I was interested in how my friends used ‘finsta’ (locked private accounts where only friends are permitted following) as a passive way to privately communicate with each other. I proposed the idea during the Computer Mediated Communication course at Cornell, and conducted a study with five undergraduate students on finsta usage and privacy perception. We found results that could improve Instagram UI design for better user satisfaction.
Our data collection was done first through open ended interview with a small sample of close friends (30 total). This was a convenience sample based on proximity. However, this group is known to be finsta users. Their answers helped us produce the structured interview outline and survey questions for empirical data collection. Because of the novelty, and relevance of the topic, our final survey had a large volume (72) of responses, which helped us more accurately answer our question.
Participants reported that having a separate “finsta” indeed allows them a sense of privacy management, since they can separate what they post “on main” from finsta content. This separation is a part of their construction of a digital safe space, where they can record their diary. Similar to a diary, contents participants post to finsta are often mundane or personal, and may offer little meaning to people who aren’t familiar with their contexts. Because of the content may portray a persona different from the one they normally exhibit to others, the diary created in a digital safe space (finsta) therefore allows them to maintain different aspects of their identities.
Some participants pointed out that they preferred to post on finsta over close friends stories because finsta posts are more permanent. Each post remains a part of the private diary they choose to share with a selected audience. One partcipant said that they liked “looking back at the stuff (they) posted” because it also calls back memories from a specific moment in time. Close friends stories may be lost, and the memories gone with them.
