What if Your Social is Targeting the Wrong People?

It started as a whisper several years ago. Teens were setting up multiple Instagram accounts. One, their “real” account, where they welcomed their parents and everyone they met. The other, their “fake” account under a clever pseudonym, was only known to their closest friends.

Initially, parents and marketers assumed fake accounts were for posting about sex and partying. But, as multiple accounts became a full-blown trend among Millennials and Gen Z (some say 50% have them), a more important distinction emerged.

For many, real accounts (dubbed “Rinsta” on Instagram), are carefully curated to reinforce an aspirational image. Only the best pictures, envy-worthy events, and happy updates are posted. Fake accounts (“Finsta”) are where users are themselves. Imperfect pictures, the messiness of real life, and unfiltered feelings are shared with friends they trust, with privacy completely locked down.

It’s an odd twist. The openness and authenticity that defined social media is now often confined to the highly private “Finstas.” The picture-perfect life of beautiful people eating avocado toast at sunrise on a Maui beach is how many show up to marketers and anyone else who searches for them.

Sources: CBC News 2017, Lifehacker 2018, Medium: Kaiti Snell 2017, Psychology Today 2017