26 OPI NIO N
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 03
‘Do you want to be on my Private Story?!’ By Matthew Geraghty Listen up over 25s or those just not in the know- sorry for being ageist
but its probably true that you haven’t yet heard of the phenomenon of the private story or ‘finsta’. This is the new social media trend that’s sweep-
ing the nation, and has been for some time now, and no one seems to be writing about it. The private story was a function
The private story or ‘finsta’ as its Instagram iteration is known, is the antithesis of what traditional social media has become. There is a huge irony in that people are over-sharing on social media through private stories as a release from over-sharing and critique on their public social media profiles, but the type of over-sharing done on private stories is quite different.
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created by photo-communications app Snapchat in May 2017, which allowed users to create a new type of story (the function that allows you to share an image or video with all of your friends on the app). This is the Private Story. A feature which allows users to create a custom story with friends of their choosing, meaning not the entirety of their contacts list can see it. Users typically share a less edited version of their life on their private story than the one on their ‘public’ story or Instagram account. People use private stories to share fun, personal moments with those closest to them. The private story function has really taken off with young people in Ireland. Nowadays if you’re not added to someone’s private story it’s a sign that you’re not as close with them as you thought. Being added to someone’s private story, or ‘priv’ for short, is an acknowledgment that you’re an ally, someone to be trusted, someone they will let see their most embarrassing moments, because private stories are where the youth of Ireland are being the most authentic, unedited and fun versions of themselves. Figures haven’t been published on this topic yet, but trust me when I tell you that the vast majority of young people have a private story for their closest friends to witness their best moments- in the way they really happened, not how the highlight reel on Instagram portrays them to have happened. But why the rise of the private story, and why now?
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How far will you go this November?
REVERSED
Contact studentsunion@nuigalway.ie for more info @nuigsu
NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
It’s because young people have become sick and tired of social media’s toxicity. And how do you get over a social media overload? ... Share more, of course!! Alas, not in the way you think. Teenagers are tired of comparing how many followers they have to their friends, how many people wished them a happy birthday on Insta stories compared to how many well-wishes a friend got, having to comment ‘you look fab’ on an acquaintance’s latest post because you are afraid you might get a bitchy stare if you don’t, spending a day coming up with a quirky enough caption and then selecting a good enough picture which is a minefield all by itself.
The private story or ‘finsta’ as its Instagram iteration is known, is the antithesis of what traditional social media has become. There is a huge irony in that people are over-sharing on social media through private stories as a release from over-sharing and critique on their public social media profiles, but the type of oversharing done on private stories is quite different. People share their real selves, as they are doing so in front of people they have chosen to view the story, they are posting to people they are comfortable around. They are posting their honest thoughts on topics, knowing it’s just their friends who are going
to see it and therefore not having to take every single possible backlash to an opinion into consideration before posting it. They share the moments that are simply too outrageous for mainstream social media accounts with a couple of hundred followers. They share their authentic selves, maybe complaining about how tough it is to get study done, while on the same person’s Instagram or Facebook account you are more likely to find the post-exam night out pics. On a private story someone may post a funny cooking disaster whereas on their ‘public’ snapchat story they’ll share the finished version of the same meal, structuring the meal around the plate so that it looks optimal for pictures and by the time you sit down to eat, it has gone cold and has lost it’s flavour. Maybe the private story is more in line with what Zuckerberg, Dorsey and co had originally intended for social media to become. A means in which to keep in contact with friends in a way not to be taken too seriously- rather than the weapon it has actually become in 2020. More and more young people are seeing social media as a safer place since the birth of the private story as it is reassuring them that everyone is not as put together as they make their Instagram account seem. At the end of the day it is more refreshing to log on and see your mate post a funny rant about something irrelevant, or a video of them singing along to a cheesy mid-2000s hit with their friends, than seeing a video of a group of classmates humble-bragging by posting about their trip to the coolest restaurant in town.
