then be
transformed or distorted away from the reality that it should and was made to represent.
Aside from the editing tools in Instagram, the addition of poses and special angles to
users’ selfies and group photos may transform the intended meaning of the visual content
as well. Upon the production of selfies or group photos, people in the image become an
object that the author looks at, or the other, which then represents the image—that is
different from reality because of the applied changes— that the author wants his/her
audience to see and admire (Wadjih, 2014). Meanwhile, Warfield (2015, as cited in
Rettberg, 2017) contradicts Wadjih’s concept of the other, stating that the fleshy producer
of the visual content should not be neglected because the said producer is the “heart of
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the image” (p. 8), hence, the producer is still part of the visual content. Despite the
contradiction of the arguments, Warfield (2015, as cited in Rettberg, 2017) stated that
through photos, particularly selfies, self-representations are often staged and should not
be taken and understood as the literal truth, because they can be used as a way for the
author of the photo to relay a reimagined image of him/herself (Rettberg, 2017). Rettberg
(2017) even implied that this practice on Instagram “is constructing truth” (p. 17-18).
Mendelson and Papacharissi (2010) agree to this by saying that people on social media
post content that are the favorable versions of themselves (p. 4), attributing this to the
“variety of tools that potentially extend and compromise impression management” (p. 4);
in Instagram’s case, the editing tools they offer to its users. These arguments raise the
question of whether it is possible to measure the distance of posted visual contents on
Instagram from the real self of their authors, as it seems that even the slightest addition of
a pose or a filter might compromise the realness of an image. In other words, it questions
the possibility of using Instagram posts as a predictor of its author’s real self. This
question is answered by a study by Ferwerda and Tkalcic (2018) on personality
prediction using Instagram posts, which was discussed in the previous section.
These discussions on online self-representation on Instagram give light on how
messages—that represent personality—are transferred from Instagram users to the visual
content, then to the audience and how it can be manipulated by users using the tools
provided not just by the social media application but also by editing applications
available.
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Synthesis
Instagram is an empowering social networking application today. It not only
connects networks of people from around the world but it also gives them more choices
to express themselves freely through visual content. The presence of Finstagram accounts
among users of Instagram implies that the number of those choices keeps on increasing as
time goes by and that users will always find better ways to represent their real identities
online.
The name ‘fake Instagram’ and its image as fake profiles on Instagram disagree
with the meaning of fake profiles on other social networking sites, as fake profiles on
sites like Facebook and LinkedIn suggest illegal activity when, as defined by related
literature, Finstagram accounts are not at all illegal. They are simply secondary accounts
of users that are more private in nature and provide a place where their users could be
more confident with the content that they want to post. This may raise questions about
what is truly fake on Finstagram accounts.
From this literature review, the idea that visual content may be transformed by
the producer in order to have a different meaning raises more gaps and questions about
whether it is possible to determine whether a posted visual content is close to the truth or
not. Wadjih (2014) and Rettberg (2017) both provided significant explanations on how
filters, poses, and etc. change a content’s meaning and distance from the truth, however,
there have not been any studies yet that applied this theory as a measurement of a
content’s realness.
Another gap that needs to be filled in is the small number of published journals on
Finstagram. Although it is indeed a recent phenomenon on Instagram, there needs to be a
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more in-depth analysis of Finstagram accounts, in order to define the phenomenon and
learn more about its presence’s possible consequences.
CHAPTER III
STUDY FRAMEWORK
This thesis applies Roy F. Baumeister and Debra G. Hutton’s self-presentation
theory in order to understand and provide an explanation of how Finstagram users present
themselves on their main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. This theory is from the
field of social psychology, however, it is employed in this media study as a lens to
analyze the motivations behind the Finstagram phenomenon; as it is one of the main
objectives of this study to understand how the phenomenon contributes to the online self-
representation of Finstagram users.
A. Self-Presentation Theory
Roy F. Baumeister and Debra G. Hutton’s (1987) self-presentation theory is a
theory in social psychology that explains the behavior of “conveying some information
about oneself or some image of oneself to other people” (p.71). This theory does not limit
the sharing of information to just face-to-face interactions as this theory also talks about
the very act of sharing and the motivations behind it. Mendelson and Papacharissi (2010)
support this by saying that “new media, such as the World Wide Web, allow people the
opportunity to present various forms of themselves to others at a distance” (p. 4), hence,
this theory may also apply to the act of presenting ones’ self on social networking sites.
According to Baumeister (1982, as cited in Baumeister and Hutton, 1987), there
are two motivations that affect the self-presentation of a person. The first one is called
pleasing the audience, where a person matches his or her self- presentation “to the
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audience’s expectations and preferences” (p. 71). This behavior is present in group
settings; and by extension, this motivation may be present in social media, where users
share information about themselves to a network of followers or online community. The
second motivation is called self-construction, where a person presents his or herself in
ways to match his/her ideal self (Baumeister and Hutton, 1987). Mendelson and
Papacharissi (2010) further explain that presentation efforts may be in a form of
“emphasizing certain characteristics, through dress, hairstyle, behavior, and/or speech,
while hiding or diminishing other characteristics perceived as flawed, depending on
context” (p. 3). This is not exactly challenging given the vast array of tools that Instagram
offers to its users that enable them to edit the photos and videos they want to post on their
Instagram feeds.
Having two identified motivations behind people’s self-presentation does not
mean that there are can only be two types of images of the self that are conveyed by a
person. Baumeister and Hutton (1987) explain that when faced with the audience-
pleasing motive, self-presentation tends to be inconsistent and the image conveyed may
depend on the type of audience to whom the person is presenting his/her self. An example
would be the difference between one’s self-presentation when attending church with
family members and when attending parties with close friends (Baumeister and Hutton,
1987). Nevertheless, Mendelson and Papacharissi (2010) say that when one presents his
or herself online, despite the context of the environment, it is still a “highly selective
version” of his or her identity (p. 4). The self-constructing motive, meanwhile, tends to
produce a more consistent and stable disposition, no matter the type of audience the
person is with or situation the person is in (Baumeister and Hutton, 1987).
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The resulting impression of self-presentation may not always be a favorable one.
According to Baumeister and Hutton (1987), some people may create an image where
they present themselves as dangerous, rebellious, or even helpless or needy. The general
principle of self-presentation is that “people present themselves so as to create a
particular impression on the audience” (p. 72) that may benefit the self-presenter socially.
Moreover, if there is a conflict between the pleasing the audience and self-construction
motivations, the person may create a compromise to meet both standards (Baumeister and
Hutton, 1987).
Chua and Chang (2016) said that “in the digital age, photographs become an
outright way of self-presentation” and “live communication” (p. 2) among the younger
users of social media. With this, this study uses Baumeister and Hutton’s self-
presentation theory as a lens to analyze the themes that will emerge from the interview
and from the main Instagram and Finstagram accounts of the participants in order to
understand how they utilize their visual posts on their accounts to control how they
present themselves to their audience and find out what Finstagram’s contribution is in all
of this. This process will be further explained in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV
METHODOLOGY
This study seeks to explore and define Finstagram as a phenomenon on the social
media platform Instagram and looks at the motivations of its users for creating such an
account in order to determine its effects or contribution to the online self-representation
of the users. With this, I choose to employ coding and thematization for this study, which
enables me to categorize the visual texts on the Instagram accounts and determine the
motivations of the participants from the interview data.
The following sections further explain the details of the process of data gathering,
analyzing, and interpreting for this study.
A. Research Design
Since this study aims to explore the Finstagram phenomenon on the social media
platform Instagram, it uses a qualitative research design in order to identify the
motivations behind the creation and use of Finstagram and explain how it contributes to
the online self-representation of the users. Furthermore, this study falls under the
constructivist paradigm as it looks into the narratives of Filipino Finstagram users in
order to understand and create meaning and build new knowledge from it about the
Finstagram phenomenon. According to Creswell (2014), constructivism is an approach to
qualitative research wherein researchers seek “understanding of the world in which they
live and work” and “develop subjective meanings of their experiences” (p. 37). Creswell
further explains that with this approach, “the goal of the research is to rely as much as
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possible on the participants’ views of the situation being studied” (p. 37). This
explanation justifies that constructivism indeed is the best approach for this research,
along with the employment of in-depth personal interviews and observation of the
participants’ Instagram and Finstagram accounts as methods in order to explore the
Finstagram phenomenon.
B. Concepts and Indicators
In order to specify how data is analyzed through the lens given by Baumeister and
Hutton’s (1987) self-presentation theory and inspired by Ferwerda and Tkalcic’s 2018
study (see Chapter 2 section on Instagram), the following concepts, listed for three of the
four objectives, are observed and are measured through the following indicators:
Table 1 shows how users manifest their intended messages and present their
selves through the elements of their posted visual content like photos and short video
clips.
Table 1. Concepts and Indicators for Objective 1
Objective 1: To analyze the visual content in Filipino Millennials’ main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts
CONCEPT INDICATOR/S
The visual manifestation of
identity
poses, clothing, subject matter, color vs. black-
and-white, setting, companion, activity
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Table 2, divided into Finstagram and Instagram usage, shows the motivations
behind the usage of a main Instagram and Finstagram account/s according to this study’s
participants.
Table 2. Concepts and Indicators for Objective 2
Objective 2: To identify the motivations behind the usage of Instagram and
Finstagram accounts
FINSTAGRAM
CONCEPT INDICATOR/S
Finsta as a visual diary A mention of finsta as an album of daily activities
to preserve memories
Finsta as a photo storage A mention of using finsta to store extra photos
from one’s device/to free up storage from one’s
devices
Finsta as a freer form of
expression
A mention of creative freedom
Finsta as a tool to unmask an alter
ego
A mention of another image of the self on
Finstagram
INSTAGRAM
Instagram as a window to the
public
A mention of maintaining a main Instagram
account to share things or to connect to the
general audience of the user
Instagram as a way to set an
image
A mention of posting on Instagram and
controlling the “theme” to maintain or project a
certain image to his/her audience
Supported by Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation theory, Table 3 identifies
and discusses whether the users post content to please their audience or themselves.
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Table 3. Concepts and Indicators for Objective 3
Objective 3: To describe how Baumeister and Hutton’s Self-presentation theory
is manifested in the creation and use of Finstagram accounts
CONCEPT INDICATOR/S
Adhering to standards of people
or Instagram
Prioritizing the audience’s view or opinion
Adhering to self-image Expressing oneself without fear of being judged
These concepts and indicators are used to answer and fulfill the fourth and final
objective of this study which is to understand and define Finstagram as a phenomenon of
the social media application Instagram.
C. Research Instruments
Before each interview, it is important to inform the participants of the details of
this study through a letter of invitation (see Appendix A for cover letter) and of their
rights as a participant through a consent form (see Appendix B) that they can sign as
proof of their agreement to this study’s terms. The consent form contains information on
the topic of the study, the scope and limitations of their involvement should they agree to
participate, their rights such as their freedom to withdraw anytime and the protection of
their identities, and my contact details. This detail in the study is crucial to ensure that the
process of data gathering and analysis is as ethical and responsible as possible.
I have prepared an interview guide (see Appendix C) that uses concepts from
Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation theory and questions backed with the aim of
engaging the participants into a conversation about their motivations in using Instagram
and for creating a Finstagram account. The interview guide presents talk points that first
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focus on the participants’ use of their main Instagram accounts. It guides a flow that
covers the time spent using the main Instagram account, the purpose of the account then
and now, how the participants see their audience, how they choose which photo or video
to post, and the image they want to portray on the account. The same areas are talked
about their Finstagram account/s right after. After these, the guide ends with a discussion
of a few of the users’ posts on their main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. The
interview guide only served as an outline for the interview as I aimed to create a natural
exchange of information with the participants.
D. Unit of Analysis and Sampling Procedure
The participants of this study are ten Filipino users of the social media application
Instagram between the ages 18 to 24 years old. This age bracket was chosen due to the
fact that they compose around 40% of the total Instagram users in the Philippines
(Instagram user demographics in Philippines, n.d.). These Instagram users are actively
using a ‘main’ Instagram account and a Finstagram or dump account/s. The participants
of the study confirmed that the account other than their ‘main’ Instagram account is either
a Finstagram or at least a secondary account where they post photos that do not get
posted on their main Instagram account. Their active main Instagram and Finstagram
accounts have at least 10 posts each; by ‘active’ meaning there is visible activity on the
account within the last six months before this study’s data gathering period.
This study employed convenience sampling to gather participants who maintain
both Instagram and Finstagram accounts. Blackstone (2012) explains that in using
convenience sampling, the researcher “collects data from those people or other relevant
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elements to which he or she has the most convenient access” (p.119). This type of
sampling is very helpful because users who qualify for this study might be hard to find,
as some, if not all, members of this Instagram network do not publicize the existence of
their Finstagram accounts to the general Instagram public.
In getting samples of ten Instagram posts from the accounts of the participants,
convenience sampling was also employed. This study chose this sampling because this
sampling is most effective in exploratory studies (Blackstone, 2012), which is what this
thesis aims to achieve. The Instagram posts collected were the most recent posts of the
participants from each of their accounts in order to ensure that the participants still
remembers the stories behind these
E. Data Gathering Method
This research employed two methods of data gathering: personal interview and
online observation of the main Instagram and Finstagram accounts of the participants.
Prior to the conceptualization of this topic, I have begun following and observing
Finstagram users on Instagram who I know personally. The first few participants were
contacted through personal message while the rest of the participants were discovered
through a post publicized on the social media platform Facebook, where they are led to
an online form that they signed-up. Chosen participants were later contacted for
interview.
I collected ten Instagram posts from each account—a total of 20 posts from each
of the ten participants—through taking screenshots and uploading these images to a cloud
storage where I sorted and labeled them neatly into folders. The recording and archiving
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of the participants’ Instagram posts are with their consent—they have signed the consent
form (see Appendix B) which, when signed, states that they give this study permission to
observe, extract data (ie. pictures and videos) from their accounts, and use them for this
particular academic study. Each participant was then scheduled for a personal interview
right after the initial observation of their main Instagram and Finstagram accounts.
I chose to include personal interview because, according to Blackstone (2012),
adding an interview enables the researcher and interviewee to have a back-and-forth
dialogue that will give the researcher more in-depth and detailed information about the
interviewee (Blackstone, 2012). This is essential due to the fact that this study aims to
look into personal motivations behind the participants’ creation and use of Finstagram.
The personal interviews were as in-depth as possible. Every interview started with an
introduction of the study and a brief reminder of the user’s rights as a participant; after
the self-introduction of the interviewee, we talked about the history of their main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts—the story, their motivations for using them, and the
purpose of the accounts in the present time. If follow-up questions are needed, I would
contact the participants via text message or online message. Interviews were transcribed
right after for coding and thematization.
F. Data Analysis Method
For the analysis of the visual styles of the main Instagram and Finstagram
accounts of the participants, I took inspiration from the method of a previous study
conducted by Ferwerda and Tkalcic (2018) where they looked at the visual features—
colors, hue, saturation, use of space, filters, etc—and the content features—poses,
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clothing, companion, activity—of each Instagram post (Ferwerda and Tkalcic, 2018).
However, with the existing technological limitations on my side, only the content features
were read for this study. This study used a similar method in reading and interpreting the
Instagram posts, sans Ferwerda and Tkalcic’s (2018) special technology developed to
quantitatively measure the visual elements of each photo. Using thematization, this study
identified themes and patterns that are exclusive to the main Instagram and Finstagram
accounts of the participants. The themes were then turned into categories in order to
neatly summarize the visuals or style of each account.
As for the data from the personal interviews, this study employed coding which
Creswell (2014) describes as “the process of organizing the data by bracketing chunks (or
text or image segments) and writing a word or phrase representing a category” (p.247) to
summarize and thematize the chunks of data collected from the interviews.
The categories from the Instagram accounts and the themes from the interview
were analyzed through the lens given by Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation
theory. I looked at how the concepts of the theory were manifested through the creation
and use of main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. This interpretation was then used to
answer the research questions of this study (see Chapter 1).
G. Role of the Researcher
I have been an active Instagram user for many years prior to this study. However,
I do not use a Finstagram account or a dump account. I first learned of this phenomenon
from my friends who introduced me to it and asked me to subscribe to their Finstagram
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accounts. With this, my role in this study is that of a curious observant who have seen
and noticed multiple Finstagram accounts during her use of the social media application.
There are a couple of biases that may be present during the duration of this study.
First, selection bias may have occurred during this study’s search for participants. Smith
and Noble (2014) define selection bias, or participant bias, as a type of research bias
wherein participants are reached and chosen based on how they fit the criteria of the
study and the likelihood of their retention as the study undergoes analysis (Smith and
Noble, 2014). Dudovskiy (2018) explains that selection bias often occurs in studies that
employ convenience sampling due to the little chance of total randomness when selecting
participants (Dudovskiy, 2018). In this study, participants who were found, selected, and
contacted were within the reach of my social network and geographic means—
convenience sampling. This results to a smaller demographic range for this study’s
sampling population; in Chapter 1, I have stated that this study’s set of participants does
not intend to be a representation of the whole Finstagram community.
Given that one of the data gathering methods employed in this study is personal
interview, another bias that may be present is interviewer bias. Cook (2010) explains that
interviewer bias “involves the tendency of the interviewer to subconsciously obtain
answers that support preconceived notions” (p. 62). As some of the participants of this
study are people who I have met and interacted way before the beginning of this study,
my emphasis on words, body language, and non-verbal cues that may have been
subconsciously communicated during the interviews may have slightly influenced the
way some interviews are conducted and by extension, have influenced the participants’
opinion. I exerted effort to minimize this bias as much as possible during the interviews
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by asking some questions multiple times in order to get the most truthful answers from
this study’s participants. Moreover, as the interviews happened, I eventually learned from
possible mistakes committed on earlier interviews and corrected them on later ones.
CHAPTER V
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter discusses the results of the analysis of the data gathered from
interviews with ten Finstagram users and the thematization of their main Instagram and
Finstagram accounts. The first three sections explain the narratives of the participants’
motivations in using Instagram and creating Finstagram accounts and present the
categorization of the visual content that the users share on their accounts. The last section
uses the thematized and categorized data to explain the differences in the users’ self-
presentation ways on their main Instagram and Finstagram accounts.
A. The Respondents
Before this study proceeds to the results of the interviews and exploration of the
Instagram and Finstagram accounts, it is important for the readers to be introduced to this
study’s ten participants by knowing their background and the history of their Finstagram
accounts’ creation. In order to protect their privacy, this study has replaced their names
with pseudonyms.
1. Albert
Albert, 21, is a college student from a reputable college in Manila. He lives in
Paranaque City with his family. He has been an Instagram user since 2014. He started
using a Finstagram account in August 2018. He first found out about Finstagram from his
college friends whom he follows on his main Instagram account. After some time, he
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decided to create his own private space away from his general audience on Instagram by
creating his own Finstagram account.
2. Bobby
Bobby, 20, is a Psychology student from a college in Muntinlupa City. He lives in
Paranaque City with his family. He first started using Instagram in 2013. Bobby got the
idea of creating his own secondary Instagram account from his childhood best friend,
Albert. Seeing how it gives Albert the freedom to post anything on an Instagram account,
he created his own Finstagram account. They sometimes collaborate on the content they
post on their Finstagram accounts.
3. Daniella
Daniella, 18, is a budding fashionista who is studying Communication in a known
university in Diliman, Quezon City. She started using Instagram when she was in junior
high school, which was around 2015. Being a social person, she started to maintain her
own Finstagram account in 2018 after getting the inspiration from her friends who have
Finstagram accounts too. She uses her Instagram account to post fashion and travel
photos and to follow Instagram influencers whom she idolizes while she uses her
secondary account for other purposes.
4. Ed
Ed, 19, is a Communication student from a university in Quezon City. Coming
from an all-boys school before college, he created his Instagram account in 2015 in order
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to keep up with the trend and then decided to create his own secondary Instagram account
a year after in 2016 to serve as his visual diary. He is currently very active on this
Finstagram account, which he uses as a diary; he does not post on his main Instagram
account as frequently as before due to his increased preference on his private Finstagram
account.
5. Fina
Fina, 20, is a European Languages student from a university in Quezon City. She
is originally from Laguna where she was raised by her family and received her early
education before college. She has been active on Instagram since creating her account
back in 2012. She created her Finstagram account in December 2018 after being
influenced by her friends during Christmas vacation. She maintains both accounts
regularly, posting almost once on each account every day. She also uses Instagram
Stories, an extra Instagram feature where users can post photos and videos that
automatically vanish after 24 hours, regularly.
6. Hannah
Hannah, 19, is a Psychology student from a university in Quezon City. She lives
in Antipolo City with her family where she was raised from early childhood. She started
using Instagram during high school in 2015. Hannah created her Finstagram account in
December 2018 after being convinced by her friends to create one. She uses her
Instagram account to share photos and videos of her travel around the world. She uses her
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Finstagram account to post the comedic sides of her everyday adventures—posting at
least once everyday on her feed and on Instagram Stories.
7. Kira
Kira, 21, is a Communication student from a university in Quezon City. She lives
in Pasig City with her family but stays in Quezon City near her school during most of the
school year. Kira has been using her Instagram account since 2012. Being a photography
enthusiast, she answered her need for a secondary Instagram account last 2017 to fulfill
her desire of having a dedicated space for her creative outputs, improvement in her skills,
and occasional emotional output.
8. Lisa
Lisa, 20, is a Speech Communication student from a university in Quezon City.
She lives in Quezon City with her family and relatives. She has been maintaining her
curated Instagram account since 2013 and started her secondary account on her 19th
birthday to join an Instagram challenge where she posts one photo each day, however,
she later stopped participating and has since used her Finstagram account for freedom of
expression on the social media platform.
9. Naomi
Naomi, 18, is a Business Administration student from a university in Quezon
City. She grew up in Pasig City where she still lives with her family until now. Although
she created her Instagram account in 2014, she only started being active on that account
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three years later in 2017. In that same year, she started her dump account on Instagram
together with her friends. There, they created their own social space wherein they update
each other on their current activities using their Finstagram posts.
10. Paco
Paco, 23, is a Communication Research student from a university in Quezon City.
He lives with his family and his dogs in Marikina City. Paco has been using his main
Instagram account since 2012. He created his two Finstagram accounts in 2018 and he
claims he has a couple more. His inner shyness led him to create private dump accounts
for specific purposes—his athletic endeavors and photography—as he does not want to
break the image he has set on his main Instagram account to not disappoint his followers.
B. Motivations for using Instagram
This section discusses themes that summarize how the participants use their main
Instagram accounts. It is important to understand how and why Finstagram users
maintain main Instagram accounts in order to better understand the nature of their
Finstagram accounts.
1. Digital window to the world
Main Instagram accounts—determined by their users as their public accounts—
are used to reach and share content with their followers and network. These are the
accounts where they socialize to a greater network composed of their followers—
including strangers with public Instagram accounts—and make public announcements of
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the happenings in their lives. Given that these are their windows to the world, main
Instagram accounts are often maintained well, curated, and the posts are more controlled
than posts on Finstagram accounts in order to be attractive in the social network. There
are three sub-themes that further explains how Finstagram users utilize their main
Instagram accounts: celebrating milestones with the public, riding the trend waves, and
fishing for compliments.
a. Celebrating moments and milestones with the public
Finstagram users use their main Instagram accounts to share milestones and
important moments in their lives. This includes events and celebrations involving the
account user and sometimes even celebrations of their loved ones. Bobby shared, “In my
Instagram, I post during special occasions only like birthday or something to do with me
and my girlfriend or basically a few of my hobbies and what I do.” Kira shares the same
sentiments when posting on her main Instagram account. She shared,
“[I post] especially kapag mga big events of my life. So sa main account, nagpo-
post ako ng parang mga ‘best photo of the day’” [I post especially during big
events of my life. On my main account, I post things like the ‘best photo of the
day’].
Paco called his posts on his main Instagram account as ‘life posts’, citing an example his
posts on adventures he went to, the competitions he joined in the past, and the milestones
he reached with his loved ones, like anniversaries. This is also akin to keeping a diary on
social media to preserve memories and milestones—in visual format.
Aside from this reason, Daniella posts on her main Instagram not only to
celebrate, but to also update her followers on her life,
“It was a way to show na ‘hey, I’m hanging out with my friends, nandito kami’,
parang it’s a way to update each other na rin. Kase, hindi naman kayo like in
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college na bloc-mate forever.” [It was a way to show that ‘hey, I’m hanging out
with my friends, we’re here’. It’s a way to update each other too because we’re
not college bloc-mates forever].
It is important to note that most, if not all, milestones that the Finstagram users
mentioned as events that get posted on their main Instagram accounts are positive and
happy events—birthdays, victories in competitions, after-parties, and etc. They all
maintain and promote a positive vibe on their feeds.
b. Riding the trend waves
Instagram accounts are used to update oneself with what is trending in the social
media platform and to fit in with one’s social network. Someone influential may start a
trend and it may spread across a network fast, for some users copy the style of another
user they adore or idolize in order to fit in the social network. Like what Albert shared, “I
kinda base my Instagram on other people too. Like, what they usually post I’ll also post.”
This act of trying to fitting in is not even limited to each content posted on Instagram, it
may also extend to how one whole Instagram feed looks like. Lisa admits that she used to
change feed styles based on what was the most accepted or trending during a certain
period in time,
“I tried multiple feed styles. So if you scroll through my main Instagram, the very
first ones are all black. All black because that was, that was the—yun yung uso
nung time na yun eh, yung mga all-black or all-white feeds, and then later I did
it—I changed it into a certain editing, certain editing style because the first few—
I would use VSCOcam, and then I really edit it to the bone.” [I tried multiple
feed styles. So if you scroll through my main Instagram, the very first ones are all
black. All black because that was, that was the—that is what’s trending during
that time, the all-black or all-white feeds, and then later I did it—I changed it
into a certain editing, certain editing style because the first few—I would use
VSCOcam, and then I really edit it to the bone].
Lisa talked about keeping a certain color motif on her Instagram feed. She takes photos
that contain touches of the color she chose (eg. if she chose black, she will only take
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photos of black-colored objects and clothing items as subjects), edits them heavily using
Instagram tools or other photo-editing applications like VSCOcam and Adobe Lightroom
in order to control how the photos look like, and posts them on her Instagram feed.
Daniella, who wants to become famous on Instagram one day through her posts featuring
her fashion and beauty choices, follows famous individuals on Instagram to get
inspirations on fashion, make-up, and art,
“I want to do this outfit someday. Parang ganun. Hair color ganun. Pati yung
mga mismong account ng tao.” [I want to do this outfit someday. Like that. I
wanna try a certain hair color, like that. Even the account/feed style of that
person].
This shows that people in one Instagram network engage in an exchange of ideas
by following one another or simply browsing one’s feed through the Instagram
application. Together, they make the trending type of content on Instagram—what the
most accepted feed style is and which type of content will garner the most number of
positive engagements, providing gratification to everyone in the social network through
feedback. Basically, the trend dictates what is ‘IG-worthy’, or which content is worthy
and widely accepted to be posted publicly on Instagram accounts.
c. Fishing for compliments
In connection with the previous sub-theme, Finstagram users use Instagram to
garner praises and positive feedback from their social network. Aside from having more
followers in their main Instagram accounts, the participants’ reach is wider due to the fact
that they keep their Instagram account settings as ‘public’, enabling non-followers from
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around the world to see their content if they come across the content through a hashtag6
or recommendation from Instagram. Some might say that this is a downside of
maintaining an Instagram account—there is certain pressure to get a certain amount of
likes7 and comments8 from the audience. Some even go to great lengths just to get more
attention for their posts. Ed admitted that he used to post strategically on his Instagram
account during prime hours when most people are online,
“Nakakapressure siya kase before sa Instagram app, parang
chronological pa yung paglalabas ng post. This is why fina-follow ko yung
peak hours sa pagpost and then parang I feel sad kapag people don’t notice it as
early as possible.” [I feel pressured because before, on the Instagram
application, posts go out into feeds in chronological order. That’s why I follow
the peak hours when posting and then I feel sad when people don’t notice my
post as early as possible].
Playing with the Instagram algorithm, Paco also shared that he tends to delay replying
back to comments made on his account in order to boost it so that his posts will stay
longer on top of his network’s Instagram feeds,
“It’s like basic media monitoring, kahit alam mo na may nagcomment, ‘ay hindi
muna ako magrereply kase masyadong maaga kailangan mag-up iyan e’. Alam
mo ‘yun, haha. Technique rin, social media management. Basic iyan.”[It’s like
basic media monitoring, even though I know that someone commented on my
post, I won’t reply right away because it’s still too early and that my post needs
to stay on top of feeds. It’s technique, basic social media management].
Finstagram users, with their effort to curate and maintain a certain aesthetic on their main
Instagram accounts, expect to be noticed and praised in return, to the point that they
employ methods and techniques in order to divert a huge amount of attention to their
posts as fast as possible. Once they reached a certain number of likes, which differs from
6 A hashtag is a word or phrase (without spaces) preceded by a hash or pound sign to identify a
keyword or topic and make it easy to track and locate. 7 A like is a virtual thumbs up to show a user you liked their post. 8 A comment is reaction or response to a user’s post that shows up beneath the post.
Definitions from Langevin, M. (2016). Social Media Glossary. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from
https://thrivehive.com/social-media-glossary.
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one participant to another in proportion to their total number of followers, they will feel
satisfied and gratified. For Lisa, if a post did not reach an acceptable number of likes, she
will delete the post and will take note of the reasons why the post did not live up to her
followers’ expectations.
Over-all, this theme shows how Instagram accounts fulfill the needs of
Finstagram users for gratification and social interaction—which is essential to any social
media network. As a window to the world, Instagram opens an avenue for its users to
share picture-perfect photos of the important moments in their lives and gain positive
messages in return from all over the world.
2. Marketing the self
Finstagram users maintain images of themselves through their main Instagram
accounts. Likewise to marketing a brand and managing the brand image and reputation,
the users maintain particular and certain key messages consistent to most, if not all, of
their visual posts on their own Instagram feeds. Some maintain more than one image but
are connected in some way towards a bigger image that the users would like their
followers to see or associate with them. This theme discusses various sub-themes
connected to projecting and maintaining an image on Instagram: consistency is the key,
appealing to the market, and protecting the image.
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a. Consistency is the key
Being consistent is an important aspect of marketing a brand. In order to make
sure that the message will be embedded to the minds of the audience, the message has to
be the same across all executions, and in the case of Instagram, it has to be the same
across most, if not all, content posted on one’s feed. Albert believes that if he continues
to post more photos of him practicing his sport, more and more people will associate him
to being an athlete and that image of him will stay permanently in their minds. In his
words,
“I post a lot of my gym, boxing photos parang I want people to know na ‘yun
nga, I’m a fighter… I guess, if you really post something and then if people see it
enough then they’ll believe it.” [I post a lot of my gym, boxing photos, I want
people to know that I’m a fighter… I guess, if you really post something and then
if people see it enough then they’ll believe it].
Meanwhile, Hannah uses her main Instagram account to post photos of her whenever she
travels to far places. She even admitted, “I only update it pag like if I go on vacation and
stuff” [I only update my Instagram whenever I go on vacation and stuff]. She makes sure
to choose the most visually-pleasing photo among all she takes during her trips and posts
it on her main Instagram account. She wants to be seen as someone who does cool things
while on vacation—an adventurous person.
Fashionistas like Lisa and Daniella already know what their audience wants to see
of them—they already know how their audiences see them on Instagram and how to cater
to them through their Instagram posts. Lisa explained,
“I think yung napapansin ko kasi, yung selfies lang kasi yung pumapatok, or if
not selfies, yung ano, yung outfits; kaya parang doon ako nagfofocus kasi a lot of
people say that it’s my outfits that—they identify me with my outfits” [I notice
that the selfies I post are the ones that gain the most attention from my followers,
also the outfits that I wear. So I focus on showing off photos of my outfits because
they me with my outfits].
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Daniella, as previously mentioned, wants to become an Instagram influencer, or someone
famous on the social media platform, so she focuses on posting pictures of her outfits and
selfies and she also believes that her followers on her main Instagram expect her to
maintain that image.
b. Appealing to the market
Instead of projecting a certain image on Instagram, some users use the platform to
instead convince people that they belong to the social network by sharing basic things
about themselves. Bobby admitted that he posts on Instagram to share things to people in
his school whom he is not that confident to talk to in person. He shared, “I’ve very little
friends in school. I guess with the main Instagram, I get to show like how interesting I
can be”. Bobby posts photos about his life, his sports, his girlfriend, and the places he
goes to with his family on his main Instagram account.
Ed believes that the mere possession of an Instagram account and having
followers are enough to show that he belongs to a social network in his former school—
to say that he is also an interesting person to socialize with (ie. because he has a generous
number of followers, etc.). Because most of his friends and batchmates in high school
maintain curated Instagram feeds, he claimed he was pressured into making his own
account and filling it with ‘IG-worthy’ photos, making sure his feed is at par with the
others. He even added,
“Parang naging status symbol rin yung IG like the number of followers you have
or like how aesthetically pleasing it is. Ang laki kase ng factor ng how you do
socially as a person. Like, how people see you back then sa high school, that’s
why I saw value in the number of followers, the number of likes, and stuff.”
[Instagram became a status symbol, like in terms of the number of followers you
have or how aesthetically-pleasing your feed it is. How you do socially as a
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person is a huge factor back in high school. That’s why I saw value in the
number of followers, the number of likes, and stuff].
After high school, however, Ed stopped posting regularly on his main Instagram account
because he felt that he is not the same person anymore. He has since changed the way he
posts in order to cater to his new social network in college.
c. Protecting the image
Aside from projecting and maintaining an image on social media, Instagram posts
are also utilized to protect one’s image to his or her audience. Bobby restricts himself
from posting unacceptable jokes or posts on his main Instagram feed, he explained, “
“[On my main Instagram] I don’t wanna make baboy. I wanna make it maayos.
‘Cause obviously nowadays, if people look you up, that’s who they think you are.
So it saves the prejudice.” [I don’t want to post ridiculous content like a pig. I
want to make proper posts. ‘Cause obviously nowadays, if people look you up,
that’s who they think you are. So it saves the prejudice].
It is notable that Bobby points out that a public Instagram account can be considered as
hints to the identity of its user, something similar to a resume when applying for a job. He
implied that failing to protect his image on Instagram—for example, posting a socially
unacceptable photo on his public Instagram account—may cost him his place in his social
network and earn negative judgments from the few people he interacts with in his school.
For Paco, he maintains a cool and adventurous image on his main Instagram
account, just like the actor Jericho Rosales. He said that he does not want people to
identify him as being a sad and lonely boy, so as much as possible, he posts photos from
his travels and celebrations in his life on his main Instagram account. There were days,
however, that his sentimental side wanted to go out to his main Instagram account. He
answers to this other side by posting some photos that are sentimental and sad in nature, a
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strong contrast to his established adventurous and outgoing image on his main Instagram
account. He further explained the reason why,
“Parang gusto ko pa din malaman ng mga tao yung parang I try to strike a
balance between cool and senti. Parang nagiging middle ground ko siya [his
main Instagram].” [I still want people to know that I try to strike a balance
between cool and sentimental. It’s like my main Instagram is the middle ground].
He then follows the sentimental posts with more adventure-themed posts on his
Instagram account. Over-all, Paco’s feed is still mostly composed of photos from his
adventures to other parts of the country.
This theme relates the projection of one’s image to brand management with
Instagram accounts as its tool. Instagram provides a medium for users to establish a
reputation or image online to complement or boost their social interactions in real life.
Moreover, there seems to be an underlying fear that is connected to messing up one’s
own image on his or her own Instagram account that may result to social isolation in real
life, which is the opposite of receiving gratification from one’s widely accepted image
and Instagram posts.
This section talks about how Finstagram users maintain active Instagram accounts
mainly for social interaction online and in real life. On their main Instagram accounts,
users go out of their ways to filter and edit visual content in order to curate their main
Instagram accounts and project a chosen image for their audience. In the next section, this
study digs into the motivations for creating and maintaining Finstagram accounts in order
to take the next step into understanding the phenomenon.
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C. Motivations for creating and maintaining Finstagram accounts
This section presents themes that discuss the motivations behind the creation and
maintenance of Finstagram accounts. Understanding the stories of the users of how they
were enticed and convinced into creating their secondary Instagram accounts is crucial in
studying the Finstagram phenomenon, as it does not only explain why they resorted to a
secondary account, it also explains why having just one Instagram account is not enough
to complete their Instagram experience.
1. Visual diary
As a visual social media platform, Instagram presents millions of photos and
videos that tell different stories and showcase different activities of their authors. The
purpose behind their release may differ from one account to another, however, some are
similar in a way that they are posted on the social media platform to record something—
just like a diary. The sub-themes below discuss how Finstagram users use their secondary
Instagram accounts as a visual diary: keeping track of progress, remembering every day,
and photos that didn’t make the cut but are worth the story.
a. Keeping track of progress
Some users use Finstagram accounts to keep track of their progress on a skill they
are trying to learn or improve. Similar to posting one’s fitness journey on other social
media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, Finstagram users who use Finstagram for
this purpose believe that consistent practicing and posting of proofs of their progress in
their craft helps them improve and keep themselves inspired and focused.
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Paco uses one of his two Finstagram accounts to serve as his ‘training log’ for
powerlifting. He posts photos and videos of him powerlifting in order to check for his
consistency. When asked why he chose to put all his powerlifting content in one account,
he said that he wanted to have a dedicated dump account for his athletic endeavors
because (1) he wants to only follow all other powerlifters he knows so that once he opens
his Instagram application’s newsfeed, he will only see powerlifting content, (2) he does
not want to inconvenience his main Instagram followers by bombarding them with his
powerlifting posts, and (3) he is afraid to be called ‘vain’ for showing off his powerlifting
videos and photos. Paco affirmed that by doing this, he remains focused on his practice
and improvement.
Aside from athletic endeavors, some Finstagram users prefer to use their dump
accounts to practice on their photography and art skills. Kira uses her Finstagram as a
photo dump for her photography. She explained that she collates all her post-processed
photos that she takes on her Finstagram account and treats it as a portfolio that she
updates from time to time.
b. Remembering every day
Not unique to one social media platform, Finstagram accounts are used for
archiving purposes by their users—to record something that would be pleasant to be
looked back to in the future. In this sub-theme, users do not just record milestones and
important events in their lives, they record their daily activities on their Finstagram
accounts by posting at least once—usually a summary—before the day ends.
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Using his Finstagram account, Ed makes sure to post pictures that summarize his
whole day. He shared his sentiments of why he practices this,
“Ako kase parang gusto ko na i-document yung everyday ko na ginagawa. That’s
why I post everyday. It’s very active kase I post everyday talaga. Like I don’t
miss a day. And then I think it’s just for remembrance. Feeling ko kase memory-
hoarder ako. I use it for example when I’m having like a hard time like “Oh, this
day, I conquered this or that. Kase since ang daming nangyayari, parang naisip
ko na it’s best to document it and then kapag when I’m older, or like, malapit na
matapos yung college, I could look back na “Ohhh, I did this, I did that”.” [I like
documenting the things I do everyday. That’s why I post everyday. It’s very
active because I really post everyday. Like I don’t miss a day. And then I think
it’s just for remembrance. I feel that I am a memory-hoarder. I’ll use it for
example when I’m having like a hard time like “Oh, this day, I conquered this or
that. Since a lot of things have happened, I thought it’s best to document it and
when I’m older, or like, nearly graduating in college, I could look back and say
“Ohhh, I did this, I did that”].
Similar to Ed’s sentiment of recording stories of how he conquered challenges in his life
and wanting to remind his future self about them, Hannah posts photos on her Finstagram
account with captions that show a list of things she is grateful for each day accompanied
with a short dedication to people or objects that made her day worthwhile. Hannah, who
mentioned that she created her Finstagram to serve as a positive outlet, aims to look back
to the content she posted after a period of time to reminisce. Meanwhile, Naomi already
uses her Finstagram account to remind herself about the things that happened in the past,
“Sometimes I catch myself going on Instagram and then looking back at everything and
“look, I remember this”. It’s like reminiscing with what happened in my life.”
c. Photos that didn’t make the cut but are worth the story
An Instagram user might want to preserve memorable photos and share them to
an audience but consider them not visually-appealing enough to be posted on his or her
main Instagram account. Some of these photos ended up being posted on Finstagram
accounts for the sake of sharing it to an audience.
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Naomi called her Finstagram account as a dump account where she tells stories
about events that happened in her days but are not worthy to be posted on her main
Instagram account. She feels that this type of content is only worthy enough to be posted
to a smaller audience who she believes would appreciate it more—her very close circle of
friends. Example of her posts that belong to this category are pictures of her 18th birthday
celebration. She deemed them worthy enough for sharing because they are showcasing a
special celebration in her life, however, for her, the angle or her poses on the photos
seemed off and not ‘IG-worthy’, therefore earning spots on her Finstagram feed instead
of her main Instagram feed.
This theme shows how Finstagram satisfies an often hidden side of its users—
sentimental in most of the cases—by providing an avenue where they can express this
side freely. As the social media platform that is mainly visual, it serves as a time capsule
specialized for visual content where its users save and keep their treasured memories and
progress for later consumption and reminiscing, offering a free and easy way back in
time.
2. Free photo storage
Some Finstagram users created their Finstagram accounts to serve as photo dump
accounts to free up space on their mobile devices. Akin to Apple’s iCloud and Google’s
Google Drive, Finstagram accounts created for this purpose serve as a backup photo
album where users store photos online that they do not immediately need anymore, but
are still too valuable to be deleted permanently.
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Fina shared a story and her rationale behind the making of her Finstagram or
dump account,
“There were a lot of pictures that I didn’t want to delete because they held such a
nice memory. But at the same time, I’m never gonna post that on my Instagram.
So uhm, what’s the point of saving them? So fine I’ll just post—I’ll create a
second account, so I can post like uhm, those kinds of photos. Parang hindi ko
naman siya ilalagay on my main account, hindi siya “IG worthy”, sadly. So
nilalagay ko siya all the time sa second account ko.” [There were a lot of
pictures that I didn’t want to delete because they held such a nice memory. But at
the same time, I’m never gonna post that on my Instagram. So uhm, what’s the
point of saving them? So fine I’ll just post—I’ll create a second account, so I can
post like uhm, those kinds of photos. I’m never going to post them on my main
Instagram anyway because they’re not “IG worthy”, sadly. So I’m just gonna
post them on my second account].
Paco shared the same sentiments, he also wants to clear up and save more space in his
phone, which has a small storage space for media content. He also believes that doing
this is practical, as it saves more space for more important memories on his phone.
Aside from serving its users’ social and personal needs, Finstagram accounts also
serve its users’ economic needs, providing a free, limitless, and very accessible photo
storage tool that at the same time provides a familiar setting and feel to the Finstagram
users.
3. Painting on a new canvas
With their creativity most likely bound by unspoken and unwritten restrictions in
order to maintain a certain look on their main Instagram accounts, creating a secondary
account provides them with another blank canvas to paint on—to express their creativity
using a different style or even no particular style at all. On their Finstagram accounts,
they are free to post whatever they want—to mix photos and videos on feeds or even on
one post, to mix color motifs and subjects, to express different moods and focus on
different subjects, and etc. without the worry of creating an unorganized feed. This theme
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branches out into four sub-themes that describe how Finstagram users utilize their
creative freedom to express creativity in different ways on their Finstagram accounts:
avenue for more creativity, posting for the sake of sharing, and drawing out emotions.
a. Avenue for more creativity
It has been discussed from the previous section how Finstagram users heavily
maintain and control the content that gets posted on their main Instagram feeds in order
to ride the trend or receive positive feedback from their social network. Most, if not all,
keep a certain theme on their feeds—a part of the recipe to a widely accepted post that
would provide them gratification. For some, suddenly diverting from the usual feed style
of their main Instagram accounts might be weird or even scary to do, especially for users
who have followers who closely watch their feeds (ie. bloggers or influencers). With this,
Finstagram users opt to express a freer version of their creativity on their Finstagram
accounts in front of a smaller crowd who they know would accept their creative
decisions. There, they are free to post anything without thinking how it would look like
with the rest of their other posts. Bobby explained, “you get to express yourself in a way
that you don’t with your main account. Like, you’re not concerned with the likes or
anything, you just wanna share the pictures with close people.”
Some Finstagram users also enjoy the comfort of having a smaller and genuine
audience with the creative freedom that they get from their secondary accounts. Albert
shared,
“I wanted the freedom of just posting whatever on an account and that way,
people who would follow that account genuinely want to see whatever you wanna
post rather than your main Instagram, where it’s like, when people follow you,
it’s like, out of obligation.”
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Albert expressed that he feels confident with sharing his eccentric creative choices in
front of his Finstagram followers rather than with his followers on his main Instagram
account where he feels a little bit indifferent towards his audience. This will be discussed
more in the next theme.
With a Finstagram account, users get the chance to make and maintain a whole
new feed style from their established styles on their main Instagram accounts. Lisa, who
knows what her main Instagram audience wants to see of her and actively caters to that
expectation, uses her Finstagram to express a certain style that she is aching to express
but she knows will not garner much attention on her main account. She shared,
“I know na what my followers like and don’t like. So apparently, hindi patok
yung style na very minimalist or if yung very korean aesthetic. I wanted to try
that, pero hindi siya pumapatok. So doon ko nalang dina-dump [on my
Finstagram].” [I already know what my followers like and don’t like. So
apparently, being minimalist or employing Korean aesthetics don’t do well with
my audience on my main Instagram. I wanted to try that, but they don’t react
much to it. So I just dump them on my Finstagram].
b. Posting for the sake of sharing
Sometimes, Finstagram users desire to post content that they feel that they want to
post just for the sake of it—no particular story to tell, no particular skill to maintain, or
anything else. Paco calls this as ‘catharsis’; he just wants the feeling of posting a photo or
video even though no one might see the post at all,
“When I have my own personal thing, na parang I just want it up there, that’s
when I post sa Finstas.” [When I have my own personal thing, like I just want it
up there, that’s when I post on my Finstagram accounts].
Paco just wanted to express himself—not necessarily to interact with other users on the
social media platform—and that feeling is satisfying for him. That catharsis is made
possible for him by having a private Finstagam account.
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Fina and Naomi do the same on their respective Finstagram accounts. Naomi
regularly posts multiple photos in one post. She admitted that this is because she did not
know what to do with some of the photos, so she ended up just posting them with other
photos collectively on one post on her private Finstagram account just to share them and
get them out there. Fina, a photography enthusiast, does not even edit pictures she posts
on her Finstagram account, “I just put them online and I don’t really care anymore.”
This way of sharing visual content on Finstagram may be considered as the visual
social media platform in its purest form—posting for the sake of sharing. Finstagram
users simply get their content out there without fearing that their photos would not fit into
their curated feeds or get accepted by their audience or even get noticed for having no
particular stories to tell. Similar to Paco, it is a release of emotions through posting his
content on an Instagram feed—it is catharsis.
c. Drawing out emotions
Finstagram users feel that they are not free enough to express their raw emotions
on their main Instagram accounts. Some reasons for this include (1) creative restrictions,
(2) the diversity of their audience—includes family members, distant relatives,
acquaintances, and people they have only met once, (3) restrictions on language use due
to their audience’s preferences, and (4) the image that they have set on their main
Instagram accounts. This lack of total freedom is neither positive nor negative, as some
users really prefer to express their pure happiness or sadness to a smaller audience that
they are sure would feel the same for them.
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Finstagram users make use of techniques and filters to represent their emotions in
visual form and accompany it with a caption to talk about how they feel. Kira shared how
she does this process,
“Kapag intense ‘yong emotions ko na kailangan ko siya ilabas, so I do it through
a photo tas ‘yong captions minsan, ganun ‘yong nagiging way ko na para
maging active rin doon sa Finsta.” [Whenever I feel intense emotions, I feel that
I really need to let them out so I do it through a photo then I put a caption with it
sometimes. It’s also a way for me to be active on my Finstagram account].
She pointed out a particular photo on her Finstagram of a sunset taken in her college
building and explained what kind of emotion it represented back then,
“Since mahilig nga ako sa sunset, ‘pag maganda kinukunan ko talaga. Tapos
hindi ko siya pino-post agad tapos noong pinost ko ‘to, it was that day na parang
I felt so loved, like, parang, naa-appreciate ko ‘yong friendships ko.” [Since I
like sunsets, I really take a photo whenever I encounter a nice-looking one. Then
I don’t post it right away. The day I posted this was the day I felt so loved, like I
really appreciated the friendships I have].
Here, Kira associated a picture of an object she likes with a hopeful and positive emotion
and posted it on her Finstagram to remind her of the emotion later on in her life. This
shows that Kira uses her Finstagram account for archiving purposes as well.
Figure 1. Kira’s picture of a sunset which she associates with hope and love.
(photo taken with consent)
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4. Unfiltered posts, unfiltered identity
With the privacy that private Finstagram accounts give to their users, the users are
free not just to be creative and emotional, but to also show another side of their
personalities that they are not comfortable with sharing on their main Instagram accounts.
This theme discusses how having a Finstagram account unmasks certain sides of
personalities and images that Finstagram users seem to hide from their public accounts.
Finstagram users keep their Finstagram accounts private, if they filter their
content on their main Instagram, they filter their audience on their Finstagram accounts to
a small number of people they personally know and are comfortable with. Usually, these
do not include family members and relatives and instead mainly compose of the users’
closest bestfriends with whom they are comfortable to joke around and they think who
will not judge them. Lisa admitted that the reason why she feels so comfortable on her
Finstagram is that her family and relatives are not subscribed to her account to see her
posts, unlike on her main Instagram account. She shared one of her reasons why she
created a secondary account,
“I want to have the luxury to—yung luxury na magkalat sa Instagram main, pero
wala; my mom follows me; my ninang follows me, so I can’t. That’s why I have a
Finsta also.” [I want to have the luxury to be as free as I can on Instagram, but I
can’t. my mom follows me; my godmother follows me, so I can’t. That’s why I
have a Finsta also].
Albert would not be okay with publicizing his Finstagram account, he explained,
“It’s not that I’m insecure of who I really am. It’s not that I’m shy to show people
that I’m like this. I mean, honestly to some people, yeah. Some people I wanna
impress but no, I mean I’d be okay with it but there’s also the comfort of just
posting whatever I wanna post on Finstagram since I don’t wanna bother anyone
with my Finsta.”
Albert posts funny photos of him and sometimes offensive inside jokes that are only
shared between him and his closest friends. He cleared that keeping his Finstagram
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between him and his closest social circle would keep his image clean to people he wants
to impress in person.
According to Naomi, only her close friends would understand her posts on her
Finstagram accounts, as some posts are created with them and are backed by stories only
they share and experienced together. She emphasized the comfort of posting with only
her closest friends as an audience,
“With my close friends, I don’t really have to try as much ‘cause they know me
already. On my main account, it’s mostly stuff that I want other people that really
don’t know me to see, but then on my dump account, it’s mostly stuff that people
who know me would understand. Like, they know about me and I want them to
know about it.”
Daniella shared the same sentiments about keeping her Finstagram followers composed
of her close circle of friends, “[On Finstagram] it’s a way parang mas public yung posts
mo pero yung mga followers mo yung mga talagang tina-trust mong people.” [It’s a way
to keep your posts ‘public’ but your followers are only people who you really trust].
It is notable that the users are comfortable with their audiences on Finstagram
because with them, they will not get negative feedback and they will not experience
unacceptance and rejection because of the post they make on their Finstagram accounts.
The Finstagram users feel that with their filtered followers, their posts are
unfiltered as it can be. When asked to describe how he is on his Finstagram account,
Bobby said, “On my Finsta, I’m more... unfiltered version that only certain people could
see.” Like with the other users, he enjoys the freedom to post any content without the
judging eyes of people outside his social circle.
With the ability to post unfiltered and uncurated content, they are free to show
who they really are beyond the aesthetics and styles of their main Instagram accounts.
Lisa called her Finstagram as the ‘window’ to her head. For her, Finstagram is the place
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where she gets to “disclose everything from my day, to my issues, and stuff, and that’s
‘cause—it’s part of me.” On her Finstagram, she is free to express that part of her that is
different from the fashionista image she strictly maintains on her main Instagram
account. Albert shared how he utilizes the freedom he gets with his Finstagram account.
There, he freely expresses his antics and his comedic side, according to him,
“My Finstagram is pretty much who I am really am, you know. I’m really ‘topak’
like, I post a lot of stupid pictures where there’s just [a photo] dunking my head
into a toilet. There’s one of me just blinding myself with a lamp. I just post
whatever. I really couldn’t care less about how I look on my Finsta.” [My
Finstagram is pretty much who I am really am, you know. I really have this
certain crazy mood like, I post a lot of stupid pictures where there’s just a photo
of me dunking my head into a toilet. There’s one of me just blinding myself with a
lamp. I just post whatever. I really couldn’t care less about how I look on my
Finsta].
Fearing that the other side of his identity will not be widely accepted on his main
Instagram account, Paco collates all the post that do not agree with his cool and
adventurous image on his main Instagram into one Finstagram account. He explained,
“Yung baka hindi matanggap ng world na may emotional side si Paco na...
parang sa pinakahuling post ko parang sentimental shit ako diyan. Na parang
‘ugh that’s so gay’. Eh, ganyan ako e. Parang soft ako inside, tapos ayun, na
baka hindi siya pumasok sa vibe na hinahanap ng tao na cool or exciting [sa
main Instagram].” [The world might not accept the emotional side of Paco. They
might see my sentimental posts and say “ugh that’s so gay”. But that’s me. I’m
soft on the inside but that might not go well with the cool or exciting vibe that
people look for on my main Instagram].
Moreover, Paco shared his view of his main Instagram and Finstagram,
“Ang weird eh, because parang you’re putting a limit to something that’s
limitless. Parang hindi enough yung main Instagram for the content of my life.
Parang alam mo yun, parang it’s for a different crowd.” [It’s actually weird
because it’s like putting a limit to something that’s limitless. It’s as if my main
Instagram is not enough for the content of my life, you know. As if it’s for a
different crowd].
He believes that Instagram, as a social media platform, is ‘limitless’, where one can post
as many posts as he or she wants for as long as the platform exists. However, he feels
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somehow limited by it, that it cannot handle all of the posts his life can produce and one
account is incapable of handling the multiple facets of his personality. That is why Paco
felt the need to use another, a more private, account to handle the more personal side of
his personality—which is the sentimental Paco.
Beyond summarizing the motivations of the Finstagram users for creating their
Finstagram accounts, this section also gives light on the needs that the creation of
Finstagram account fulfills—social, personal growth, economic, etc. Moreover, with this
section alone, it is already obvious that Finstagram indeed gives its users more freedom
to move and express their innermost emotions—supporting literature and articles that
define Finstagram accounts as a more personal and closer representation of one’s
identity.
D. The Visuals of Instagram and Finstagram accounts
Knowing the personal motivations of the users in creating their Instagram
accounts through interviews is important, but so is studying the actual themes present on
the users’ main Instagram and Finstagram accounts through the observation of the visual
content posted. In this section, this study presents the categorization of all the themes that
resulted from the observation of the visuals of the participants’ main Instagram and
Finstagram accounts.
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1. Categories of Instagram posts
Analyzing posts on main Instagram accounts and thematizing them according to
the features, this study came up with five main categories that summarize what can be
found on the main Instagram accounts of Finstagram users. Each category is named after
the identity that may be made by posting the photos collectively on their Instagram feed.
a. The Traveller
This category refers to photos and videos related to anything travel and adventure.
This category includes photos and videos taken at the beach, at tourist spots in the
country or overseas, road trips, a compilation of videos and photos that indicate that they
are away from their hometown. These photos are all colored and are staged—on most of
the posts, the users in the picture are making model-like poses alone or with their
companions, looking elsewhere, candidly walking or swimming, or sunbathing.
Figure 2. A post on Instagram depicting travel.
(photo taken with consent)
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b. The Model
Posts that belong to this category shows the fashionista and make-up enthusiast-
side of the participants. They use these posts to showcase their outfit choices, their make-
up skills through selfies under bright light, and them posing to the camera clear or blurred
background settings to emphasize their overall look.
Figure 3. A post on Instagram featuring the author as the model.
(photo taken with consent)
c. The Achiever
These posts feature milestones and achievements in the lives of the participants
captured in a picture-perfect manner. Sometimes these posts are captured candidly.
Milestones and achievements include achievements in their studies, sports, and other
extra-curricular activities that the participants pursue and want to share to their followers
on Instagram.
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Figure 4. A video post showcasing an achievement in sports.
(photo taken with consent)
d. The Loved Ones
With these posts, participants show their public audience their happy families
during celebrations like Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, birthdays, etc. and their group
of friends in special occasions like balls, holidays, school activities, and etc. Some posts
do not include the users’ loved ones’ faces at all. Some prefer to instead take photos of
sentimental objects that symbolize their relationship with the person or people in their
mind upon the posting of the content. Some examples are old printed photos taken in a
staged setting like a table in a coffee shop or an object against a blurry background held
by the photo taker’s hand. These photos are often accompanied by captions that reminisce
the people the account user would like to remember or express his or her gratitude for.
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Figure 5. Photo of a group of friends.
(photo taken with consent)
e. The View
Sometimes, the owner of the main Instagram account just chooses to omit any
face or person as a subject of his or her photo and opt to post objects like buildings,
flowers, bodies of water, the sky (includes sunset and sunrise), and indoor activities like
concert and dining (pictures of food) that the user sees through his or her eyes.
Sometimes, when observed closely, the subjects of these photos are not special at all—a
simple building along a road, a ball, a flower blooming, a book on the table that the user
is reading, and many more. These pictures transform into something special due to the
photography techniques employed during the taking of the photo like angling, cropping,
framing, and etc.
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Figure 6. A picture of sunflowers.
(photo taken with consent)
Posts on main Instagram accounts are made to showcase the positive moments in
the lives of the authors. They show the good and the happy side of everything and there
are only a few, if not completely nonexistent, that hint at the darker and negative sides of
their thoughts. They are indeed made to project that image that the user what his or her
audience to see, hence, they are staged and undergo post-processing like filters, editing,
cropping, and etc. to look pleasant and attractive to the audience.
2. Categories of Finstagram posts
This study’s thematization of Finstagram posts brought out four main categories
that summarize the posts. It is notable that I encountered a bit of difficulty in coming up
with this list due to the random nature of posts on the feeds of the participants’
Finstagram accounts.
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a. The Clown
Users use their Finstagram accounts to post funny and entertaining acts they catch
of themselves or of other people, sometimes, they actually do the act and record it on
purpose using their mobile devices. The common goal for posting such content is to make
their audience laugh and to also entertain themselves whenever they browse their
Finstagram feeds. A couple of participants also use their entertaining content to spark
conversation with their close friends.
Figure 7. A Finstagram post posted for comedic purposes.
(photo taken with consent)
b. The Candid
This category covers all the photos taken candidly as they happen—celebrations,
group activities, family moments in the house, celebrations like graduation, birthdays,
and etc. This also includes random selfies taken by the Finstagram users. These photos
capture the raw emotion that the Finstagram users want to preserve for a long time by
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sharing to their closest social circle. Compared to ‘The Loved Ones’ category from the
previous section, this category involves photos that are less staged, less post-processed,
and are often posted right after the moment occurred. In other words, these photos and
videos may not be aesthetically pleasing, but their stories and meanings are the ones that
are worthy to be posted.
Figure 8. A Finstagram post showcasing a group huddle.
(photo taken with consent)
c. The Screenshot
These are photos taken of screens of devices like laptops, phone, tablets, etc. The
goal of these photos is to share something that was shown on-screen like movies, list of
grades in school, video calls, text messages, and etc. and to record something that the
Finstagram user has consumed and enjoyed using his or her electronic devices.
Sometimes, these posts are accompanied with captions explaining the story behind the
screenshot of their device’s screen.
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Figure 9. A Finstagram photo showing a laptop screen with a movie title.
(photo taken with consent)
d. The Record
This category shows all the Finstagram posts taken for the sake of recording and
sharing them—lunch and dinner dates, outtakes of photo shoots, make-up and outfit
fitting in boutiques, and other photography behind-the-scenes. Compared to ‘The
Candid’, this theme is more of a ‘just because’—no special reason to remember or
celebrate in the post.
Figure 10. A photo of a lunch meal.
(photo taken with consent)
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E. Self-Presentation on Instagram
Now that this study has discussed the motivations of the users for using their main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts and their visuals, it now proceeds to analyze and talk
about how Finstagram users present themselves on these accounts. Backed with
Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation theory (see Chapter 3), this section aims to
give light to the standards that the users follow or do not follow when using their
accounts on the social media platform, Instagram.
It is important to recall the difference between the audience of Finstagram users
on their main Instagram accounts and on their Fintagram accounts before trying to
understand what they believe are expectations imposed upon them; by ‘audience’, this
study refers to the followers or subscribers of the account for private accounts9 and for
public accounts10, it would be the followers plus other people who may come across the
post of the account user as dictated by Instagram’s algorithm (or system, which is
undisclosed by the application developers).
As mentioned in previous sections, Finstagram users are followed on their main
Instagram accounts by their family members, relatives, close friends, acquaintances, and
people who they have met at least once in their lives. For this reason, main Instagram
accounts tend to have more followers than Finstagram accounts and the reach of posts are
wider. Meanwhile, the followers of Finstagram accounts are filtered according to the
discretion and goal of its creator. Usually, Finstagram accounts are followed by the users’
9 Private accounts are profiles with settings such that you can approve or reject other users’
requests to follow you and see your content. 10 Public accounts are profiles with settings such that any user can find your profile, follow you,
and see your content without sending a follow request.
Definitions from Langevin, M. (2016). Social Media Glossary. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from
https://thrivehive.com/social-media-glossary.
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closest friends—their innermost social circle. With this, the reach of posts is very limited.
In rare cases, some users prefer to have no followers at all on their Finstagram accounts.
1. Adhering to standards of people or Instagram
In this theme, this study explores how Finstagram users use their accounts to
fulfill external expectations of them.
This study found out that actions that are influenced by the public’s expectations
and preferences are concentrated on the main Instagram accounts of the users. This is due
to the presence of certain audiences that the users find themselves uncomfortable to share
certain visual content with. One of the participants, Bobby, believes that the content he
posts on his Finstagram account—content like comedic posts—are not appreciated by his
family and relatives that follow him on his main Instagram account, so he limits these
posts to his private and secret Finstagram account. This is also what Lisa feels, who
strictly adheres to her fashionista image on her main Instagram, because she knows that
her followers on her main Instagram associate her identity to the clothes she wears,
therefore, she admitted to purposefully catering to what they expect of her by adhering to
her popular feed style.
Fina got a sudden realization when asked about whether she had any expectations
whenever she posts on her Instagram account and if she is posting for other people or for
herself. As someone who heavily edits her posts on her main Instagram in order to look
good as the rest of her feed, she realized that there might have been a hidden reason why
she got used to doing that. She admitted,
“If I think about it parang... sasabihin ko sa sarili ko na hindi. Pero maybe it’s in
the back of my mind? Kasi I don’t think I would go through such lengths na pati
‘yung stories ko ine-edit ko a certain way just to be able to satisfy my own
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needs.” [If I think about it, I would say no, I don’t have any expectations. But
maybe it’s in the back of my mind. Because I don’t think I would go through such
lengths that I also edit my IG stories in a certain way just to be able to satisfy my
own needs].
She also realized that maybe she was encouraged to stick to editing her posts on her main
Instagram because she gets positively reinforced whenever she does through likes and
comments and she does not get any feedback if otherwise.
Some Finstagram users acknowledge an existing pressure due to the expectations
of their followers but they cater to that anyway. Daniella explained what she feels while
maintaining her main Instagram account, she shared,
“There’s pressure na kailangan maayos yung feed and maayos yung picture like
well- edited ganun. Tapos syempre tinitignan ko always yung updates na ilang
likes na ganun. Or sometimes papamessage ko pa sa friend, ‘uy support mo
naman yung post ko’ ganun. Parang it’s more on... siguro getting, di naman
validation pero attention?” [There is pressure that says that my feed has to be
organized and the pictures should be well-edited. I also look at updates on the
number of likes my posts get, of course. I even message my friends to like my
posts sometimes. Perhaps it’s more of getting attention rather than validation].
Daniella is not the only Finstagram user who gets pressured from living up to
expectations and therefore expecting to be rewarded with positive feedback. Albert
admitted that he even feels anxious every time he posts on his main Instagram account,
“I get anxious. Like I always have this, this hope, or this quota that I hope my
post reaches this amount of likes or I hope a certain person likes it or something.
Something like that, there’s so much expectations when I post on my main
Instagram account.”
Paco, who presents himself as the cool guy on his main Instagram, also admitted that he
enjoys the feedback and likes he gets through his posts. He even admits that he deletes
posts that did not live up to his expectations, in other words, what he keeps on his main
Instagram feed are the posts that got a high number of likes (ie. 100 likes and above).
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This theme boils down to adhering to images of themselves that the users
established for their main Instagram accounts because those are the content that their
followers widely accept and praise. In exchange for pleasing their audience, Finstagram
users get gratified through likes and positive comments, so they continue to present
themselves in that particular image.
The next theme discusses how Finstagram users use the social media platform
Instagram to adhere to the image they want to see of themselves.
2. Adhering to self-image
Contrary to curating their feed styles to impress and please an audience,
Finstagram users enjoy the privacy and the chance to just follow what and how they want
to look like on their Finstagram accounts. With their secondary accounts, Finstagram
users can follow the image that they really want to set for themselves with no fear of
judgment or backlash from their audience.
The images that are projected on Finstagram accounts vary from person to person.
Albert, who projects himself as an athlete on his main Instagram account, expresses his
comedic, crazy, and reckless image on his private Finstagram account. He shared, “Oh, I
couldn’t care less if I posted a picture of my ass. Yeah, I post whatever on my Finsta.
‘Cause, I’m not after the likes, I’m after just showing it to everyone who follows me
there.” Albert enjoys posting pictures of himself doing ridiculous and funny activities, as
it entertains people—his close friends at home and in school—in his Finstagram network
and it brings laughter to him personally as well. He often looks back at the posts he made
on this Finstagram account whenever he wants a mood boost.
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Figure 11. Albert’s posts on this main Instagram and Finstagram accounts.
Left: Albert’s post on his main Instagram account showing him boxing; Right: one of
Albert’s comedic posts to give laughter to his Finstagram followers. (photo taken with
consent)
One would not recognize Paco if one sees his private Finstagram account. Paco,
the cool and adventurous boy on his main Instagram account, is a completely different
person on his Finstagram. When describing the other side of Paco, he shared,
“With the community and how I am personally, yung at first glance kala ng mga
tao ah, ako yung kalog, ako yung maingay, yung palaging nagpapatawa, parang
tingin ko yun yung expectation na I try to keep pero at the same time there’s that
other part of me then na very... I’m just sad… and I don’t like people seeing me
sad because they think na parang tatanungin nila ako na "oh, okay ka lang?"
ganyan ganyan na parang I'm just sad. It doesn't mean na parang something
happened or what, sad lang ako. I don't wanna be that guy na nagdi-distribute pa
ng bad vibes to the world. So ako parang I'll just keep it to myself.” [With the
community and how I am personally, people think at first glance that I am the
wild, the loud, the comedian, and the fun type of person. I think that that’s the
expectation that I try to satisfy but at the same time, there's that other part of me
that is just really sad… and I don't like people seeing me sad because they might
ask me why I am sad or something like that. But I’m just really sad. It doesn’t
mean that something bad happened, I’m just really sad. I don't wanna be that guy
who distributes bad vibes to the world. So I just keep it to myself].
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Figure 12. Pictures from Paco’s main Instagram and Finstagram accounts.
Left: Paco on his bike during one of his travels, posted on his main Instagram;
Right: a black-and-white photo of a hand, posted on his Finstagram. (photo taken with
consent)
In simpler words, Finstagram users post for their own satisfaction on their
Finstagram accounts. When asked whether he still cares about his followers’ feedback on
his Finstagram account, Ed said, “Ako wala naman. Kung walang magla-like okay lang,
hindi naman para sa kanila 'yun e.” [I don’t care if nobody likes or comments on my
Finstagram. It’s not for them anyway]. Hannah shared that she does not care whether her
Finstagram followers see and react to her occasional rant posts on her Finstagram
account, “Like it’s fine if people really don't find it nice because it just more like me
ranting. So I don't mind how many likes I get on Finsta.”
As compared to how Finstagram users use their main Instagram accounts, they
indeed just post the things that would make them establish the image they wanted to see
of themselves to impress and satisfy themselves; in some cases, no image at all.
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This section shows how the self-presentation theory exists in the users’ usage of
both their main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. It is quite clear that they use their
main Instagram accounts to satisfy others while they use their Finstagram accounts for
themselves. This practice satisfies their over-all use of the visual social media platform—
their experience of Instagram. In the words of Albert, “I just like having a Finstagram
and Instagram because I get to show two sides of myself to two different kinds of
groups.”
Synthesis
Finstagram users use their main Instagram accounts as a (1) digital window to the
world—in order to socialize with a bigger audience outside of their close social circle—
and as a platform to (2) market one’s self—using their main Instagram accounts to
project an image that they think would get more attention and positive feedback from
their audiences. Meanwhile, they created and maintain their Finstagram accounts to serve
as their (1) visual diary—where they record what happens in their lives daily, (2) free
photo storage—to provide them with cloud-like storage where they post their photos to
be able to delete them from their mobile devices or cameras, to (3) paint on a new
canvas—to free them from the creative restriction they experience on their main
Instagram accounts and to let them change their creative styles, (4) to be unfiltered—to
let them post whatever they want and to express the identity they are most comfortable
with.
There are five observed categories of Instagram posts which names the image that
the user wanted to portray through the photos and videos he or she posted: (1) the
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traveller—posts that tell stories of the user’s adventures, (2) the model—posts
showcasing the outfit or make-up skills of the user, (3) the achiever—posts that show
achievement in sports, academics, skills, and etc., (4) the loved ones—photos of the user
with their family or friends, and (5) the view—posting an inanimate object as an aesthetic
subject of the post. The four categories determined from the Finstagram posts of the
participants show the freedom the users enjoy on their secondary accounts: (1) the
clown—posts showcasing comedic and even ridiculous acts done by the users, (2) the
candid—photos and videos taken as they happen to archive the raw emotions of
celebrations like birthdays, graduation ceremonies, and etc., (3) the screenshot—photos
taken of screens of devices to share what digital content the user was consuming at a
certain time, (4) the record—photos of random objects, places, and moment posted for
the sake of sharing and archiving them. The main difference of the posts from both
accounts is that posts on main Instagram accounts are curated, edited, enhanced, and/or
filtered while most posts on Finstagram accounts are not edited at all.
The resulting motivations and categories show that Finstagram users adhere to the
image that they believe others expect of them on their main Instagram accounts. The
users have learned that posting visual content that sticks to the image that they have
established—ie. fashionista, traveler, athlete—garner positive feedback from their
followers, hence, they prefer to maintain that image. Meanwhile, they prefer to do things
their way on their secondary accounts on the social media platform—adhering to the
image they have set to satisfy their own expectations of themselves. They use their
Finstagram accounts to post about subjects that they think would not be accepted or
understood well on their main Instagram accounts.
CHAPTER VI
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
This chapter summarizes all the themes presented in Chapter 6 and concludes the
specific objectives presented in this study.
A. Summary
This study aims to explore and define Finstagram, its existence in the social media
platform Instagram and to determine its contribution to the online self-representation of
its Filipino users is. It employed Baumeister and Hutton’s (1987) self-presentation theory
as a lens to look at Finstagram as an Instagram phenomenon. Through online observation,
personal interviews, and thematization, this study looked in the visual features of the
Instagram and Finstagram accounts of ten participants and determined their motivations
for maintaining their Instagram account and for creating and maintaining a secondary
account or a Finstagram account.
There are several motivations for using Instagram among Finstagram users. They
use their main Instagram accounts as a digital window to the world and treat it as an
avenue to market themselves to people they want to impress. These motivations are more
inclined towards interacting with their audiences and selling their images to them.
Meanwhile, they created their secondary account/s—their Finstagram— to serve either as
their visual diary, a free photo storage, a way to have total creative freedom with their
feeds, and/or to be free with whatever they want to post on their account.
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When we compare all mentioned motivations to the study of Lee et al. on the
motivations behind Instagram use conducted in another country (2015), the resulting
motivations to use Instagram determined from the responses of this study’s participants
only agree to a few from the list of motivations of Lee et al. (see Chapter 2 section on
Instagram), proving differences between the motivations of their participants—who may
or may not be Finstagram users—and the participants of this study who are Finstagram
users.
The visual content from the participants’ main Instagram and Finstagram accounts
confirmed the results from their interviews. According to the thematization and
categorization of the participants’ main Instagram and Finstagram accounts, they use
their main Instagram mainly to project the image that they have set for themselves that
they think their audience on their account would like. For example, a participant wanted
to be associated with being a traveler or adventurer, therefore, she usually posts images of
her being on road trips, beaches, and etc. Meanwhile, the participants’ Finstagram
accounts are less organized, less controlled, and a lack of direction is more obvious due
to the randomness of their posts. It is quite noticeable that they are not trying to maintain
a certain image, the Finstagram users use their Finstagram accounts to do what they feel
they cannot do on their main Instagram accounts—which includes posting comedic acts,
random sharing of everyday happenings, posting content that is not staged, and etc. In
other words, they use their Finstagram to satisfy their social media needs and wants that a
main Instagram account cannot fulfill. An example of a need and/or want is wanting to
have a visual diary or an avenue to express his or her emotions freely without possible
judgment from the audience. This shows that Finstagram users utilize both their main
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Instagram and Finstagram accounts to fulfill their social media needs and wants from the
visual social media platform, as compared to the study of Lee et al. (2015) that says that
all these needs and wants from Instagram are satisfied by having one Instagram account
alone.
Lastly, this study explores the self-presentation of the users on their main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts. Finstagram users admitted that they post for their
followers on their main Instagram accounts to satisfy their audience’s expectations and to
receive gratification through their acceptance and positive feedback. Users do this by
starting and maintaining a certain image of themselves and projecting it using the posts
they release on their Instagram accounts. They are fully aware that their followers favor
their image that is why it is continued and maintained. Meanwhile, Finstagram users
experience a freer environment on their Finstagram accounts for they post on those
secondary accounts to satisfy their own expectations of themselves and to fulfill a need or
want to express anything they desire. With this, a Finstagram account can be called as the
compromise of both expectations from the external and internal environments of the
Finstagram users.
B. Conclusion
Finstagram has been defined by literature available as a secondary account to
one’s Instagram where people can post visual content privately and without the aesthetics
they maintain on their main Instagram account (Abrashi, 2018; Homayoun, 2017; Wani
et al., 2017). This study affirms this definition. On Finstagram, users keep their closest
social circle as their audiences because they feel the most comfortable to be expressive
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around them—there, they feel that they will not be judged if they post something
ridiculous, truthful, and even sad. Aside from this, the users treat Finstagram as an online
diary and photo storage, where they store memories that they feel they could not let go.
Moreover, Finstagram is the account where they feel comfortable posting content that is
not edited and staged at all, hence, it is the place where they show a natural and unfiltered
image of them—an unfiltered representation of identity. In simpler words, Finstagram
reflects the more personal and more real side of its users, compared to their image-driven
main Instagram accounts.
Finstagram gives its users a safe space to express themselves freely in a world
where maintaining a pleasing image is important—where people expect each other to
look happy all the time and to look visually attractive on every post. It enables users to
just be themselves on a visual social media platform. It gives them the feeling that they
will not be judged no matter what—that they will be accepted for who they are no matter
how they look and no matter how they express themselves. In this time of influencers and
supermodels on social media that easily feeds one’s insecurities, that feeling of
acceptance is worth more than a thousand likes on their main Instagram accounts, hence,
the creation of Finstagram accounts.
CHAPTER VII
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Implications
This study reveals that motivations as listed and discussed in various journals on
Instagram apply to Finstagram users, not on their usage of main Instagram accounts, but
on their Finstagram accounts. This raises the question of whether the usage of Instagram
among its users is changing rapidly over the years it has been available for public use and
whether it is a form of adaptation to the fast-changing world of social media. It also raises
the questions for the possible cause of this change in social media use, particularly on
Instagram.
On the negative side, the study sheds light at the high expectations of society on
an individual that lead them into making his or her own private space in a social media
platform in order to express his or herself freely without judgment. By extension,
Instagram, as a visual social media platform, reinforces society’s pressure on people to
look good, to look acceptable, and/or to look like someone they are not by strengthening
the insecurities they have with their appearance, lifestyle, body image, and etc.
B. Recommendations
This study is an exploratory study of Finstagram account on Instagram. Its aim is
to describe Finstagram and find out how it contributes to the online self-representation of
its Filipino users. Given the sampling method and the small size of the sampling
population, this study cannot be considered as a representative of all Finstagram users in
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the Philippines, and by extension, the entire Finstagram user community around the
world. However, this study has paved the way to further studies about the social media
platform Instagram and its evolving list of features and phenomena.
Based on the interviews with the participants, a huge number of them use
Instagram Stories for various reasons and apply the recently-introduced ‘Close Friends’11
feature to limit their audience—quite similar to limiting one’s audience on Finstagram
accounts. It would be interesting to explore these new Instagram features and connect
how they influence the self-presentation of its users and how the continuous evolution of
online self-representation happen as more and more features are getting introduced on the
social media platform Instagram.
Lastly, something that this study was not able to focus on is the other modes of
self-representation that accompany each visual posts—captions, hashtags, location tags,
and friend tags. It would be interesting to know whether these features add to the message
that a visual post intends of conveying, whether they also contribute to the self-
representation of its user, and how they help forward the image that its user wants to
project on his or her account. A multi-modal approach to studying Instagram might even
further the existing knowledge and understanding of this young and deeply interesting
social media platform.
11 The Close Friends feature allows the users to limit the viewers of their Instagram Stories to just
a few selected followers on Instagram.
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