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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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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
by
Assistant Professor Jane O. Vinculado, M.M.C.
Adviser
Professor Arminda V. Santiago, Ph.D
Dean, College of Mass Communication
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
PERSONAL DATA
Name Angela Coleen C. Ayuson
Permanent Address B10 L5 Mayflower St., Montebrisa Subd. Ph1, San Jose,
Rodriguez, Rizal 1860
Mobile Number (+63) 939 913 6297
Email Address [email protected]
Date & Place of Birth 13 June 1997, Marikina City
EDUCATION
Secondary Level With Honors, Virgen Del Pilar School, Rodriguez, Rizal
Primary Level With Honors, Virgen Del Pilar School, Rodriguez, Rizal
ORGANIZATIONS Vice President for Finance, UP Radio Circle
Finance and Legal Affairs Officer for MaCSI, AIESEC in
University of the Philippines Diliman
WORK EXPERIENCE Media Planning and Buying Intern, Carat Philippines, Inc.
(June to July 2018)
Production Intern, DZUP 1602 (June to August 2018)
ACHIEVEMENTS University Scholar (2nd Semester, A.Y. 2015-2016)
3rd Place, 2015 UP Korean Speech Contest
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would not be writing this if it weren’t for the people who have been with me all
my life and in this memorable journey called college. As I close this, so far, the best
chapter of my life, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to these people.
First, to my parents, Naneth and Bong, and my sister, Carmela, thank you for your
unending patience and support of everything I do. I know I’ve been hard-headed and
makulit most of the time, but you still love me nevertheless. I want you to know that
everything I do, everything I dream of, is for you. I love you so much.
To my extended family—my grandparents especially my beloved Nanay Semang,
my aunts, uncles, and cousins—thank you for spoiling me since forever. Thank you for
your thoughtfulness, your caring arms, and your support for the things I do.
To my thesis adviser, Assistant Prof. Jane O. Vinculado, thank you for sharing
with me your wisdom and for guiding me patiently as I create and complete this study, I
am forever grateful from the bottom of my heart.
To my research proposal adviser, Dr. Daphne-Tatiana Tolentino-Canlas, thank
you for inspiring me with your constant pursuit of knowledge and for your guidance as I
create the thesis proposal that eventually became this study.
To my respondents, thank you for trusting me with your Instagram and
Finstagram accounts and your delightful stories. Without you, this study would cease to
exist.
To my high school bestfriends, Bryan, Eloisa, Kim, Samantha, Angelica, and
Kristine, I remember us dreaming about our college graduation back in high school. This
is it. It is just amazing that even though we don’t hang out as often as we used to, we still
got each other’s backs. May our friendship flourish even more as we begin another
chapter of our lives.
To Derrick, Jaslyn, Rose Ann, and Patricia, the treasures I have found in college.
You have shared to me your wisdom and words of truth during the time when I was at my
most vulnerable. Thank you for being there when things aren’t so good around me and
even when things are at their brightest. You guys are the best.
To Maika, my dearest friend, thank you for being my constant, for being that one
person I can trust my life with, that person who have led me through the dark tunnel and
have celebrated with me at the end of it. I am truly grateful God has brought us together. I
love you and I am always praying for the best for you and your wonderful family.
To UP Radio Circle and AIESEC in UP Diliman, the organizations where I have
found the people I will treasure in my life forever, thank you for trusting me to work with
you and to lead. You have taught me everything that is to learn outside the corners of my
classrooms and for that, I am truly grateful.
To the ever patient Daniel, my number one supporter, that one person who is
more excited and dedicated to my goals than I am, thank you for loving me. I believe that
every happy and sad thing that happened to me in college was worth it for it led me to
you. May time be our good friend—forever. I love you.
And last but not the least, to God, who have always loved me, his wandering
child, and who have never failed to give me strength no matter how difficult things may
be. Despite the darkness of the world around me, you continue to shed light for me to see
everything that is truly IG-worthy.
DEDICATION
To those who see their world as IG-worthy no matter what
ABSTRACT
Ayuson, A.C. (2019). Is it IG-worthy?: An exploratory study of Finstagram
accounts and their Contribution to the Online Self-Representation of Filipino Users,
Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass
Communication.
Finstagram has been defined as secondary accounts of Instagram users where they
post content that does not adhere to their main account’s aesthetics or curated feed; this
phenomenon, however, has been defined only on a surface level. This thesis aims to
explore and define Finstagram as a phenomenon within the visual social media
application Instagram. Using Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation theory as a lens,
this study also aims to find out how Finstagram contributes to the online self-
representation of their users.
This study observes ten Filipino Instagram users who maintain both a main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts through personal interviews and observation of these
accounts. Through thematization of interview data and categorization of the visual
content on the accounts, the results suggest that there are five motivations behind the use
of main Instagram accounts while there are four motivations behind the use of
Finstagram accounts. The participants of this study use their main Instagram accounts to
project an image to satisfy their audience’s expectations while they use their Finstagram
accounts in order to satisfy their own needs and their expectations of themselves.
Keywords: Instagram, finstagram, online self-representation, visual, social media,
thematization
ABSTRAKT
Ayuson, A.C. (2019). Is it IG-worthy?: An exploratory study of Finstagram
accounts and their Contribution to the Online Self-Representation of Filipino Users,
Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass
Communication.
Ang Finstagram ay ipinapaliwanag ng ilang literatura bilang mga pangalawang
account sa Instagram kung saan ibinabahagi ng mga gumagamit nito ang mga imahe at
bidyo na hindi sumasang-ayon sa tema o aesthetics ng kanilang pangunahing Instagram
account. Ang phenomenon na ito ay mababaw lamang na naipaliwanag hanggang sa
panahong ito. Nais ng pag-aaral na ito na siyasatin ang Finstagram bilang phenomenon
ng social media application na Instagram. Gamit ang self-presentation theory ni
Baumeister at Hutton, nais rin ng pag-aaral na ito na alamin kung pano nakakatulong ang
Finstagram sa online self-representation ng mga gumagamit nito.
Inobserbahan ng pag-aaral na ito ang sampung Pilipino na gumagamit ng
Instagram na may mga Finstagram account rin. Sa pag-thematize ng datos mula sa mga
interbyu at pagkategorya ng mga imahe at bidyo sa kanilang mga account, nakita ng pag-
aaral na may limang motibasyon sa paggamit ng Instagram account habang may apat na
motibasyon sa paggamit ng Finstagram. Ginagamit ng mga lumahok ng pag-aaral na ito
ang kanilang pangunahing Instagram account upang ipahayag ang isang imahe ng
kanilang sarili upang masiyahan ang kanilang mga tagasunod habang ginagamit nila ang
kanilang Finstagram account upang tuparin ang kanilang mga nais at inaasahan sa sarili.
Keywords: instagram, finstagram, representasyon ng sarili online, visual, social
media, thematization
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
University Permission Page ii
Approval Sheet iii
Biographical Data iv
Acknowledgment v
Dedication vii
Abstract viii
Abstrakt ix
Table of Contents x
List of Tables xii
List of Figures xiii
List of Appendices xiv
I. Introduction 1
A. Background of the Study 1
B. Statement of the Problem and Objectives 3
C. Significance of the Study 3
D. Scope and Limitations 4
II. Review of Related Literature 6
A. Instagram 6
B. Finstagram 10
C. Secondary accounts on other social media networks 12
D. Online self-representation 14
xi
III. Study Framework 19
A. Self-Presentation Theory 19
IV. Methodology 22
A. Research Design 22
B. Concepts and Indicators 23
C. Research Instruments 25
D. Unit of Analysis and Sampling 26
E. Data Gathering Method 27
F. Data Analysis Method 28
G. Role of the Researcher 29
V. Results and Discussions 32
A. The Respondents 32
B. Motivations for using Instagram 36
C. Motivations for creating and using Finstagram accounts 46
D. The Visuals of Instagram and Finstagram accounts 58
E. Self-Presentation on Instagram 67
VI. Summary and Conclusion 75
A. Summary 75
B. Conclusion 77
VII. Implications and Recommendations 79
A. Implications 79
B. Recommendations 79
References and Appendices
xii
LIST OF TABLES
Number Title Page
1 Concepts and Indicators for Objective 1 23
2 Concepts and Indicators for Objective 2 24
3 Concepts and Indicators for Objective 3 25
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
Number Title Page
1 Kira’s photo of a sunset which she associates with hope and love. 54
2 A post on Instagram depicting travel. 59
3 A post on Instagram featuring the author as the model. 60
4 A video post showcasing an achievement in sports. 61
5 Photo of a group of friends. 62
6 A picture of sunflowers. 63
7 A Finstagram post posted for comedic purposes. 64
8 A Finstagram post showcasing a group huddle. 65
9 A Finstagram photo showing a laptop screen with a movie title. 66
10 A photo of a lunch meal. 66
11 Albert’s posts on this main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. 71
12 Pictures from Paco’s main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. 72
xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES
Letter Title
A Consent cover letter
B Informed consent form
C Interview guide
D Interview transcripts
A. Albert
B. Bobby
C. Daniella
D. Ed
E. Fina
F. Hannah
G. Kira
H. Lisa
I. Naomi
J. Paco
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the study
Instagram started in October 2010 as a unique social media application that is
focused on enabling users to share visual content—particularly still images. Now, it is
currently one of the most-used social media platform in the world with around one billion
monthly active users worldwide as of June 2018 (“Instagram by the Numbers: Stats,
Demographics & Fun Facts”, 2018). By April 2017, there are almost nine million Filipino
Instagram users, mostly composed of users aged 18 to 24 (Instagram user demographics
in Philippines, n.d.). This suggests that even in the Philippines, Instagram has become a
part of an average young adult Filipino’s daily digital media consumption.
In the past couple of years, Instagram has evolved into a social media platform
where users can post not just still images but also videos and edit these using creative
tools within the application itself. This gave the users of Instagram power on how they
want to create and manipulate their content to suit how they want to express themselves
online. This empowerment continues to evolve as Instagram continues to offer more
features on their application.
With this empowerment, some users have come to use not just one, but two or
more Instagram accounts for multiple purposes. A term is coined in the recent three years
to call this phenomenon: Finstagram or ‘finsta’ for short. In an article written by Saqib
Shah in 2017 titled What’s a Finstagram? The Instagram Craze that’s all about keeping
it real, Finstagram is described as an account where people post photos that are “deemed
2
unattractive for their real Instagram, private jokes only their BFs [bestfriends] would
understand, ugly selfies, screenshots of conversations, and mundane moments unfit for a
filter” (Shah, 2017). Another article on the blog site Medium.com by Eric Herber (2015)
defines Finstagram the same way, further adding that “Finsta gets rid of the stressful
element of Instagram, but in a familiar environment” (Herber, 2015). These definitions
by Shah (2017) and Herber (2015) are only two of few literature that try to explain what a
Finstagram account is and how it works—but all only do so on a surface level.
Herber (2015) also suggested in his article that the rise of Finstagram changes
how users of the photo-sharing application use Instagram to represent themselves. It goes
against what Instagram is for most people—which is sharing artistic photos and videos
online—by enabling users to share whatever they want (Herber, 2015). This opens ideas
that Finstagram may be beyond what the usual definitions are—beyond being just a
secondary Instagram account for its users. Studying Finstagram may lead to further
understanding of how one presents and represents his or herself on social media and how
such phenomenon affects their self-presentation. A theory by Roy F. Baumeister and
Debra G. Hutton (1987) called self-presentation theory may be able to explain the
Finstagram phenomenon and its connection to the online self-representation of Instagram
users who maintain both a main Instagram and Finstagram accounts. The theory, which
will be further discussed in Chapter 3, is a theory in social psychology that talks about
how people present an image of themselves on social media based on the audience they
want to please.
With this, the next section presents the problem and the objectives that this study
aims to fulfill.
3
B. Statement of the problem and objectives
Despite being a phenomenon, the limited literature that discuss Finstagram only
answers what it is on a surface level and do not discuss the reasons behind its craze. As
such, this study attempts to answer the following research questions: “(1) What is a
Finstagram account?” (2) “How does it contribute to the online self-representation
of its users?”
The answer to the questions will be provided by the following objectives:
1. To categorize the visual content on Filipino users’ main Instagram
and Finstagram accounts
2. To compare the motivations behind the usage of Instagram and Finstagram
accounts
3. To describe how Baumeister and Hutton’s self-presentation theory is
manifested in the creation and use of Finstagram accounts
4. To understand and define Finstagram as a phenomenon of the social media
application Instagram
C. Significance of the study
This study aims to contribute to existing studies about Instagram and the
phenomenon within it which is Finstagram, considering that there are only a few that
mention Finstagram and fewer, if not at all none, that study Finstagram in particular. This
study aims to go beyond the common definitions of this phenomenon and explore it as
closely as possible, giving the readers an explanation of a Finstagram account’s nature,
cause, and effect, and how it is different from the usual Instagram account.
4
With its objectives, this study will draw an explanation of how people’s use of
social media continues to evolve to suit their self-representation and self-presentation
needs and wants, specifically the use of the visual social media application Instagram.
D. Scope and Limitations
The focus of this study is on a network of Instagram users who maintain not just
one Instagram account, but also at least another one which they call their Finstagram
account, or dump account. This means that the nature of the posts of their Finstagram
account is at the user’s discretion, as long as they acknowledge this account as their
Finstagram account or a dump account where they post photos that did not make it to
their main Instagram account feeds.1
This study limits the number of participants to ten Instagram users who are
chosen through convenience sampling. This study extracts 20 recent images—ten from
the users’ main Instagram and another ten from their Finstagram accounts—for
thematization and categorization, for a total of 200 posts.
This study does not look at captions or hashtags that accompany the posted
images and does not include visual content posted through Instagram Stories, a feature of
Instagram where posts vanish after 24 hours.
In handling the interviews, this study focuses solely on the interviewees and their
usage of Instagram. The audience of the participants on Instagram (eg. followers, friends)
will not be interviewed, as the study only needs to know the users’ personal motivations
1 An Instagram feed is the profile page of the user wherein all of his or her posts are showcased.
Definition from Langevin, M. (2016). Social Media Glossary. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from
https://thrivehive.com/social-media-glossary.
5
behind their usage of Instagram, the creation and usage of their Finstagram accounts, and
the creation of their posts on both accounts. Furthermore, given the small sampling
population of the participants, it is not a goal of this study to make a generalization of all
Filipino Finstagram users of the social media application or of all Finstagram users
around the world.
Lastly, this study is an exploratory study of Finstagram and online self-
representation of its users on the platform, therefore, the analysis of data only revolves
around defining Finstagram and investigating online self-representation that comes with
its creation and use, and does not touch other concepts and approaches like authenticity,
post-structuralism, polymedia, and the like.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this literature review, journal articles on Instagram, Finstagram, fake and/or
secondary profiles on social networking sites, and online self-representation are
examined in order to provide an insightful overview on the emerging concept of
Finstagram and a deeper understanding of why such a phenomenon may exist on social
networking sites. These will be helpful in the exploration of Filipino users’ main
Instagram and Finstagram accounts and its contribution to their online self-
representation.
A. Instagram
Instagram is an online social networking application, or app, where one can post
photos and share it with his/her network of followers. It is a mobile-only platform, where
one can only post and share content and interact with other members of the community
through a smartphone and tablet, but public accounts2 are accessible for viewing through
computer and laptop browsers. Instagram was considered a fast-growing platform in its
early years, most notably due to its focus on visual content (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016;
Lee J., Lee E., Moon, and Sung, 2015) compared to older social networking sites like
Twitter and Facebook. Sheldon and Bryant (2016) added that its feature of enabling users
2 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.
7
to add special filters3 to enhance and manipulate a photo before uploading it to one’s
personal account also made the platform appealing to its current users and audience
(Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). Studies have suggested that women are more likely to
Instagram than men (Homayoun, 2017; Sheldon and Bryant, 2016).
There have been various studies that attempted to list down the motivations
behind the use of Instagram. Lee et al. (2015) conducted a survey among 212 Instagram
users between the ages of 20 and 39 and was able to list five “primary social and
psychological motives” (p. 1) that encouraged the use of the social networking
application. They determined that the main motives to Instagram use are social
interaction (relationship-building and networking), archiving (documentation and
recording of daily events), self-expression (sharing of personal information), escapism
(avoidance of loneliness and reality), and peeking (browsing photos of other people) (Lee
et al., 2015). In another study, Sheldon and Bryant (2016), surveyed 239 students,
including 104 men and 133 women, age 18 to 52, about their personal and interpersonal
lives and whether they use Instagram or not. In their study, they stated that there are four
main reasons behind the respondents’ use of Instagram, these are surveillance/knowledge,
documentation, coolness, and creativity (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). These two sets of
motives listed by Lee et al. (2015) and Sheldon and Bryant (2016) contain similarities—
they both agree that Instagram is used as a place to look for information about other
people’s lives, as a visual diary or a visual recording of the users’ activities, and as an
expression of their creativity and their innermost feelings. Further validating this is
3 Filters are ways for users to personalize their photos and enhance their photo and videos’ looks.
Definitions from Langevin, M. (2016). Social Media Glossary. Retrieved March 31, 2019 from
https://thrivehive.com/social-media-glossary.
8
Marcus (2015, as cited in Sheldon and Bryant, 2016) who stated that Instagram,
compared to other social networking sites, is based more on the personal identity of its
user, rather than being based on his/her social identity (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). An
example of Instagram’s nature as a personal and intimate social media platform would be
the commonality of selfies that are posted to reflect the authors’ faces and the way they
see, or prefer to see, themselves.
There has been a study that attempted to look deeper into the link of one’s
personality to his/her Instagram account. Ferwerda and Tkalcic (2018) conducted a study
predicting the personality of 193 Instagram users using their 54,962 Instagram posts.
From the posts, they extracted the visual features—hue, valence, saturation, etc.—and the
content features—subject and focus of the posts—and combined it with a personality
survey that they asked the participants to answer. They availed of technology to compute
and predict personalities using the visual features and content features of the users’
Instagram posts separately. They found that analyzing both sets of features obtained
similar results for personality prediction, however, combining both did not increase the
prediction power; therefore, they conclude that just choosing one set of features to
analyze Instagram posts is enough (Ferwerda and Tkalcic, 2018). In Ferwerda and
Tkalcic’s (2018) own words, “when personality prediction from Instagram pictures is
ought to be done, a focus on either visual features or content features will suffice” (p.
160).
The argument that Instagram is a personal platform distinguishes it from other
popular social networking sites like the microblogging site, Twitter. Highfield (2015, as
cited in Sheldon and Bryant, 2016) compared the quality of content posted on Instagram
9
and Twitter. He called tweets, the term coined for posts made on Twitter, as fast-paced
while Instagram posts tend to last longer on one’s feed even though they are not posted as
frequently as tweets. Furthermore, Instagram posts contain a more personal theme, since
they are usually a selfie of the user or a photo of his or her home (Sheldon and Bryant,
2016). Miller (2016) also suggested that users of social networking sites tend to use
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter according to the audience to whom they want to show
their posts–families tend to be one’s audience on Facebook while peers are one’s usual
audience on Instagram and Twitter (Miller, 2016).
As a platform that focuses on visual content, it is not surprising to know that
Instagram users have grown to adhere to certain aesthetics and agree to acceptable
standards that make sure that posted content are visually pleasing to most, if not all,
members of its community. Miller (2016) describes that there are three types of
Instagram aesthetics that are commonly used by authors in their visual posts, namely: (1)
posting a personal creation, (2) appreciation of a creation of another person, and (3)
making an aesthetic photo out of something that seems unaesthetic through special angles
or filters. He observed Instagram accounts of various users in his network and
categorized posts that were widely accepted—those with a fair to a high number of likes
and positive comments—by members of his Instagram community. He derived the
following common themes of photos on Instagram: holiday shots, birthdays, weddings,
pets, and accessories (Miller, 2016). These categories combine with at least one of the
mentioned three Instagram aesthetics to create a well-received post on Instagram. This
may explain why some users, if not most, go to certain lengths just to get that
‘Instagrammable’ or ‘IG-worthy’ shot. Moreover, this also implies that even though
10
Instagram is described as a personal social networking site, it is still used for socializing
and social validation for the benefit of one’s self.
B. Finstagram
With the power and freedom users have on social media platforms, it is possible
to create and maintain multiple accounts on different social networking sites like
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The reasons behind the creation of more than one
account in a site vary from person to person. Wani, Ahmad Wani, & Ahmad Sofi (2017)
categorized social networking sites into five categories: Pure OSNs4 (like Facebook,
Twitter, and Weibo), Media Sharing OSNs (like Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat),
Professional Social Networks (like LinkedIn and ResearchGate), Discussion forums and
blogs, and Dating OSNs. They further talked about these social networking sites and the
prevalence of fake accounts on each site; when they finally discussed Instagram, they
mentioned the presence of Finstagram accounts (Wani et al., 2017).
Finstagram has been a rising phenomenon on the social media application,
Instagram. Due to the term being recently coined, there is minimal literature that
specifically discusses Finstagram. However, it has already been mentioned and briefly
defined in a few articles and journals that studied social media and its use. According to
the few literature that discussed it, Finstagram is defined as a fake Instagram account
made by a user who desires to share unedited, unfiltered, and personal photos that are
meant to be seen by a close circle of followers that the account user strictly chooses and
controls (Abrashi, 2018; Homayoun, 2017; Wani et al., 2017). Hence, Finstagram
4 ‘Online Social Network’ (Wani, Ahmad Wani, & Ahmad Sofi, 2017).
11
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.
12
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
13
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
14
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.
15
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
16
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
23
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 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
26
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
27
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
28
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,
29
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
30
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
31
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
33
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
34
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
35
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
36
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
38
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
39
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
40
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
45
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
56
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
57
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
58
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
65
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
69
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
78
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
80
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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APPENDIX A – COVER LETTER
Good day!
I am Angela Coleen C. Ayuson, a fourth year BA Broadcast Communication
student of University of the Philippines-Diliman. As a requirement of my degree program,
I am to produce an undergraduate thesis on a topic of my choosing.
I chose to study the self-representation of Filipino Instagram users on the social
media platform, Instagram, and explore the Instagram phenomenon called Finstagram.
Through this thesis, I want to understand and identify the motivations behind the use of a
Finstagram account and how it contributes to the online self-representation of its users.
With this, I am looking for Filipino Instagram users, aged 18 to 25 years old, who
actively maintain a “main” Instagram account and a Finstagram, or a secondary “dump”
account. By an “active account”, I am pertaining to accounts with a least one visible activity
(like a post or comment) during the past six months prior to the start of this data gathering
period (February 2019).
If you think you possess the mentioned qualifications and are interested to
participate in this study, I hereby invite you to become one of my participants. Should you
choose to accept this invitation, you may visit and fill out the online form at
bit.ly/UGThesis-Finsta for more details and ease of scheduling. You will receive a message
from me shortly after.
If you have any inquiries and clarifications, feel free to contact me through
Messenger at fb.com/angelacoleenayuson or email me at [email protected].
Thank you!
ANGELA COLEEN AYUSON
IV-BA Broadcast Communication
[email protected] | 0939 913 6297
APPENDIX B – INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name:________________________ School: __________________Contact:_______________
Age:___ Main IG account: @__________________ Finsta/s: @_________________________
CONSENT FORM AND CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE
I am Angela Coleen C. Ayuson, a fourth-year Broadcast Communication from UP Diliman
and I am conducting a study to define Finstagram and identify its effects on the online self-
representation of Filipino Instagram users for my undergraduate thesis.
By being a participant, you are giving me permission to study and record posts on your
main Instagram and Finstagram accounts and agree to participate in a 45-minute personal interview
with me where we will discuss your motivations and feelings behind your use of Instagram and
Finstagram accounts and behind the production of selected Instagram and Finstagram posts of
yours. This interview will be conducted in a safe and secure public place that is conducive for
conversations. The participant shall have a say when and where the interview will take place, as
his/her comfort and safety is of topmost priority.
The data from your Instagram accounts and transcription of your interview will remain
anonymous and will only be extracted and quoted for the purpose of this study. Identities and faces
(on posts) will not be shown without your knowledge and consent from you and those involved.
Remember, this is voluntary and there would be no penalty or loss should you wish to decline this
invitation. Moreover, if you agree to participate now and later wish to withdraw, you are welcome
to do so with no penalty or loss; your records and all copies of data from you will be destroyed.
Should you wish to accept this invitation, you may write your name and signature below.
____________________________
ANGELA COLEEN C. AYUSON
Researcher
By signing this document, I agree to become a participant in this study. I have read and
understood the conditions and requirements of my participation and give my permission to Angela
Coleen C. Ayuson to record my Instagram post and conduct an interview (along with possible
follow-up questions) with me for the purpose of this study. I have also understood my rights as a
participant of this study and trust the researcher with my data.
____________________________ _______________________
Signature above printed name Contact number
APPENDIX C – INTERVIEW GUIDE
Introduction
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
a. Personal Information
1. Name
2. Age / Birthday
3. School
b. Instagram Use (Baumeister and Hutton’s (1987) Self-Presentation Theory)
1. How long have you been using Instagram?
2. What is the purpose of your Instagram account?
3. Who are your audience/s here?
4. What do you feel whenever you post on your main Instagram account?
5. How do you choose which photo to post on your Instagram account?
i. Do you have any expectations?
6. Do you have an image that you project or want to project on this account?
i. How do you see yourself on your main Instagram?
ii. How do you think your audience see you?
FINSTAGRAM
1. How long have you been using a Finstagram account?
2. What inspired you to create a Finstagram account?
3. Did you see it from someone you know or follow online?
4. What is the purpose of your Finstagram account?
5. Who are your audience/s here?
6. What do you feel whenever you post on Finstagram?
7. How do you choose which photo to post on your Finstagram account/s?
i. Do you have any expectations?
8. Do you have an image that you project or want to project on this account?
i. How do you see yourself on your main Instagram?
ii. How do you think your audience see you?
c. Posts on their Instagram accounts
a. Here, the researcher will show a few of the participants’ posts on
Instagram and Finstagram.
i. What is the message you wanted to share when you posted this?
ii. How did you expect or wanted your audience to react to this?
iii. Why did you choose this angle/filter/pose?
APPENDIX D – INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS
A. Albert
[00:00:04.11] Interviewer: Hello, thank you for accepting my invitation.
[00:00:17.11] Albert: Sure
[00:00:17.26] Interviewer: Please state your name and your age.
[00:00:21.14] Albert: I'm Albert and I'm 21 years old.
[00:00:44.19] Interviewer: Alright, let's start. So first, how long have you been using
Instagram?
[00:01:18.26] Albert: Like, Instagram as a whole?
[00:01:20.02] Interviewer: Yeah.
[00:01:20.02] Albert: Probably since, 2014. 2013.
[00:01:28.04] Interviewer: Out of those years, since when did you start using a
Finstagram account? Even a secondary, dump, account.
[00:01:40.27] Albert: Around August of last year (2018).
[00:01:51.23] Interviewer: Okay, so what inspired you to create a Finstagram account?
[00:01:55.24] Albert: I wanted to post pictures that's like pang-gago lang. But obviously
you couldn't do it on your main Instagram and 'cause there's this bias, there's this standard
you have to follow when you're posting on Instagram. So 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 lang. I don't know, that what I
feel.
[00:02:39.01] Interviewer: So parang you believe that on Instagram, may obligation na
you have to post aesthetic pictures?
[00:02:48.06] Albert: Yeah, yeah. Ganon.
[00:02:51.17] Interviewer: In creating the Finstagram account that you have, did you see
it from someone else?
[00:03:00.06] Albert: Yeah, I saw other people do it. I got curious rin. Yun nga, I saw
that they could post whatever they like and I'm like "that seems fun too", so ayun. That's
pretty much all that happened.
[00:03:10.16] Interviewer: So basically you got the idea from a friend or someone within
your network on Instagram?
[00:03:16.20] Albert: Yeah.
[00:03:18.28] Interviewer: So, what exactly do you feel whenever you post a specific
content on your main Instagram account?
[00:03:24.27] Albert: I get anxious. Like I always have this, this hope, or this quota na 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.
[00:03:50.27] Interviewer: How about posting naman on your Finstagram account?
[00:03:50.27] Albert: Oh, I couldn't care less if I posted a picture of my ass. Yeah, I post
whatever on my Finsta. 'Cause, parang, I'm not after the likes e, I'm after just showing it
to everyone who follows me there. Ayun.
[00:04:04.14] Interviewer: Is your Finstagram private or public?
[00:04:05.25] Albert: Private, yeah.
[00:04:07.02] Interviewer: So basically, yung Finstagram mo parang you don't care kase
pili yung tao na nagfa-follow sa'yo?
[00:04:10.20] Albert: Yeah, exactly.
[00:04:14.05] Interviewer: How do you choose-- 'di ba, you feel anxious sa pag post sa
Instagram, paano mo nasasala yung mga photos na or yung mga content na pinopost mo
doon like, "this photo I think is for my Instagram and this photo is for my Finsta". How
do you choose or how do you determine the aesthetic, ganoon, kung meron man.
[00:04:33.00] Albert: Yeah, uhm. Usually my Finstagram nga is just puro, like, pictures
where I look stupid or just I send to my groupchats with my friends. Then, in my main
Instagram, that's the pictures I post there are parang are really nice group photos na I put
filters on stuff to make them really pretty. All that, you know. Parang pictures I know na
would get likes from other people because parang, I kinda base of my Instagram based on
other people too. Like, what they usually post I'll also post, so yeah.
[00:05:14.24] Interviewer: So Instagram is more on, uhm, agreeing to a standard you see
from your network. Then the Finstagram, bahala na.
[00:05:29.03] Albert: Yeah, I couldn't care less.
[00:05:32.13] Interviewer: When posting on Instagram naman, parang, you mentioned
kanina na you cared about Instagram, parang, when it comes to likes, mga ilang likes,
ganon?
[00:05:49.13] Albert: On my Finsta?
[00:05:49.13] Interviewer: On your Instagram.
[00:05:49.13] Albert: Uhm, siguro for me, the minimum would be around thirty, I'm not
like some super popular Instagram girl na you know, parang, 200 like and stuff. I'm not
after that but, yun lang. Normally I would get 30 so I technically expect 30 at the
minimum.
[00:06:11.15] Interviewer: Sa Finstagram?
[00:06:13.00] Albert: Sa Finstagram, how much I usually get? Parang like, 10 or 8? Pero
I don't really count it. I don't really care. In my Finstagram it's more on who liking the
photo not the number of people liking it.
[00:06:28.10] Interviewer: I see. So given these, yung motivation mo in using Instagram
and Finstagram, how do you see your image on Instagram?
[00:06:41.03] Albert: Obviously--
[00:06:45.26] Interviewer: Or how do you see yourself?
[00:06:48.25] Albert: Yeah, parang whatever you post is like how you wanna present
yourself to the world so...
[00:06:54.20] Interviewer: Could you describe that image?
[00:06:56.04] Albert: Wala, I post a lot of my gym, boxing photos parang I want people
to know na 'yun nga, I'm a fighter and I post pictures of my friends as well. Like, I've
posted enough for people who are familiar with my close circle of friends na. And I also
post, I also have this running pose where I don't really smile. Parang, gets?
[00:07:29.19] Interviewer: Edgy?
[00:07:29.19] Albert: Yeah, in a way. Like, ironically, yeah, edgy.
[00:07:34.09] Interviewer: Sa Finstagram naman, how do you want to see yourself? Or
how do you see youself?
[00:07:39.11] Albert: I mean my Finstagram is pretty much who I am really am, you
know. I'm really topak like, I post a lot of stupid pictures na there's just dunking my head
into a toilet. There's one of me just blinding myself with a lamp. Wala, I just post
whatever. I really couldn't care less about how I look on my Finsta.
[00:08:06.01] Interviewer: Yung image na iyon, on Instagram and Finstagram, is that
how you want to see yourself? 'Yun ba yung image na gusto mong ipakita sa iba? Parang,
using your posts, do you think you've successfully established that image na nakikita mo
sa sarili mo on your Instagram and on your Finstagram?
[00:08:24.15] Albert: I'd like to think so, yeah. Uhm, it's kind of like how I really am in
person talaga. Like obviously, what I'll show to everyone who I don't really know is, yun
nga, I'm this guys who don't really smile, I'm a boxer, and all that. Pero if you get to
know me well, if you become close with me, yun nga, you'll realize that I have a sense of
humor and have topak and all that.
[00:08:52.17] Interviewer: Do you have this idea kung ano ang tingin sa'yo ng tao? Like,
'di ba nasabi mo na you see yourself as a boxer therefore you post photos na nasa gym ka
or something. How do you think people see you? Do you think matched ba yung ideal
image na nakikita mo sa sarili mo and then there's a match sa self mo na nakikita ng
ibang tao?
[00:09:25.18] Albert: Uhm, yeah. I ask my friends before and my blocmates parang, yun
nga, their impression of me is, parang, nakakatakot daw.
[00:09:36.24] Interviewer: Because of the boxing ba?
[00:09:37.29] Albert: Yeah, parang, there's this one time na I jokingly told my blocmate,
you know when you jokingly say na "suntukan na lang". Parang, I said that as a joke and
I really don't want to hurt anyone. Yun nga, I said na "Uy, joke lang 'yun, bro". Parang, I
was trying to diffuse the situation. It wasn't you know, serious. Tapos 'yun, I guess, if you
really post something and then if people see it enough then they'll believe it. Yeah, that's
how I feel.
[00:10:08.27] Interviewer: Okay.
[00:10:16.01] Albert: Well yeah, I guess it does match... how I project myself and how
other people think of me. At least, to most of everyone.
[00:10:23.19] Interviewer: When you say everyone, is it in your circle of friends or
parang, the general public na nakikita mo everyday?
[00:10:31.21] Albert: Yeah, I guess the general public. 'Cause I have a select few friends
lang.
[00:10:39.14] Interviewer: Ito ba yung mga people na, you want to see the image you
established sa Finstagram mo?
[00:10:51.09] Albert: Ah, no. Haha. Well that depends rin. I don't know, personally I'm
really selective with who I choose to be friends with. So.. uhm...
[00:11:06.25] Interviewer: So you wouldn't let the general public, the one we talked
about, to see your Finstagram or would you let them?
[00:11:12.10] Albert: I wouldn't be okay with it. It's not that I'm insecure of who I really
am. It's not that I'm shy to show people na 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. So... that's it.
[00:11:47.03] Interviewer: I see. There's this different audiences sa Instagram at sa
Finstagram mo. So given na medyo iba yung image sa Instagram at sa Finstagram mo, do
you see yourself na parang, naiipit ka sa gitna ng images na yun? Parang, this is the
image that I want but this is the image they want, so I had to make a compromise.
[00:12:31.11] Albert: Not really. Parang, kase, whatever I'm projecting is my choice
naman e, no one's holding a gun to my head telling me how to act. So, parang, wala, I just
like having a Finstagram and Instagram because I get to show two sides of myself to two
different kinds of groups. And yeah, I don't feel like I'm being torn between two
personalities naman so it's just, working in unison I guess. It's what I'm trying to say. It's
fine.
[00:13:04.28] Interviewer: I see. Okay so, we're done with the first part. The second or
the last part I'm gonna show you a few posts that you made sa iyong mga Instagram
accounts and you're gonna answer a few questions lang.
[00:13:24.02] Interviewer: This is a picture of you sitting on a car, smiling widely to the
camera, so dito, ano yung message the gusto mo ishare by posting this picture? This is on
your Instagram e.
[00:13:44.28] Albert: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:44.28] Interviewer: But you said kanina you don't really smile on pictures, but
here, what message? Parang, ano ang expect mong makukuha ng tao out of seeing this
picture?
[00:13:50.02] Albert: Uhm, wala, kase most of everyone I know they keep saying,
"Albert, you should smile more" so parang I guess I'm posting that as some kind of a
joke, like a response na "okay I'm gonna try and smile more in front of the camera" so...
[00:14:11.17] Interviewer: You posted this.
[00:14:11.17] Albert: Yeah.
[00:14:13.27] Interviewer: So do you want them to like, be happy, ganon? Or like, just to
satisfy them?
[00:14:18.27] Albert: Not really. Parang, it's just, uhm, parang, also everyone's been
posting like a new year's picture so..
[00:14:29.02] Interviewer: Ah, this is a new year's picture?
[00:14:30.13] Albert: Yeah, yeah. And, wala, uhm, I guess yeah like, to show people I
can smile. Haha. I have a soul.
[00:14:44.22] Interviewer: Okay, so, kase 'di ba if you wanna show na you can smile, you
can just post a selfie of you smiling. So why did you choose this pose, this angle. And
then the post-edit, I believe you post-edited this.
[00:15:02.18] Albert: Yeah.
[00:15:02.18] Interviewer: You put a filter on it para ma-boost yung contrast. So why did
you choose yung post na ito and then yung filter na medyo bright? Why not black and
white?
[00:15:14.19] Albert: Uhm, well I don't know. My sister took that pic because, wala, she
wanted to do a shoot daw so I said "okay". And parang, there's like aesthetic with sitting
on top of a car. Like you're some cool teenager, you know. So yeah, and for the filter,
wala, I just liked the color and making it colorful and vibrant, I guess, my pictures.
Parang I don't really like dark black and white photos. It's boring, it's 2019, we have
colored pictures, I don't know why people like black and white.
[00:15:53.08] Interviewer: Okay. Let's move on to another picture. This one, this is you
and your friend playing sa Trampoline Park.
Ano naman ang message na gusto mong ishare when you posted this one?
[00:16:30.17] Albert: Wala, uhm, first of all, it's a Star Wars reference. Who doesn't
watch Star Wars?
[00:16:44.10] Interviewer: Yeah, haha.
[00:16:44.10] Albert: I don't know, it looks like a colorful childish photo. And I guess I
wanna show rin na I can be, you know, childish. Also, it's just a Star Wars reference,
really. It's funny.
[00:16:59.04] Interviewer: So you're showing na you know about Star Wars?
[00:16:59.29] Albert: Yeah.
[00:17:03.08] Interviewer: How do you expect the audience to react to this? Do you want
them to like, "oh! Albert likes Star Wars!
[00:17:12.26] Albert: I guess they'd find it slightly funny and pretty amusing. And like, it
really does look like the Star Wars scene.
[00:17:19.17] Interviewer: Does that parang, parang do you think that the post-edit filter
also contribute? Kase you added contrast--
[00:17:27.15] Albert: Yes, it's more colorful.
[00:17:31.25] Interviewer: So last one, on your Instagram. This one, this is a black and
white photo of you looking somewhere then nasa gym ka.
[00:17:52.20] Albert: Right.
[00:17:52.20] Interviewer: So by posting this one, ano yung message na gusto mong
iparating by posting this black and white photo? Kase it's quite different sa previous
photos e. Yung iba colorful then this one black and white and you're not even smiling.
[00:18:13.02] Albert: That was from medyo before, I was still an angsty teenager, haha.
No, I just came from sparring there so parang, you know, the adrenaline was still there,
the testosterone is still there so, then parang, I don't know, I did good in that round so I
felt good about my myself. So, you know, to plow myself even more I took a selfie there.
Then I guess, the black and white is to show how gritty my sport is, I guess.
[00:18:52.00] Interviewer: So, ano naman yung gusto mong makita ng audience?
[00:18:57.11] Albert: Oh, like "oh Albert's a badass", haha.
[00:19:01.26] Interviewer: That's pretty straightforward.
[00:19:01.26] Albert: Yeah, haha.
[00:19:03.07] Interviewer: So, do you think yung pagka-black and white niya boosts
yung pagka-badass? Why not a colorful one?
[00:19:12.08] Albert: Wala, uhm. I don't know. I mean, black and white has always been
that aesthetic na serious tone, or yung parang gritty and dark tone. So I guess that's why.
And I think colorful would just like, defeat the purpose of the photo.
[00:19:32.22] Interviewer: Alright, let's go to posts on your Fintagram. This is a photo of
you staring right--
[00:19:57.06] Albert: Into a lamp.
[00:19:57.06] Interviewer: Into a lamp, yes. Actually, various lamps.
[00:20:02.24] Albert: That's the lamp then that's the sun, haha.
[00:20:05.21] Interviewer: And that is the ref? Haha. Basically this is you staring into
different sources of light. So, these are on your Fintagram, so ano naman ang message
ang gusto mong iparating sa inyong audiences?
[00:20:20.21] Albert: First of all, it's funny. I'd like to think this is funny. And nothing,
it's just that the idea of staring into the light for no reason, trying to blind yourself, I find
that funny. So, ayun.
[00:20:33.10] Interviewer: Basically you just want to post something funny.
[00:20:36.06] Albert: Yeah, yeah. Haha.
[00:20:39.17] Interviewer: How do you expect your audiences to react?
[00:20:45.08] Albert: Either... I mean, there are multiple reactions. Either they just find it
funny, or second, "what the fuck is he doing?". They'd get confused but like, amused at
the same time.
[00:20:58.10] Interviewer: Did you put filters on this?
[00:21:00.13] Albert: No, no. I just dump it as it is.
[00:21:04.21] Interviewer: So as in, pagkakuha mo as in post agad.
[00:21:05.20] Albert: Yeah.
[00:21:07.24] Interviewer: Nice. Okay, let's move onto the next post. So I believe you
posted a similar photo sa Instagram mo. It's you sitting on the floor.
[00:21:35.11] Albert: About to deadlift that really heavy bar.
[00:21:36.20] Interviewer: So why post the same thing on your Finstagram?
[00:21:41.25] Albert: I was actually parang I'm just testing it there, how it would look
like if I posted this on my main Instagram. That's why I posted it there first, parang to get
a feel of what it would look like to people who are just viewing it if ever.
[00:21:55.29] Interviewer: So parang, you wanted to test lang. Nauna 'to, bago yung sa
Instagram.
[00:21:59.10] Albert: Yeah, oo.
[00:21:59.10] Interviewer: Ano yung difference? Did you put a filter ba sa post po sa
Instagram?
[00:22:05.27] Albert: Both, Insta and Finsta. Same filter, it's the exact same photo. It's
just wanted to see how it would look like on the phone if ever.
[00:22:18.11] Interview: Yes, you posted this to test the water. Same lang rin ba yung
gusto mong maparating, like no different message? Like, sa pagpost nito, same lang ba
yung gusto mong mafeel ng audiences mo on both accounts?
[00:22:36.22] Albert: Hm, not really. Parang people are aware naman na I'm doing this to
test lang.
[00:22:44.06] Interviewer: Oh really?
[00:22:44.06] Albert: Yeah, I changed the caption. But like the first caption before was
yun nga "testing lang". Then parang, there's the expectation na "okay, they're not obliged
to like it, it's me just posting whatever. I'm just testing it lang". So ayun.
[00:23:03.29] Interviewer: I see. Why aren't you smiling here?
[00:23:13.04] Albert: 'Cause I'm about to lift weight, haha.
[00:23:14.18] Interviewer: I mean, you can smile 'di ba while lifting weights.
[00:23:20.26] Albert: I guess it just adds to the edgy-ness. 'Cause it's really heavy
weights.
[00:23:24.03] Interviewer: Nice, okay. Isa pa. Let's go onto the last one. Okay, so this is
you holding a Resident Evil 2 poster.
[00:23:55.09] Albert: Yeah, I love that game.
[00:23:55.23] Interviewer: Yeah, haha. Yes, I actually know. It's you smiling and is this
post-edited?
[00:24:03.19] Albert: No.
[00:24:03.19] Interviewer: No, this is not. So, why did you post this on your Finstagram?
[00:24:09.17] Albert: 'Cause, wala, on my Facebook kase there are alot of, this is before
Resident Evil 2 came out, I was really excited for that game so I just kept sharing post
about it and any kind of news. And wala, I'm sure people knew that I was obsessed with
this game. It has a special place in my heart. I just posted that on my Finsta because I
wanted to show everyone I got a cool poster.
[00:24:39.26] Interviewer: So why not on your Instagram then? I mean, mas malaki
audience mo sa Instagram.
[00:24:42.05] Albert: Yeah, but parang, it's not really Instagram-material.
[00:24:47.18] Interviewer: How can you say that?
[00:24:49.14] Albert: Because the main subject of the photo is like a poster, so parang it
wasn't really, it's no different than just Googling the poster, searching the Facebook page
of the game so, parang it kinda defeats the purpose. It's also, I don't know, personally I
think na for your Instagram, the main subject has to be you. Either you or your friends,
basta not a game.
[00:25:24.28] Interviewer: I see. Even though it's something you like.
[00:25:27.01] Albert: Yeah, yeah. Parang, like I said, there's this standard na you have to
follow, I guess, when you're posting on Instagram. Parang, you don't really see people
post posters. Unless you can make it look aesthetic. Siguro if you are standing in front of
a thousand posters, maybe yeah.
[00:25:49.26] Interviewer: So you believe that this photo is not aesthetic enough for
Instagram?
[00:25:54.02] Albert: Yeah.
[00:25:54.02] Interviewer: Even though you know na people know that you like RE2
because you share alot on Facebook?
[00:26:02.19] Albert: Yeah.
[00:26:03.18] Interviewer: Okay. So, do you have anything more to say about this photo?
[00:26:11.23] Albert: No, not really.
[00:26:16.18] Interviewer: Okay, ito last na. For our last photo, ano yung message na
gusto mong iparating by posting a photo of you sleeping on the bed under some pillows?
[00:26:42.25] Albert: Okay, actually the person who took it was my Mom. I was
sleeping. I sleep with my dogs sometimes. And my pugs, wala they just look stupid.
[00:26:57.16] Interviewer: Oh, okay.
[00:26:59.02] Albert: Like they're so fat and if you look at the pug, like you can't see his
arms kase he dug it inside the pillows. Wala, it just looks funny. Me sleeping there and
I'm surrounded by big fat dogs.
[00:27:18.02] Interviewer: So like, you want to make your audience laugh.
[00:27:21.03] Albert: I just wanted to share it. It made me laugh, so I guess I wanted to
make them laugh. Parang, when I saw it, it's funny because I didn't know they took that
until when I woke up. Yun nga, parang, it made me laugh so I figured na it'll make them
laugh. Because you know, pugs are stupid.
[00:27:38.20] Interviewer: So you didn't care about anything else like...
[00:27:42.11] Albert: That they could see my boxers?
[00:27:43.04] Interviewer: Yes, the boxers, haha.
[00:27:45.10] Albert: No, I didn't care.
[00:27:47.08] Interviewer: Alright. So that ends our interview. Thank you so much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
B. Bobby
[00:00:42.07] Bobby: I'm Bobby, 20 years old, from San Beda College Alabang.
[00:00:50.00] Interviewer: Let's start. For the first question, how long have you been
using Instagram?
[00:00:55.22] Bobby: Hmm, around 2013, I would say. Or 2012.
[00:01:10.13] Interviewer: How long have you been using Finstagram?
[00:01:12.23] Bobby: It's been less than a year.
[00:01:18.08] Interviewer: Like, at around last August 2018? Like Albert?
[00:01:20.03] Bobby: Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:14.16] Interviewer: So how did you find out about Finstagram?
[00:01:24.00] Bobby: I knew about people had dump accounts like, it just started coming
in recently. Like, not over a year ago. Not more than a year. And then, parang, I was like
"oh why did people have this" and I was like "oh it's for, it's just to dump stuff". So I was
like "oh okay, Albert (friend) made one" so yeah.
[00:01:43.22] Interviewer: So nauna sa'yo si Albert?
[00:01:46.20] Bobby: Yes, nauna siya.
[00:01:46.20] Interviewer: Ano yung nag-appeal sa'yo... what attracted you into making
your own Finsta account?
[00:01:51.01] Bobby: I guess, like, because in your main account, uhm, there's some
standards that na you want na "oh, the pictures have to be nice" but the people who
follow you it can be a relative. But in Finsta that's like you can only accept their close
friends ganon. And they could just see like, parang unfiltered version of you.
[00:02:21.13] Interviewer: How can you elaborate "unfiltered"?
[00:02:25.05] Bobby: Like, uhm, 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.
[00:02:43.07] Interviewer: So basically your Instagram follows a certain aesthetic? Did
you set a certain aesthetic?
[00:02:49.03] Bobby: No. In my main one, not really. It's just... a lot of my followers,
some of them are not really my close friends so I don't wanna make baboy.
[00:03:00.13] Interviewer: Oh okay.
[00:03:00.13] Bobby: So 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.
[00:03:16.16] Interviewer: So you're not maintaining a certain aesthetic, you're not
adherring to a standard?
[00:03:19.23] Bobby: No.
[00:03:19.23] Interviewer: But you just care about what other people might think--
[00:03:24.06] Bobby: If it's mababoy. It's basically just how I present myself online.
[00:03:29.28] Interviewer: How do you present yourself online? Like, what is this image
you think--
[00:03:36.09] Bobby: Well, I don't really post a lot, but, I don't know, like a minimalist? I
barely post e.
[00:03:46.22] Interviewer: Minimalist. Like...
[00:03:48.26] Bobby: Like my pictures aren't full of filters, sometimes I just post without
a filter.
[00:03:57.02] Interviewer: This is on Instagram?
[00:03:57.02] Bobby: Yeah, on Instagram. Like, very little effort. If it's okay with me, I
think it's okay to post.
[00:04:06.17] Interviewer: But, ano yung difference niya sa pag-post mo sa Finstagram?
[00:04:12.28] Bobby: You can...
[00:04:18.03] Interviewer: Like why? Kung you can say na parang, you want yourself to
be minimalist, tapos unfiltered yung mga... in a way, wala kang ginagamit ng visual
filters sa posts mo sa Instagram, what's the difference sa Finstagram mo?
[00:04:40.15] Bobby: Like, okay, you can, I don't know. Peope who present themselves
online, they're trying to save themselves e. What Finsta does is that, it allows a person's...
he's free to post on his main account, because it's his account. His standards are his
standards but the Finsta allows you to just like, post regardless of what it is. And then it's
just close friends, you don't have your relatives judging you, you don't have you
blocmates who follow you.
[00:05:49.16] Interviewer: So that's how you differentiate it. Okay, ano yung nafe-feel
mo? What do you feel whenever you post on your main Instagram account?
[00:05:57.13] Bobby: Uhm, I'm concerned about the likes and who likes. But not as
concerned, like, I'm not super keen on "oh everyone has to like it". But like, compared to
my Finsta, I don't really care who likes it [Finsta]. And there's some times kase, I use my
Finsta for.. there's certain restaurants kase that you.. there's like a promo you share it
online. So just use that to dump it there. Then I show them that I posted it.
[00:06:31.20] Interviewer: Sa Finstagram?
[00:06:31.20] Bobby: Yeah. So they think that "oh I posted it online, it's being shared
online publicly". So I get the discount. But then after, I just delete it.
[00:06:46.05] Interviewer: Kanina 'di ba nabanggit mo na medyo may pake ka sa likes.
Sa reaction ng tao. Do you have a certain number?
[00:06:54.18] Bobby: Uhm, if it's around over 40 then that's okay.
[00:06:58.21] Interviewer: 'Yun yung acceptable sa'yo?
[00:06:59.14] Bobby: Yeah, yeah.
[00:07:01.06] Interviewer: Pero sa Finstagram?
[00:07:03.26] Bobby: It doesn't have to be anything. I only have like 13 followers? 11?
[00:07:10.18] Interviewer: And that's composed of your very close friends?
[00:07:12.24] Bobby: Very close friends or people who have Finstas also. Like people
who have Finstas follow other people who have Finstas.
[00:07:19.04] Interviewer: Pero itong mga followers na 'to, is within your close--
[00:07:22.12] Bobby: No, not really. Some of them are just like, I just followed them,
parang I know them naman. So I'm okay with them seeing me... what I post on Finsta.
[00:07:35.02] Interviewer: So parang you can say na there's this network of Finstagram
users na?
[00:07:40.04] Bobby: They're interested also in seeing like the other side of what... like
the other side. It's like "oh hey, I'll show you this if you show me yours". So it's like an
exchange.
[00:08:00.23] Interviewer: So basically yung mga followers mo and yung mga fina-
follow mo sa Finstagram, it's not just your very close circle of friends.
[00:08:08.22] Bobby: No, it's like people who want to get to know me more. And then I
follow people on Finsta who I want to get to know more.
[00:08:14.03] Interviewer: How do you choose the photos on your Instagram and
Finstagram? Like, this photo goes to my Instagram, this goes to my Finsta...
[00:08:22.08] Bobby: Well, like, one of the... well, 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. And with my Finstagram, it doesn't have to be my
picture. I can just post a picture of my bestfriend Albert's face. Something like that. It
doesn't necessarily have to be me but it's just something I'm sharing. Like... Finsta to me
is kinda like a mini-Meme place.
[00:09:13.19] Interviewer: Of you?
[00:09:13.19] Bobby: Of me, yeah and people who are close to me. That's why people
make Finsta to kinda like dump what they don't post on their main.
[00:09:32.15] Interviewer: So do you have a specific image na you want you to show on
your Instagram? Na since sinasabi mo nga kanina 'di ba, na what you post on your
Instagram are pictures of your hobbies, of your friends, and of your loved ones. So with
that, parang do you have an ideal image na gusto mong ipakita sa followers mo? For
example, Albert kanina want to show na he's a fighter using his Instagram posts. Ikaw,
how about you?
[00:10:14.28] Bobby: Well, I don't necessarily shove it down everyone's throat na this is
what I do, uhm, 'cause with the audience that I follow, I can't share as much as I want
about what I do because it's not something they can appreciate. So, I guess, I don't know,
I post an idea so it kinda makes me look a little bit more interesting outside. Like, 'cause
in school I don't really have friends, uhm, my only friends are you guys. Uhm, I've very
little friends in school. People that I just kinda like, talk to if I need a group, but not
necessarily hang out with. And then, so yun, everyone thinks that I'm a __ and I guess
with the main Instagram, I get to show like how interesting I can be, or that I'm not just
dollar on my ass.
[00:11:23.18] Interviewer: So what about on Finstagram?
[00:11:26.11] Bobby: On Finsta... I guess what I try to do on Finsta is make it funny in a
way that the followers of my Finsta kinda get a good laugh on it.
[00:11:49.16] Interviewer: So do you think the images na you set for your Instagram and
Finsta... they're both sides of Bobby or do you think may isa sa kanila na mas malapit sa
totoong personality mo?
[00:12:03.25] Bobby: I guess my Finsta shows a little bit more of me than my main one.
[00:12:26.10] Interviewer: How can you say?
[00:12:26.10] Bobby: Because, like, I'm very reserved. I don't... like, a lot of people... I
don't really want a lot of people to know exactly who I am because I don't want na... I
don't want the prejudice.
[00:12:50.28] Interviewer: So yung Finsta yung mas malapit sa...
[00:12:54.21] Bobby: A little bit, yeah. But it's not too far from the main Instagram.
[00:13:02.01] Interviewer: Parang, you feel na mas truthful ka sa Finstagram?
[00:13:07.25] Bobby: Uhm, it's not that I'm not truthful sa Instagram.
[00:13:09.23] Interviewer: Yeah, pero mas truthful? Parang you feel na--
[00:13:15.10] Bobby: Not truthful pero more one free? Uhm, yeah.
[00:13:23.18] Interviewer: Do you think na the images na sinet mo on both of your
accounts, 'yun din yung nakikita ng mga tao?
[00:13:31.17] Bobby: Like when they look at me?
[00:13:31.29] Interviewer: Yeah, oo. Do you think you've successfully set those images?
[00:13:37.22] Bobby: I think so, yeah. Like, a lot of people were surprised to watch or
see some of my photos, na "oh, this is what you do" and then so yeah... And then, on my
Finsta, I'm more... unfiltered version na only certain people could see.
[00:14:05.20] Interviewer: So without the idea of people looking into your Instagram and
Finstagram, how do you think people see you? Wait I will rephrase, do you feel that
people expect something from you? Ano sa tingin mo ang tingin ng tao na ikaw?
[00:14:19.27] Bobby: Uhm, I think it's something like I'm quite, I don't talk a lot in
school, someone said nga I don't laugh e. So, ayun. That's what I think they think of me,
if they don't look me up.
[00:15:03.06] Interviewer: So you think, yung Instagram and Finstagram accounts mo,
they break those--
[00:15:08.05] Bobby: They break it in a way that "oh hey, maybe he's not just some
lonely, quiet guy. There, it's just... ayun. I'm very selective of what I do with the people
I'm around like when I'm in school, I'm kinda closed 'cause I don't really want to interact
with anyone. Uhm, but if it's with you guys [close friends] I'm fine. Yeah...
[00:15:46.21] Interviewer: So do you think ba, sometimes, sa image na tahimik si Bobby,
and then image na gusto mo sabihin na "hey, I'm interesting" do you feel sometimes na
naiipit ka sa dalawang iyon? Therefore na parang you think na may need ka to
compromise?
[00:16:02.01] Bobby: I'm not really, I'm more concerned with how I see myself rather
than how others see me. Like, that's what I'm first concerned with. Other people's
opinions, some of it I couldn't care less, especially if it's not eye-to-eye with mine. So
there, as long as it's good enough for me, that's good enough for me. It doesn't bother me
if it's not...
[00:16:44.05] Interviewer: You think naman na nasa-satisfy ka naman ng Instagram and
Finstagram with that?
[00:16:47.08] Bobby: Uhm, in a way, yeah.
[00:16:53.29] Interviewer: Do you have anything more to say?
[00:16:56.04] Bobby: Not much.
[00:16:59.29] Interviewer: Okay, so that's the first part. Then go onto the last part, the
second part. In this part, I'm going to show you a few posts that you made and then I'm
going to ask you a few questions. So on your main Instagram, this is a picture of you and
your Mom in Tagaytay. And this is for her birthday, so posting this,.. wait, did you use
filter on this?
[00:17:30.28] Bobby: No, there's no filter there.
[00:17:34.09] Interviewer: Okay so, what is the message that you want to convey by
posting this picture?
[00:17:38.23] Bobby: Like, it's my mom's birthday.
[00:17:43.22] Interviewer: That the purpose, but what is the message na gusto mong
iparating?
[00:17:46.03] Bobby: Hm, na I guess we went to Highlands. 'Cause highlands is not
really a place alot of people go to. So, uhm...
[00:18:04.04] Interviewer: Hence the location tag...
[00:18:04.04] Bobby: Yeah, a little bit of bragging, ganon.
[00:18:10.23] Interviewer: Oh, that's the message. Okay, so how do you expect your
audience to react to this? Like, what do you want to make them feel? What do you
expect?
[00:18:25.09] Bobby: I want them to be like, "hey, he loves his mom. Oh wow, he goes
here". So it looks a little bit more interesting than just another day.
[00:18:39.18] Interviewer: Kanina nabanggit mo na wala itong post-edit of some sort, so
why so? I mean some people would increse the contrast or something.
[00:18:50.09] Bobby: Well, for me, the picture itself look pretty okay already. Uhm, like,
I didn't think that it needed to be edited so I was like, "Alright, then that's good enough".
[00:19:02.28] Interviewer: Wala ka namang fina-follow na theme?
[00:19:04.04] Bobby: No, no.
[00:19:07.23] Interviewer: Okay that's the first picture. The second one is... this one, a pic
of your eating in a korean barbeque. So is this an edited pic?
[00:19:23.23] Bobby: No, my girlfriend edited that.
[00:19:24.25] Interviewer: Oh, okay.
[00:19:28.00] Bobby: Nowadays, usually she edits my pictures.
[00:19:29.21] Interviewer: Ah, okay.
[00:19:31.17] Bobby: 'Cause I don't really have a... I can't really edit well.
[00:19:37.22] Interviewer: So ano naman yung message na gusto mong i-convey by
posting this picture?
[00:19:41.07] Bobby: Na I'm eating in a korean barbeque place. First of all, that place
was really expensive.
[00:19:51.28] Interviewer: This place?
[00:19:51.28] Bobby: Yeah, in molito.
[00:19:56.08] Interviewer: How much?
[00:19:56.18] Bobby: We spent like 3 grand.
[00:20:02.25] Interviewer: How was the taste though? haha.
[00:20:02.25] Bobby: It's okay. It's not even unli. And then, na wala, it's obvious that I'm
on a date with someone which is my girlfriend. That's it.
[00:20:25.01] Interviewer: So basically to show na you're with someone and then you're
eating korean barbeque. How did you expect your audiences to react to this?
[00:20:34.03] Bobby: A picture of him-- 'cause I usually don't post... there are only some
pictures of just me. So I guess, it's just him. He's not with another person or a group.
[00:20:54.25] Interviewer: While taking this picture, were you aware that your girlfriend
was taking a picture?
[00:21:00.24] Bobby: No, I was not. I was waiting for the food.
[00:21:07.20] Interviewer: Did she take a picture of you smiling?
[00:21:09.28] Bobby: Uhm, she did when I saw na... when I realized na she was taking a
picture and then wala, that's it. Pero that picture is not on the post.
[00:21:21.28] Interviewer: Why did you choose na ito pa rin ang ipost? Rather than the
other one?
[00:21:26.17] Bobby: Well, that was the only one that looked good. The others looked
like... the lighting seemed off, my face... ganon. So I was like, "Okay, that pic was okay".
[00:21:41.17] Interviewer: Alright. Next one is this one, the latest picture. This one is for
Valentine's. It's a picture of you and your girlfriend in Checkmat. And what is the
message behind this?
[00:21:58.23] Bobby: Well, the message, obviously is Valentine's.
[00:22:04.09] Interviewer: But why the place? I mean, pwede naman kayo magpicture sa
ibang place.
[00:22:09.08] Bobby: I guess it's also unique in a way na parang na "Oh, people go on
dates" but what me and my girlfriend did, obviously because we're both preparing for
competition, even though it's Valentine's, we trained. Uhm, and yun, that's the message
na I want to convey and also, na parang to show off na "Oh hey, my girlfriend does this
too and it's pretty badass".
[00:22:35.18] Interviewer: So did you edited this?
[00:22:36.27] Bobby: Uhm, she did.
[00:22:40.25] Interviewer: Alright, I mean, wala ka bang say?
[00:22:45.28] Bobby: I tell her na "Oh, what's your best edit?".
[00:22:50.18] Interviewer: Did you set to pose for this like, "Hey, let's pose for a picture".
[00:22:56.20] Bobby: Uhm, no. She wanted that pose. And then the other poses were, I
don't know, mandatory Valentine's pose.
[00:23:10.15] Interviewer: What's with the mandatory Valentine's pose?
[00:23:16.03] Bobby: Like, "Oh, a picture of us together and what we're doing on
Valentine's".
[00:23:20.20] Interviewer: Okay, so that's the message of that post. So after asking you
about pictures on your main Instagram, let's move on to your Finstagram. This one, so
this is a picture of your bestfriend, Albert, screaming. So what is the message behind this
post?
[00:23:47.22] Bobby: I don't know, honestly. It's a funny picture of Albert, 'cause that's
actually a video. It's a video of him yelling and then I just screenshot his face screaming,
then I was like, "okay I'll put this on my Finsta". On my Finsta, I don't really think about
what I'm posting. It's just like, "Oh, it's there" and no really particular purpose or message
I'm trying to send.
[00:24:22.27] Interviewer: So, how do you want your audience to react to this? I mean,
since you found this funny.
[00:24:32.23] Bobby: It's a pretty funny picture of Albert, yeah. That's it.
[00:24:39.05] Interviewer: You want to just show na it's funny therefore "I will share
this".
[00:24:43.28] Bobby: Yeah.
[00:24:43.28] Interviewer: Okay. What about this one.
[00:24:55.13] Bobby: Okay, uhm...
[00:25:03.10] Interviewer: This is a picture of you and Bruno, your dog.
[00:25:12.15] Bobby: That's actually a picture that I just send to me and my friends'
group chat on Facebook. And then I was like, I look pretty okay and Bruno's pretty cute.
So I'm like, "okay, it's not like main Instagram-worthy". It's just worthy enough to share
with a small audience which is my Finsta followers.
[00:25:30.18] Interviewer: Could you elaborate on the fact na you don't think this is IG-
worthy?
[00:25:41.26] Bobby: The quality is not good, like if you've noticed in the posts that I use
on my main Instagram, it's usually the back camera of my phone 'cause that's the more
clear one. The front camera is not as clear so it kinda looks a little off. So obviously if I
wanna post a picture on my main, I want it to have quality.
[00:26:16.01] Interviewer: So you're considering yung quality as one of the difference na
gusto mo.
[00:26:24.17] Bobby: Yeah.
[00:26:24.17] Interviewer: Alright. This is a video of Albert doing random stuff.
[00:26:44.06] Bobby: Yeah, he was mimicking the one of the Planet of the Ape movies.
Uhm, I just thought it's funny. 'Cause, I don't know.
[00:27:00.04] Interviewer: You just think it's funny.
[00:27:00.04] Bobby: Yeah, it's like really random. No message in particular that I wanna
convey.
[00:27:11.16] Interviewer: So basically, lahat ng posts mo sa Finsta, is just because.
[00:27:13.14] Bobby: Just because, yeah.
[00:27:15.03] Interviewer: Then you find it funny so you had to post it.
[00:27:17.09] Bobby: Yeah.
[00:27:19.18] Interviewer: And then you think na they're IG-worthy.
[00:27:20.14] Bobby: No, no.
[00:27:21.14] Interviewer: Okay, ayun. So that is the end of our interview. So debriefing
lang, how do you feel after the interview?
[00:27:47.28] Bobby: No naman. The questions, a little personal, pero it's nothing I'm
uncomfortable answering. Yeah. There's some answers that I had to think about, I'm like
"huh, why kaya?" and "what's the reason behind this". And then it kinda helped me
realize some "why?" or what exactly I'm doing.
[00:28:29.15] Interviewer: Thank you so much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
C. Daniella
[00:00:56.28] Interviewer: Please state your name, your age, and your school.
[00:00:57.15] Daniella: I'm Daniella, 18 years old, from UPD.
[00:01:08.04] Interviewer: How long have you been using Instagram?
[00:01:12.29] Daniella: I think I started nung mga 2015, when I was in Grade 10. Junior
high.
[00:01:32.05] Interviewer: Ano yung nag-pull sa'yo into using Instagram?
[00:01:36.23] Daniella: I'm a social media person din kase, tapos, I'm in a large circle of
friends. Tapos na-pull nila ako na mag-Instagram kase they always use it, like mas nauna
sila before me so the fact na halos lahat ng friends ko gumagamit, so why not ako din.
Tapos 'yun nagstart na ako mag-Instagram posting first ko mga selfies ko muna kase 'yun
yung with filters pa nung old IG stuff. Tapos I think it was also the time na sumikat rin
yung Twitter so parang, yung social media nung mga junior high ako or grade school 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 college na bloc-mate
forever. Like, it changes so parang it's a way to update talaga yung mga nangyayari sa
life.
[00:02:50.20] Interviewer: Would you say na it's a better way of updating your friends
than Facebook?
[00:02:54.22] Daniella: Yeah, kase sa Instagram and Twitter, I think more on friends
talaga yung mga followers mo kaysa sa Facebook na it's so open. Like, kahit
acquaintance mo you can add them ganon pati your relatives so mas free yung content na
nilalabas ko sa Instagram and more on me talaga kaysa sa Facebook na may kailangan
akong i-limit kase friends ako with relatives ko so bawal ako magpost ng too showy
pictures or something like that.
[00:03:28.16] Interviewer: So how about Finstagram? When did you start using
Finstagram?
[00:03:32.10] Daniella: I started Finstagram last year lang. Actually, before mismo
magstart yung school year. Uhm, yeah. Napush akong mag-Finstagram kase my friends
too have Finstagram rin tapos parang it's interesting kase yung mga Finstagram nila super
deep yung mga caption, super detailed kung anong nangyayari sa day nila. And like I
said, Instagram and Twitter is used for updating yung friends mo, so parang it's a way
parang mas public yung posts mo pero yung mga followers mo yung mga talagang tina-
trust mong people. So parang it was a way na kaysa message mo sila isa-isa, na "hey,
nandito ako", parang it was a way para mas mabilis mong makwento kung anong
nangyayari sa'yo to a larger group of people.
[00:04:31.10] Interviewer: Ano yung purpose ng Finstagram mo ngayon? Kase parang
you said na it's a way of updating other people so what's the difference between the
purpose of your Finstagram to your Instagram?
[00:04:50.08] Daniella: If you compare yung accounts, mas maraming followers yung
main account and naka-public 'yun. Compared sa Finstagram ko, like, yung icon ko that's
not me. It's a secret account talaga reserve for my trusted people lang.
[00:05:05.16] Interviewer: So talagang salang-sala yung followers mo dun.
[00:05:08.04] Daniella: Kase parang when I use m Finstagram, mas free talaga yun
content ko kahit sinasabi ko na mas free nga yung Instagram, like the fact na nagkaroon
ng dump account parang napapakita ko talaga kung anong ginagawa ko. When you see
my highlights like nandyan lahat, I do blogs, as in hindi ako nahihiya na maglabas ng
kahit anong content na sinesend ko lang dapat personally sa messages. Nalalagay ko na
siya sa dump kase yung mga followers ko naman, hindi ako nahihiya na ipakita yun.
[00:05:47.05] Interviewer: So 'di ba yung audience mo sa Facebook kanina are relatives,
acquaintances, yung parang, the general public kumbaga.
[00:00:00.00] Interviewer: So yung instagram mo, yung audience mo dun is medyo,
medyo public din in a way pero yung sa Finstagram mo as in yung talagang chosen
people lang na, dating na pini- na yung parang, yung people na you share yung lahat ng
adventures mo ganun?
[00:00:18.07] Daniella: Yeah
[00:00:18.15] Interviewer: Like something na you wouldn't share to some acquaintance
or your family ganun?
[00:00:23.06] Daniella: Oo. Di ba like sa kunwari sa Instagram meron ng feature na
"Closed friends list" sa story. Parang it's like that. Close friends list pero account talaga
mismo. Kasi parang I'm not comfortable na sharing kunwari yung mga vlogs ko sa
everyone.
[00:00:49.15] Interviewer: Okay so whenever you post naman on Instagram, your main
Instagram account, how do you feel, parang do you have any expectations or do you feel
na eto na ganun
[00:01:00.17] Daniella: Syempre like, you know, there's uhm pressure na kailangan
maayos yung feed
[00:01:06.05] Interviewer: or, maganda ka sa picture ganun.
[00:01:08.26] Daniella: Oo
[00:01:09.11] Daniella: And maayos yung picture like well- edited ganun. Tapos
siyempre tinitignan ko always yung updates na ilang likes na
[00:01:17.27] Interviewer: Oo, oo
[00:01:18.07] Daniella: 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?
[00:01:32.18] Interviewer: Attention
[00:01:32.28] Daniella: Siguro na parang, 'oh nasa beach siya, cool’. Parang ganun.
[00:01:37.21] Interviewer: Oo. So when you say likes, mga ilang likes yung naeexpect
mo na 'ah pag nare- pag nareach ko 'to or nalampasan ko I'm okay na ganun
[00:01:47.27] Daniella: Siguro like ano, a hundred thirty ganun
[00:01:50.14] Interviewer: Haha okay
[00:01:51.10] Daniella: Mga ganun
[00:01:50.20] Daniella: Okay. Ah okay haha. I see. Hundred thirty. So when you say
naman na dapat maganda yung feed ko, dapat maganda yung post ko, can, can you
elaborate? What is a beautiful or a pretty photo, an Instagram photo to you?
[00:02:08.01] Daniella: Pag di ba, parang kasi an Instagram account, yung mga popular
Instagram account, meron silang own feel to it? So parang gusto ko rin makagawa ng
instagram na when they see the post, alam na nila automatically na sa akin yung post?
Parang ganun
[00:02:26.23] Interviewer: I see
[00:02:26.25] Daniella: Like making my own identity talaga sa social media
[00:02:30.09] Interviewer: How do you see that identity then?
[00:02:32.24] Daniella: Yung ay-- yung identity ko?
[00:02:33.22] Interviewer: Oo, yung parang when I see this photo, 'Ah it's Daniella'. So
parang, ano yung image mo sa Fi- Instagram na--
[00:02:41.29] Daniella: Ako kasi yung person na nagpopost sa main Instagram na puro
mukha ko
[00:02:46.27] Interviewer: Ah okay haha
[00:02:48.05] Daniella: Kasi gusto ko, I'm, ano ba'to, gusto ko rin maging influencer kasi,
in the future, why not.
[00:02:55.26] Interviewer: Not bad. Hundred thirty na yung likes mo haha
[00:02:59.16] Daniella: Ayun parang wala, face ko, tapos, di ko alam, magan- basta
maganda ka dun sa photo na yun.
[00:03:08.27] Interviewer: Do you have a signature filter ganun or kind of edit ganun?
[00:03:13.21] Daniella: Low, always low contrast. Di ako macolor na tao. Like gusto ko
yung medyo minimalist na feel to it
[00:03:30.16] Interviewer: So that's Daniella on Instagram. So what about on Finstagram,
how do you feel naman. Parang what do you feel kapag nagpopost ka dun?
[00:03:42.10] Daniella: Parang wala na siya yung, wala na yung nasa isip ko na dapat
magandang filter as in yung photos ko diyan like, pic pic lang. LIke hindi ko na kailangan
iedit. As in like raw that's me talaga
[00:03:56.03] Interviewer: So di mo na ineedit yung pinopost sa Finstagram
[00:03:58.09] Daniella: No. Like kung ano yung andun, yun na yun. Tapos as much as
possible, gusto kong makaabot ng ten photos per post. Kasi yung Finstagram ko is a
daily... post something
[00:04:10.23] Interviewer: What's that in, in Finstagram
[00:04:11.24] Daniella: Oo. Like parang Feb. twenty e- Feb. ten, ito yung ginawa ko,
Feb. eleven, ito yung ginawa ko for the day. Feb. twelve ganun
[00:04:20.22] Interviewer: So it's a diary na rin of some sort.
[00:04:22.15] Daniella: Yeah. Pati, kahit update ng friends as well as keeping memories
na rin. Parang keeping track of what you did.
[00:04:30.21] Interviewer: Oo. So as in parang for the sake of posting lang yung, ipa- for
the sake of sharing and posting parang visual diary ganun?
[00:04:39.22] Daniella: Oo
[00:04:40.11] Interviewer: Oh I see. So parang how do you choose kung ano yung
makakarating sa Instagram mo and ano yung makakarating sa Finstagram mo? Kase ‘di
ba you take a lot of pictures within the day di ba. And how do you choose the, na ah “eto
yung sa Fins- Instagram ko, eto yung ieedit ko ngayon”.
[00:04:57.01] Daniella: Usually yung sa mga, sa main account na Instagram ko, yung
mga pics ko dun is as in pag may event or may pupuntahan ka talaga. As in if you're
going to Baguio, sige I need to have pics for my Instagram so mag popost ka talaga, mag
maayos kang damit ganun. For the dump account naman, as in kung ano lang talaga
ginawa ko today, kunwari nakasama kita, okay let's take a selfie ganun. May class tayo
sige selfie, kayo kasama ko today. Ganun. What I ate ganun.
[00:05:30.01] Interviewer: Oo. So you, you'd really take special photos for Instagram.
Parang a requirement, ah I need to show na I'm here, that I- I'm gonna post or ganun
[00:05:41.20] Interviewer: Okay so when posting on Instagram muna, parang uhm do you
think of how you're followers, ay I think you answered na based on likes, pero, uhm,
parang how do you think your followers would accept or react your photo. Parang what
exactly do you imagine them reacting when they see your photo?
[00:06:05.00] Daniella: Hindi naman sa famewhore... Gusto ko talaga like
nagcocomment sila na, 'oh my gosh ang ganda mo'. Parang ganun. Like kasi, ako I have
this feeling na kapag tumitingin sa bloggers ganun parang 'aww cute' parang ganun yung
feeling. Na parang gusto ko nakikita nila ko as someone na she has ano parang na, nice,
she has a nice life. Parang ganun. Parang ang interesting naman na pumupunta siya sa
ganito, or may ganun siyang trip
[00:06:41.02] Interviewer: I see. Sa Finstagram naman
[00:06:43.09] Daniella: Sa Finstagram, ano yung question ulit?
[00:06:45.10] Interviewer: Ay sorry. Yung ano parang, how do you see them reacting to
your Finstagram accounts?
[00:06:49.06] Daniella: I think, kasi ako as a person, very comedic siguro ako. So parang
pinapakita ko talaga sa Finstagram ko yung for example yung vlog na 'hey nandito kami
sa UPTC tapos ang tanga tanga namin'. Parang ganun, like wala parang when you're
updating your friends kasi parang you make it a point na ano yung ikwekwento mo sa
kanilang magpapasaya sa kanila. Parang ganun yung feel sa dump.
[00:07:21.00] Interviewer: Okay so wait. Pero sa instagram naman parang, sino yung
mga usual vloggers na, influencers na finofollow mo and you look up to
[00:07:31.00] Daniella: Okay uhm siguro si... si Kim, yung anong last name oh my gosh
[00:07:40.22] Interviewer: Kardashian?
[00:07:41.17] Daniella: No. Kim as in, asawa ni Jericho Rosales
[00:07:45.00] Interviewer: Ah. Kim Jones
[00:07:45.25] Daniella: Yeah. Kim Jones.
[00:07:46.15] Interviewer: Yeah she's so pretty
[00:07:47.05] Daniella: Yeah. Pati uhm not particularly na person pero kasi I'm into
fashion din so yung mga finofollow kong people is fashion people na hindi ko alam
talaga kung sino sila pero, yeah they have lots of followers parang ganun
[00:08:05.00] Interviewer: Parang uhm, iba ba yung set of people na finofollow mo sa
Finstagram mo and sa Instagram mo?
[00:08:11.20] Daniella: Yeah. Uhm sa dump, ay yeah sa Finstagram ko, like ang
finofollow ko lang talaga yung friends. Friends. Kung sino yung close tight friends
walang at all na celebrity as in zero. As in kapag makita mo yung followers ko, like same
following, followers. Kasi yun, parang mutual talaga kami. Sa main Instagram naman
siguro yung my inspiration for outfits, for makeup, uhm, or uhm pati mga artsy people na
parang okay, I want to... do this outfit someday. Parang ganun. Hair color ganun. Pati
yung mga mismong account ng tao.
[00:09:00.18] Interviewer: Do you think iba yung images na naeestablish mo or you want
to establish for yourself sa Instagram, di ba yung sa Instagram yung parang someone who
has a good life, passionable, pretty ganun. And then sa Finstagram yung medyo comedic
na adventurist type of gal, uhm, do you think, you successfully established in a way na
your audience see that of you? Parang yun ba yung image na nakikita na nila of you
[00:09:26.00] Daniella: Yeah I think. Yun na yung nakikita nila sa'kin. Like... parang
kapag di ba acquaintances finofollow ako sa main Instagram, kapag naging friends, siye-
siyempre darating kayo sa point na 'ano yung first impression mo sa'kin' ganyan ganyan.
Sasabihin nila, 'oh based on your Instagram'... Parang ganun. Like merong twitter game,
like sabihin nila 'hey you're so pretty' ganun, 'I saw your Instagram post', 'You seem
really fun'... Parang ganun yeah
[00:09:58.00] Interviewer: So yun yung nakikita nila, but do you think parang, parang
yung pagestablish mo ng image mo sa Instagram mo, do you think you're, do you think
that's what your audience expect of you? Kasi iba na yung nakikita nila, sa talagang
ineexpect nila. Do you think that's what they're expecting ganun?
[00:10:19.29] Daniella: I think so, yun na rin yung ineexpect nila. Kasi kapag uhm when
I consult my friends kung ano dapat yung ipost ko, parang sasabihin nila, 'oh very
Daniella' ganun or kung may hindi man very Daniella, 'oh bakit ang dark ng pic, hindi
yan for your feed'. Parang meron na silang ganung thought.
[00:10:42.07] Interviewer: Pag ganun ba, pag sinabi nila na 'ah, this is not uhm suitable
for your feed' yung photo ba na yun, parang do you intend, do you, do you usually post it
on Finstagram na lang?
[00:10:56.03] Daniella: Sig- if editable pa siya, as in, kung ibright ko pa yung colors,
tapos kapag di nagwork, yeah ilalagay ko lang siya sa dump.
[00:11:06.00] Interviewer: Hmm I see, I see, I see. Okay. So have you ever found
yourself na parang, have you ever caught yourself in the middle of what they expect of
you, and what you want na, na image mo? Gets ba, parang, parang do you, do you e-
parang have you ever made any compromise kasi parang, 'uh but they want me to look
like this, but I want to look like this. Therefore, eto na lang' ganun
[00:11:31.00] Daniella: I don't think so kasi feel ko parang nagmemeet kami halfway
kung ano yung gusto ko, yun din yung ineexpect nila sa akin. Parang ganun yung feel.
[00:11:41.00] Interviewer: How?
[00:11:42.30] Daniella: Hmm like parang, parang they accept who I am, feel ko... Feel ko
yung followers ko like kilala na nila ko based on my posts siguro. And parang alam na
nila yung content na ilalabas ko. Hindi naman siya nakakapressure at all... na I need to
think first kung ano yung magugustuhan nila. Feel ko kasi talaga nagmemeet talaga yung
kung ano yung gusto ko and kung ano yung ineexpect nila sa’kin
[00:12:14.05] Interviewer: So, so far do you have anymore uhm parang would you like to
share, before we end this first part, do you have anymore, anything to elaborate ba about
your Instagram or Finstagram. Parang do you have any theme ba sa Instagram mo?
[00:12:32.17] Daniella: Theme?
[00:12:33.02] Interviewer: Oo
[00:12:33.40] Daniella: Wala pretty, pretty lang
[00:12:36.00] Interviewer: Pretty, yeah, I mean, that’s, haha. Same? Char. Yeah
[00:12:41.25] Daniella: Kaya yung stories ko siguro like hindi, sa main Instagram. It’s
not totally wild, huh, I mean…
[00:12:54.00] Interviewer: This is on main Instagram?
[00:12:55.00] Daniella: Oo. Like kunwari sa dump. As in kung sisigaw, sisigaw ako. Like
or kung stressed ako, magvvlog ako na ‘hey guys, sobrang stressed ko na’. Ganun. Pero I
can’t post that sa main Instagram ko kasi feel, may, may certain feel pa rin na uhm
parang mas formal dapat sa main Instagram kaysa sa dump.
[00:13:21.00] Interviewer: Is it because of the expectations or parang maybe you think
that would collide, that would parang be opposite or different to the image that you desire
on—
[00:13:33.06] Daniella: Hmm like more on limit, I’m limiting my own self na parang
dapat, ito lang yung pinapakita ko sa certain people na were not yet in that level para
makita nila yung ganung ako.
[00:13:47.07] Interviewer: Gets. So we’re done with the first part, we will go to the last
part, the second part which is uhm parang talking about your posts sa Instagram mo pati
sa Finstagram. So I chose three photos on your Instagram, mamaya na yung sa
Finstagram. And I’m gonna ask you a few questions. Pero lahat naman ‘to hindi naman
‘to magpapakita sa thesis ko. I'll just describe them at most, but I won’t show them of
course. So this one, I hope you can see it.
[00:14:17.11] Daniella: Okay
[00:14:18.01] Interviewer: Okay, so this is a photo of you with your two friends and like
smiling, laughing ganun. So uhm could you, could you like tell me the story behind this
post on your Instagram account?
[00:14:31.25] Daniella: Okay uhm. Yung photo na yan taken siya sa parang Christmas
party hangout naming ng main barkada ko. Uhm yeah. Nagswimming kami together.
Pumunta kami sa beach
[00:14:48.01] Interviewer: So parang, what is the message that you want to say. Kasi di
ba every photo na we post parang there is like a hidden message. So what is the main, the
hidden message behind this photo?
[00:14:58.20] Daniella: Parang I’m a person kasi na very affectionate. So parang, ako as
a person pag nasama ako sa feed ng tao like kikiligin ako na ‘aww nasa feed ako’ ganun.
So parang it’s a way din na to show people na ‘hey guy-‘ kasi silang dalawa yung main
bestfriends ko talaga na, ‘hey kahit nagcollege na we’re still together’. Parang ganun and
parang wala I’m happy to be with them.
[00:15:28.26] Interviewer: I see. So uhm how do you parang for example, I’m your
audience. Parang how do you want me to react, how do you expect me to react pala?
Parang when I see it na oh, parang, what should I feel?
[00:15:41.10] Daniella: Feel ko like… hmm like… nafefeel ko na ‘hey, friends goals’
hashtag goals. Theyre still hanging out kahit iba’t ibang schools na sila and ang saya nila
tignan’ siguro yeah.
[00:16:02.24] Interviewer: Was this be-, was this candid? Or did you choose the, the
pose. ‘Oh dapat ganito tayo’ ganun
[00:16:09.30] Interviewer: Ah very candid siya. And then did you filter? Did you put a
filter on it?
[00:16:14.06] Daniella: Yeah. Uhm yung original photo niyan medyo plain lang siya. So
tinaasan ko yung warmness ng photo para mag add din ng feel na masaya.
[00:16:26.12] Interviewer: Ah. I see. Okay. So let’s go to the second picture. This one.
It’s a photo of you staring uhm straight into the camera and then you resting your head on
your hand, and I think you’re in Korea?
[00:16:41.17] Daniella: Yeah
[00:16:41.27] Interviewer: Yeah, of course. Okay. Uhm so could you like share the story
behind this picture naman and the message.
[00:16:50.10] Daniella: So nung July pumunta ako sa Korea parang celebration siya ng
18th birthday ko. And super, known kasi ako as Kpop stan. Ganun. So parang… hmm
since maganda yung lighting sa SM town, yeah, parang pinapakita ko diyan na as a
Kpop-er, like yan, may photo na EXO pati yung jog Andiyan yung favorite group ko, and
nandun din ako sa company.
[00:17:27.02] Interviewer: You took a picture haha
[00:17:29.00] Daniella: Ayun parang pinakita ko na, andito na ko! Parang like that and
I’m wala paganda lang ng post. Like I, siguro like sobrang daming shots niyan. Like may
happy and may sad. Like hindi naman siya to show na I’m happy. Siguro I chose that
picture based on kung ano yung pinakaokay na face ko.
[00:17:54.00] Interviewer: Okay. So yung filter na ginamit mo diyan is, or did you use a
filter, you just de- like decrease the contrast or—
[00:18:02.00] Daniella: Always increase brightness, decrease contrast, tapos konting
increase warmness.
[00:18:08.29] Interviewer: Oh. I see, I see. That’s your parang theme ganun. That’s how
you organize your feed. Okay. I see. So next photo, this one. This, this time naman, eto
yung parang one of the rare photos na parang you’re not there. Pero uhm it’s a picture of
palm trees and uhm so, and clear sky. So why did you decide to post such photo?
[00:18:33.29] Daniella: Hmm feel ko kasi sometimes na… di ba medj conscious ako sa
feed ko. Pag tuloy tuloy na face ko lang, parang may limit din ako na parang, dapat mag
include muna ko ng photo na walang face ko. Para maging balance yung feed?
[00:18:55.01] Interviewer: I see, yeah.
[00:18:56.02] Daniella: Yeah. Tapos since mahilig din ako sa beach ganun and
adventures, pinili ko yan. Yeah ka- medj, yung photo onti lang yung nandiyan… para rin
siguro mabalance out niya yung row.
[00:19:15.29] Interviewer: Ahh okay. Parang palette cleanser ganun
[00:19:17.30] Daniella: Oo
[00:19:18.22] Interviewer: Oh I see. So saan ‘to kinuha?
[00:19:22.00] Daniella: It’s in Boracay
[00:19:26.00] Interviewer: Bago magsara? Or
[00:19:28.00] Daniella: Yeah, bago magsara
[00:19:28.15] Interviewer: Oh okay. So let’s go to your Finsta. So, this one. So this is a
photo of you, like with your back to the camera and uhm just looking it, I- I think this a
resto? Yeah.
[00:19:59.10] Daniella: In Vertis North. Parang nung, ano bang tawag dun, yung cookies,
yung pwede ka magtake out. Yeah.
[00:20:09.00] Interviewer: I- I don’t know that parang, buffet?
[00:20:12.00] Daniella: No, like parang café siya pero merong take out na
[00:20:16.28] Interviewer: Ahh. Na na parang cashier, cashier, oh okay. So why post this
on your Finsta? Kasi it’s kinda aesthetic di ba, so why did you choose sa Finsta ‘to?
[00:20:31.10] Daniella: First of all, ang dark nung picture, so I don’t think fit siya dun sa
tapos maraming photos kasi.
[00:20:41.03] Interviewer: So it’s like a co- a pho- cover photo
[00:20:43.20] Daniella: Oo
[00:20:44.25] Interviewer: Hmm, oh, with your family
[00:20:47.00] Daniella: Yeah. Siblings ko. Ayun like parang, wala naman siyang rule
kung ano yung uunahin kong photo. Like super random, like wala talaga akong pake
kung ano yung maunang photo. Basta idudump ko lahat ng photos na nangyari sa day ko
[00:21:10.09] Interviewer: Oh so I see. So it applies to everyone
[00:21:12.20] Daniella: Yeah
[00:21:12.22] Interviewer: Everyday. So this one is like a daily adventure?
[00:21:15.21] Daniella: Yeah
[00:21:18.06] Interviewer: Oh I see. Oh, nice okay. Ah okay. So lahat ‘to is very personal
[00:21:26.00] Daniella: Yeah, tapos sometimes pag di ako tinatamad like susulat ko
talaga lahat ng nangyari. Kapag tinatamad ako like…
[00:21:35.00] Interviewer: Just one liner.
[00:21:35.22] Daniella: Yeah.
[00:21:35.30] Interviewer: Ganun. Ah alright. That’s nice. Okay. So I don’t think na
parang I should ask you like each naman kasi parang basically like you said, they’re like
a photo album of some sort. And then, here, okay, you’re highlights. May I just ask,
parang, do you feel na parang mas free ka sa highlights sa, like sa Instagram story or
para, parang ano yung mas madaling mag post. Like sa Instagram story or sa Instagram
posts mo?
[00:22:11.00] Daniella: Hmm feel ko kasi yung sa post ko parang it’s mandatory na I post
everyday. Pero yung sa stories ko naman, magsstory lang ako kung feel ko as in ganun.
Tapos parang I keep track like Freshie, like parang kung ano yung, gusto, di ba parang
it’s like a memory keeper na rin. So sometimes kapag wala talaga ako magawa, hindi
naman sa pagiging ano, self centered pero papanuorin ko talaga siya isa isa, para ‘oh
yeah, ganito nangyari nung January something’.
[00:22:47.10] Interviewer: Oo. Okay alright. So ayun. That ends our interview. Thank
you so much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
D. Ed
[00:00:04.26] Interviewer: To begin, how long have you been using Instagram?
[00:00:05.19] Ed: Uhm, I think I've been using it since 2015.
[00:00:11.27] Interviewer: How about Finstagram?
[00:00:12.01] Ed: That one, 2016.
[00:00:15.16] Interviewer: Tagal na ah. So what appealed to you sa paggamit ng dump
account or Finstagram?
[00:00:22.11] Ed: Oh okay. Well, kase I started using Instagram during my final year of
high school. Like, I finally gave in to the pressure and stuff, then that time kase parang
alot of my classamates are like... my batchmates ko, they have the curated Instagram
feeds. So parang wala akong time magkaroon ng jeje face sa Instagram so I had to like
make sure na mine looks nice, ganyan. And like, at par with them so I don't know,
basically parang naging status symbol rin yung IG like the number of followers you have
or like how aesthetically pleasing it is. So ayun, that's how it was for me.
[00:01:13.17] Interviewer: So parang na-fed up ka na sa ganon?
[00:01:14.29] Ed: Yeah, and then I chose to have a dump account-- actually yung una
kong reason on why I wanted to have a Finsta... actually wala pa kaseng Finsta noon,
dump account pa iyun. And then, 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. And then I wanted to... parang I don't know. I use it for example
when I'm having like a hard time like "Oh, this day, I conquered this or that". It didn't
necessarily branched out from the desire of not having a curated feed pero it was just for
my--
[00:02:08.12] Interviewer: Visual diary.
[00:02:08.12] Ed: Yeah, basically, it's like a diary. Yeah. And then, feeling ko dahil na
rin sa comfort na 'yun. Parang, hindi na ako bumalik sa regular, normal IG ko. I don't use
it anymore.
[00:02:22.06] Interviewer: Ah really?
[00:02:22.06] Ed: Yeah, I just check it three times a month? Or kapag may nagsabi sakin
na "Uy, follow back mo naman ako". So doon ko siya finafollow. Pero I don't use it. The
last post that I had was 2017.
[00:02:35.00] Interviewer: Ah, I see. Pero 'yun pa rin yung main Instagram mo?
[00:02:39.19] Ed: Yeah, yun pa rin na parang kung isto-story niyo ako sa Instagram, yun
yung i-tag niyo. I don't want a lot of people knowing about my Finsta. Pero marami na rin
ang nakaka-alam, which is sad. Pero I don't accept their request if I'm not close with
them.
[00:02:52.29] Interviewer: So yung pagkakaroon ng dump account, you got the idea from
your friends in high school?
[00:02:58.28] Ed: No, kase nandoon siya sa... parang like, sabi ko, first year ako noon
when I started making one and then I was like I wanted to make it... 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".
[00:03:30.02] Interviewer: I see. So nasabi mo na sa akin yung purpose ng Finstagram
mo pati main Instagram, uhm, let's go to the posting. Can you remember pa ba yung
feeling mo nung nagpopost ka pa sa main Instagram mo?
[00:03:46.00] Ed: Ahh, as in nakakapressure siya kase before sa Instagram app, parang
chronological pa yung paglalabas ng post. This is why fina-follow ko yung peak hours sa
pagposting and then parang I feel sad kapag people don't notice it as early as possible. So
parang I think...
[00:04:15.22] Interviewer: So very conscious ka sa makukuhang attention ng posts mo
noon.
[00:04:21.24] Ed: Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:21.24] Interviewer: How about sa Finstagram mo?
[00:04:24.04] Ed: Ako wala naman. Kung walang magla-like okay lang, hindi naman
para sa kanila 'yun e.
[00:04:27.24] Interviewer: Parang ang mas focus mo sa pagpopost sa Finstagram ay
madocument yung memories and wala na yung attention-seeking part.
[00:04:40.05] Ed: Yeah.
[00:04:40.05] Interviewer: So may tanong dito na how do you choose the photo na
pinopost mo sa IG or sa Finstagram, pero ikaw ba? Since you don't post that much na sa
main Instagram mo, parang how do you differentiate?
[00:04:51.16] Ed: Dun sa main Instagram kase, may plan was, kase I started nga nung
right after high school kase parang big kase sa amin like, may batch colors. Like in high
school, like for example, kapag freshie, green, tapos kapag sophie, blue, tapos red
ganon... So what I planned was iko-color code ko based the year I was. That's why if you
could see my main Instagra, usually all green. It's really green and then I stopped na.
Like, the last post that I had was like a yellow one, kase it was second year na and then
sobrang tinamad na ako kase parang doon na ako nakafocus sa Finstagram kase I don't
wanna pick a photo na sobrang wala naman akong... I don't value it. It's just for aesthetics
lang. So parang, that's why I didn't post. Tapos yun yung basically plan ko for my main
IG that's why if you can see, alam mo yung mga tumblr eme ganon, yun yung peg niya.
Pero yung doon naman sa what I do with my Finstagram, parang I document all the
important things that happen. Pero kunwari walang nangyari siguro, parang, nag-binge
watch lang ako, I probably would take a picture of my laptop screen. Tapos kunwari, for
example... Usually kase actually laman ata ng Finsta ko puro mga trainings like mga ...
literally what happened. Pero ayun may mga milestones.. ano ba yung mga milestones...
like when I competed, or like, nag-presenta ako sa conference. Then I posted that one. Or
like may mga meetings and stuff ako. Tapos meron pa akong mga tags sa caption. Like, I
tag it, like for example, a life post tapos kapag mema post, kapag wala talagang
nangyayari, kapag lazy day, I just binge watch this.
[00:07:07.28] Interviewer: So sa mga pino-post mo, meron ka bang parang image na
gusto mong ipakita over-all sa main Instagram mo? Pati si Finstagram?
[00:07:16.19] Ed: Yung sa main Instagram kase, I don't know, feeling ko kase na-
infuence lang ako ng high school. 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. Parang yun yung image ng Instagram
noon. Pero I don't really post na rin, that's not me anymore. Feeling ko naman sa
Finstagram, wala naman. Parang feeling ko lang it's like.. basically parang siyang vlog na
hindi vlog. Parang diary nga.
[00:08:06.12] Interviewer: Parang the friendly Ed sa Finstagram mo.
[00:08:13.02] Ed: Yeah.
[00:08:13.02] Interviewer: Tapos yung talagang influencer-like Ed sa main Instagram
mo.
[00:08:17.19] Ed: Yes, basically.
[00:08:19.09] Interviewer: Could you describe yung audiences mo sa Instagram at sa
Finstagram? Kase 'di ba private silang dalawa so you filter yung pumapasok na followers.
So how you describe them?
[00:08:32.22] Ed: Ay sorry ano yung tanong--
[00:08:36.15] Interviewer: Yung audiences mo...
[00:08:37.27] Ed: Ah okay. 'Yung doon sa may main Instagram, usually yung mga taong
[followers] nandoon ay yung mga popular kids. As in yun yung kina-cater niya. Mga
close friends. And hindi ko nga alam kung pano umabot ng 1 thousand followers yan,
hindi ko alam kung sino yung mga iyan. Pero kase malaki talaga sa school namin yung
mga ganyan, yung mga social media accounts. Like parang, if you don't follow me back,
you probably hate me or something. It's really a big thing. So parang 'yun yung audience
ko. Pero kase since sa Finstagram, actually ito, feeling dahil ako naka-private parang may
sense of exclusivity when it comes to like, parang elitist yung mindset ko nung ginawa ko
'yun. Pero yung pagiging exclusive nung Finstagram, I don't wanna... alam mo 'yun?
Kung magra-rant ako, parang i don't want other people to see. So basically, mga close
friends ko yung mga nandoon.
[00:09:47.06] Interviewer: Tingin mo ba yung image na sinet mo sa Instagram mo at sa
Finstagram parang yun rin ba yung tingin mong tingin sa'yo ng followers mo sa
respective accounts?
[00:09:59.25] Ed: I think yeah. Kase yung sa main IG kase basically, the people who
follow me are the high school people and they don't know naman kung sino ako now. So
parang I think that's what they're left with. Pero like the people I'm still close to and the
people I've met in college, that's how they see me naman talaga.
[00:10:33.08] Interviewer: So basically tapos na tayo sa first part. We're gonna go to the
second and the last part which is talking about your posts. So I'm gonna choose and show
you a few of your posts from both accounts and we're going to talk about it. So let's go
with this one, it's a picture of you with two other friends. You're with two other friends
and you are holding your phones and then nakatingin ka somewhere. So ano yung image
or ano yung message na you're trying to convey with this photo?
[00:11:09.20] Ed: Actually, yun pa rin yung image-driven phase ko as a person. So
parang feeling ko... also yung parang yung time na yan, since I'm still kinda close with
the high school people so parang I wanted to show na parang "oh, this is me right now".
Kaya nga may parang UP Diliman location tag there. Feeling ko maganda lang kase
yung... actually sila rin naman nagsabi sa akin na sige picture tayo since umuulan kase
niyan, so parang nastranded kami sa Engg tapos sabi namin "sige, magphotoshoot tayo".
[00:11:53.01] Interviewer: So is this candid or staged?
[00:11:56.04] Ed: Ay hindi, staged iyan, haha.
[00:11:58.09] Interviewer: Alright.
[00:12:00.13] Ed: Ilang beses namin ginawa iyan kasi yung isang friend diyan
masyadong picky.
[00:12:03.13] Interviewer: Did you choose talaga yung pagiging dark niya?
[00:12:11.00] Ed: I think yes--
[00:12:11.00] Interviewer: At bakit hindi mo na lang piniling bright colored?
[00:12:14.04] Ed: Kase parang feeling ko since green nga yung feed ko, hinilight namin
yung green color ng photo, yung green na nasa likod.
[00:12:23.02] Interviewer: This picture... this is a building of--
[00:12:35.27] Ed: It was like a retreat house.
[00:12:40.18] Interviewer: Tapos why did you choose to post this?
[00:12:43.04] Ed: Kase feeling ko nagfi-fit naman siya sa branding ng IG ko nung time
na yun. And then parang...
[00:12:50.00] Interviewer: Ano ba yung branding ng IG mo noon?
[00:12:50.21] Ed: It's green and hipster-y. I think it looked nice so parang.. I remember
that time, may nagbe-bless ng mga palaspas. So parang sabi ko, "sige picturan". So ayun.
[00:13:12.11] Interviewer: Tapos mas pina-darken mo siya nang bahagya dahil...
[00:13:15.22] Ed: Yeah, to show the green.
[00:13:18.03] Interviewer: So this one...
[00:13:17.26] Ed: Ako, hindi ko alam, pero kase gusto ko lang igreet yung friend ko nung
birthday niya kase pinapunta niya ako doon pero gusto ko nandoon rin ako sa photo.
[00:13:29.14] Interviewer: For record lang, this is you holding a plant? With lights. Could
you explain the reason again?
[00:13:39.08] Ed: Birthday kase ng friend tapos parang... wala kaming picture together na
maganda. So sabi ko, "sige I'll take a picture of plants" para may excuse akong igreet
siya. Kase nandoon naman ako sa lugar ng birthday niya. Pero nandyan yung mukha ko
okay lang, haha.
[00:13:53.19] Interviewer: So lipat naman tayo sa iyong Finstagram. So, basically sinabi
mo nga na lahat ito visual diary of your days. So why did you choose to post this? This is
a picture of your huddle sa dance org mo. Why not a picture of you actually dancing?
[00:14:13.26] Ed: Ah, actually yung time na yan, usually kase what I do, kapag huddle
doon ako nagvivideo. And wala naman kasing nagvivideo sa amin kapag nagttrain. As in
like, the only we can take a picture is when it ends. So parang, I forget. I mean, nag-
huddle na kami bago ko makuha yung cellphone ko so pinicturan ko na lang para may
mapost ako.
[00:14:42.04] Interviewer: Oh, I see, I see. So this is unfiltered?
[00:14:44.18] Ed: Yeah yeah.
[00:14:45.12] Interviewer: Do you edit ba yung photos mo on Finstagram?
[00:14:47.07] Ed: No, I don't. Unless kunwari yung video na na-record ko, less then three
seconds, 'di ba bawal ipost? So I use iMovie tapos pinapa-repeat ko na lang.
[00:14:58.04] Interviewer: Ahh, okay. Pero yung picture you don't enhance in some way?
[00:15:01.01] Ed: I don't.
[00:15:02.11] Interviewer: So this one, why did you choose to post this on your
Finstagram?
[00:15:10.09] Ed: Oh okay. Birthday kase iyan ng friend ko tapos nag-reunion kami.
Matagal na kaming hindi nag-reunion, so puro ganyan. Tapos sabi ko, ang ganda naman
ng background and ang ganda naman ng outfit ko so nagpa-picture na lang ako. Tapos
pinost ko na lang. 'Di ko rin alam. Feeling ko natuwa lang rin ako sa sarili ko.
[00:15:37.28] Interviewer: Wala talaga or anything? As in natuwa ka lang na pinost mo
iyan?
[00:15:37.28] Ed: Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:38.25] Interviewer: Just for the visual diary lang talaga?
[00:15:40.06] Ed: Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:41.05] Interviewer: Last one, so this one.
[00:15:48.04] Ed: Ayan, iyan yung mga times na I don't get to picture of a thing... of
what happened. Pag wala talaga masyadong significant na nangyari, parang what I do is
that I just post.. kunwari kapag natandaan kong magpost tapos parang 'yun yung una
kong nakita, parang pipicturan ko na lang tapos...
[00:16:08.18] Interviewer: Oh okay.
[00:16:12.06] Ed: And yeah I usually take a picture of things I watch.
[00:16:12.06] Interviewer: Okay, so that's all for this interview. Thank you so much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
E. Fina
[00:00:00.28] Interviewer: So let's begin. Uhm, first is how long have you been using
uhm Instagram?
[00:00:05.24] Fina: I've used.. with my main Instagram?
[00:00:08.11] Interviewer: Uhm..
[00:00:08.23] Fina: Or like in general?
[00:00:09.20] Interviewer: In general, main Instagram.
[00:00:12.27] Fina: Uhm, I think I've been using it since I think the year it started. 2011,
2012? Well I think 2011. I think.
[00:00:20.25] Interviewer: Well that's early ah.
[00:00:21.27] Fina: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 2011 or 2012. Something like that. Kasi I
remember I was in second year high school when I first started using it, and that was
2011 to 2012, so ayun.
[00:00:32.00] Interviewer: Ever since nagp-post ka na...?
[00:00:34.11] Fina: Yeah, regularly. Haha.
[00:00:37.19] Interviewer: So 'yun uhm lile how long have you been using Finstagram
naman? How long parang na-realize mo na "ah, I need the second account ganun?
[00:00:45.01] Fina: Uhm, lately lang eh. 2018 lang din. I think... wait lang let me see in
my first post, sorry.
[00:00:50.20] Interviewer: Sure.
[00:00:53.19] Interviewer: Back then ba parang "Finsta" na 'yung tawag mo dun or iba?
[00:00:56.07] Fina: Yeah kasi my friends, a lot of my other friends use it also, like they
have a second account, and then sabi ko parang ang cute kapag meron, so... uhm lately
lang ayun. Uhm, January.
[00:01:10.13] Interviewer: January?!
[00:01:10.13] Fina: This January pala talaga.
[00:01:12.03] Interviewer: Ay, 2019!
[00:01:12.14] Fina: Ay no...
[00:01:12.25] Interviewer: Oh.
[00:01:13.15] Fina: Wait,
[00:01:14.00] Interviewer: Pero...
[00:01:16.23] Fina: I made this account parang Deccember, parang nung Chirstmas. And
then I first posted lang January.
[00:01:22.03] Interviewer: Oh, very recent, very recent.
[00:01:22.16] Fina: Yeah.
[00:01:23.04] Interviewer: So what inspired you to create a Finstagram account?
[00:01:25.08] Fina: Uhm, I realized kasi na I have a lot of photos on my phone. And then
I---this started when I had the mass deletion of my photos kasi it was taking up a lot of
my space already. Tapos but then there were a lot of pictures that I didn't want to uhm,
that I didn't want to delete kasi they held such a nice memory. But at the same time, I'm
never gonna post that on my Instagram naman eh. So uhm, what's the point of ano uhm,
saving them? And then I was like, for my own use. So sige I'll just post---ano na lang 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. Like ever since January, I think I post everyday?
Minsan nga may days pa na parang 4 or 5 photos yung na-post ko. So...
[00:02:15.26] Interviewer: So basically, the purpose of your Finsta is visual diary of
some sorts, ganun?
[00:02:20.06] Fina: Yeah.
[00:02:20.20] Interviewer: O parang backup memory ganun?
[00:02:22.00] Fina: Yes, parang backup memory siya, in a way, yeah.
[00:02:24.10] Interviewer: Oh, I see.
[00:02:25.03] Fina: I also---mahilig din ako mag-post ng stories on my second account.
'Yung usually stories that I don't really want other people to see? Like for example, uhm
dinner, like intimate dinner with the friends. Or like uhm, or in a house of a friend, tapos
you're just talking or like my friends are at my house and then we're just drinking and
then talking about uhm really uhm... personal stuff. So I think 'yun 'yung mga pinopost ko
usually dun sa stories ko sa second account ko.
[00:02:57.19] Interviewer: But uhm, kanina nabanggit mo 'yung parang you created a
second account kasi 'yung mga pictures na iba na meron ka is you think hindi sila IG
worthy?
[00:03:06.02] Fina: Yeah, yes.
[00:03:06.21] Interviewer: Can you elaborate on that, what makes a photo an "IG worthy
photo"?
[00:03:10.21] Fina: Okay, oh my God ang hirap niyan sagutin.
[00:03:13.14] Interviewer: It's okay, take your time.
[00:03:13.14] Fina: Uhm, IG worthy? Ano kapag---ano kasi I---personally I'm very
interested in photography also. Like even before pa talaga. So parang my main account is
kinda like uhm a way for me to be able to post those photos that I take, when I'm out
travelling, or something like that. So usually 'yung nasa main account ko, they're
purposefully taken that way...? Like parang...
[00:03:41.17] Interviewer: Staged, ganun?
[00:03:42.00] Fina: Yeah staged siya or... uhm kapag may nakita akong magandang
scene, I go through lengths to take that photo.
[00:03:51.14] Interviewer: Haha
[00:03:52.07] Fina: So parang 'yung kapag sinadya ko talaga na sabi ko "ay ip-post ko
talaga 'to"... so ayun I would go through lengths to take that photo myself. So 'yun 'yung
mga pino-post ko sa main account ko, and then obviously, I stick to a particular uhm,
color pallette. I wouldn't say color pallette, medyo---
[00:04:11.09] Interviewer: Parang theme?
[00:04:11.27] Fina: Editing---yeah. May theme or like, may editing style ako na
ginagawa for my photo, sa main account.
[00:04:18.27] Interviewer: Could you explain 'yung theme na 'yun, like paano mo siya
ine-edit or anong ginagamit mong filter?
[00:04:24.14] Fina: Uhm, I usually haha---
[00:04:25.29] Interviewer: Okay lang!
[00:04:27.01] Fina: May times na napapagamit ako ng Lightroom talaga just---
[00:04:29.15] Interviewer: Hey who doesn't, sa Instagram?
[00:04:31.20] Fina: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. So uhm, usually, wait lang. Uhm,
medyo warm yung pallette na, yung theme na
ginagamit ko.
[00:04:42.19] Interviewer: Oh, right!
[00:04:43.07] Fina: So uhm maybe I up the saturation a bit so that the colors are more
seen kasi usually the colors we see with our eyes aren't exactly captured through the
camera. So I try to stick to the actual ano talaga to I see it in person, I try to mimic that
through the way I edit. So ayun uhm just for it to look a bit more vibrant.
[00:05:09.26] Interviewer: Why did you choose the vibrant, kasi diba iba, black and
white, 'yung iba washed out?
[00:05:13.21] Fina: Yes, that's true. Uhm, I don't know if that reflects my personality kasi
I don't know, I personally describe myself as very extroverted and outgoing. Uhm feeling
ko kapag tinanong mo 'yung friends ko 'yun din naman sasabihin nila. So in a way I think
that also reflects my mood all the time, like a very positive, very optimistic person. So, I
think 'yung vibrancy din ng photos ko that kinda reflects it in a way. Ayun, and---
[00:05:40.29] Fina: Pwede bang ma-ano din, kasi sa IG stories ko din, I also edit my IG
stories.
[00:05:44.28] Interviewer: Oh, really?! Haha
[00:05:45.25] Fina: I know, yeah, it's so, like perfectionist!
[00:05:51.01] Fina: Uhm, a bit lang naman. A bit, kasi my friends make fun of me for it.
Like, kapag ine-edit ko pati 'yung IG stories ko. Like, alam na halimbawa uhm, kasi diba
there are filters, available filters on IG story. But then when I would put my IG story,
halimbawa, I'm in a nice restaurant, and then I want to post about it na hindi naman sa
mismong photo itself, ie-edit ko pa din siya. Tapos, ayun yeah. I get made fun of for that.
[00:06:17.16] Interviewer: Not bad!
[00:06:17.16] Fina: So ayun, yeah yeah yeah.
[00:06:20.06] Interviewer: Haha. Like what if naman 'yung sa mga posts mo sa
Finstagram and 'yung IG story mo sa Finstagram, do you still edit it?
[00:06:25.22] Fina: Oh, no. They're just ike, I just put them online and I don't really care
anymore, yeah. 'Di ko na siya ine-edit or anything.
[00:06:33.02] Interviewer: So parang less ano, less maintained 'yung Finstagram mo in
some sort?
[00:06:36.03] Fina: Yes, yes.
[00:06:37.22] Interviewer: Just for the sake of getting it out there?
[00:06:39.10] Fina: Yes, yes, yes.
[00:06:39.26] Interviewer: Oh, I see. So whenever you post naman on Instagram, how do
you feel, parang do you have any expectation or do you have any oh---g--like--ganun?
Haha, gets ba?
[00:06:48.27] Fina: Uhm, no, not really. I just uhm kasi may--there are some people
personally I know na kapag these photos don't get as much likes or ano, parang they
would archive it or something. Or may, I know some people din na kapag na-realize nila
later on that doesn't really match their feed, they're gonna take it out din. I know some
people like that. Personally, I don't do that na lang, so parang ako, kapag pinost ko na,
"okay sige, diyan ka na". So ayun, yeah. And also since also nga, the ones that I post on
my main account are very dear to my heart since I actually photographed it that way, I
purposefully or inentionally photographed and edited it
that way. Parang proud din ako na like, oh this is my photography. I practiced, I still
practice it and all that so, ayun.
[00:07:38.18] Interviewer: So talagang walang any expectation, "oh I hope they like it"
ganun?
[00:07:41.25] Fina: No, wala din naman. Like parang, I just feel like posting it.
[00:07:47.03] Interviewer: Does that also apply sa Finstagram mo?
[00:07:48.04] Fina: Yes, yes.
[00:07:51.00] Interviewer: Right, so ano. Uhm, how do you see your image on
Instagram? Parang diba, parang, are your photos like kind of a puzzle piece that makes up
an image that you set for yourself or...?
[00:08:06.05] Fina: Uhm, no din. I just, ewan ko. Kasi as I said, even before, even back
in high school, I was already interested in photography, and a lot of my friends already
knew me for that. So I think, ayun lang, I think 'yun lang din 'yung alam nila with me
whenever I post on Instagram na it's curated din for not just my feed? Pero it's not 'yung
parang puzzle piece nga that would make a bigger photo?
[00:08:33.29] Interviewer: Some people... I'm not saying like literally, or parang...
[00:08:37.16] Fina: Ah, okay.
[00:08:37.25] Interviewer: Parang they like imply that... kanina nasabi mo parang, "I'm a
photographer, therefore I will post like, very creative... So that's the image that parang
gusto mo ipahayag?
[00:08:48.07] Fina: I think so... yeah, I think so.
[00:08:50.11] Interviewer: What about on Finstagram? Parang do you have any like, an
overall message na, "this is my feed kasi, I'm like this"?
[00:08:56.19] Fina: Ohhh, that's a nice question. I think I have my---I use my Finstagram
to forward my sense of humor haha.
[00:09:05.02] Interviewer: Ah, really?!
[00:09:07.10] Fina: Like, I think that's---uhm like my captions na parang, it's either
magp-post lang ako ng something lang with no caption at all, or like sometimes I would
make fun of myself or something. Like for example, wait lang.
[00:09:21.00] Interviewer: Okay, sure.
[00:09:22.25] Fina: Sorry, babasahin ko. Kasi may---there's this one thing that stuck to
my head when you asked that.
[00:09:26.29] Interviewer: Mmmm...
[00:09:28.26] Fina: Uhm... asan na 'yun? Okay, I posted a photo of a ramen as in ramen
lang, but then my caption was, "I'm shitposting photos of my fave ramen restaurants
because I had really shitty ramen yesterday and I can't get over how shitty it was, to the
point that I needed to be reminded that I actually love ramen." So ayun parang it's just... a
way for me to make fun of
myself, and stuff like that. So ayun. And also, a lot of "nene" and like throwback photos
were (inaudible)... 'Yun lang.
[00:10:06.26] Interviewer: So on Finstagram parang you're like... your sense of humor
'yun 'yung parang---
[00:10:10.12] Fina: Yeah...
[00:10:12.07] Interviewer: A funny Fina ganon?
[00:10:12.03] Fina: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:10:13.24] Interviewer: And then on Instagram, parang the artsy, photographer Fina
ganon? Alright, okay, so, uhm, like ano lang going back lang siguro, uhm, parang could
you describe your audiences on Finstagram and Instagram? Para, are they different?
[00:10:32.06] Fina: Uhm, hmmm. I'm not entirely sure. Kasi on my main account, I don't
really... kasi there are some people who like, photographers also who use hashtags to...
whenever they're out travelling somewhere or something. Parang they use that to reach
out to other photographers so that uhm, other people can also see their photos of certain
place, or of certain things. Uhm, I
don't do that. I don't know why. Like, ayun. Hmmm, so 'yun din. I think my main account
is also just my friends and family plus other people that I'm not really close to? Yeah
parang ganun lang din. And also like, some strangers here and there... you know
Instagram. Pero 'yung ano ko kasi, 'yung my second account, my Finsta, it's really just
my close friends and family na I have other friends that I'm not super super close to.
Tapos parang nakita nila 'yung... kasi diba when you have a lot of mutuals following that
person, it's gonna show up on your... what do you call that?
[00:11:48.10] Interviewer: Parang recommendations or something?
[00:11:49.15] Fina: Yeah recommendations, or something like that. So, it's gonna show
up so like may ibang nakakita nung second account ko and then they started sending
follow requests...
[00:12:00.03] Interviewer: Is it private ba?
[00:12:00.24] Fina: Yeah, it's private. My second account is private. So they sent a
follower request. There were two of them, and then I declined them kasi parang... ewan
ko like 'yung second account ko... it's super... especially my stories on my second
account, it's super super private and kaya I think I really stuck to that number? Parang les
than fifty lang din 'yung finofollow and nagf-follow sa akin sa second account ko.
[00:12:26.05] Interviewer: Don't worry I'll unfollow it naman after the study, para hindi
uncomfortable.
[00:12:29.25] Fina: Ay no, it's okay! Don't worry about it.
[00:12:30.23] Interviewer: Ayun, so uhm. So parang do you think na parang you can...
diba you have this image on Finstagram, you have this image on Instagram. Parang, do
you think you'll ever be comfortable on showing your sense of humor sa general audience
mo?
[00:12:47.13] Fina: Yeah... yeah I think before naman, before I made the second account,
I think I would post it on my stories lang din. So, dun lang din siya. Kaso, it wasn't as
frequent as I would do it now. Now that I have a second account. So 'yung... I guess I still
think about what other people would---might possibly think if they were to see something
so private on my... on my main account, so ayun.
[00:13:18.15] Interviewer: So, uhm... do you ever feel na parang uhm your audiences
have this expectation na parang "Fina should look like this"? Gets ba? Therefore parang
you have the need to satisfy that image that they want for you through Instagram? Parang
for example, your general audiences, 'yung mga acquaintances mo na hindi pasok sa
audience ng Finstagram mo,
parang they expect na "Fina should be like this"? Therefore parang you make posts to
satisfy that expectation? Do you ever feel na may ganon?
[00:13:47.03] Fina: Uhm, 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
needs. So parang ewan ko, I think meron din, sa tingin ko. Like, kasi nga, uhm, as I said
kanina, a lot of my friends already make fun of me for posting such heavily---not heavily,
pero---
[00:14:17.09] Interviewer: Uhm, improved?
[00:14:17.24] Fina: Yeah, improved and edited, still edited stories na 'yun. So parang,
maybe nasa ano ko na din na okay I'll post this so that parang... I don't know... I think oo
talaga. Oo nga talaga, na people expect it that way so cinontinue ko na lang nang
cinontinue. Haha, up to now! Oh my God! Haha, self-realizations right now.
[00:14:46.04] Interviewer: Okay, so. What about Finstagram? Do you think parang...
[00:14:50.10] Fina: Wala talaga, as in I just post whatever I want. Although, uhm,
halimbawa may very personal conversation na that was accidentally caught on video, or
something like that. Uhm, I would---especially if I have friends na kasama ko dun sa
stories na 'yun, I would still ask for their permission, if is it okay to post this or something
like that. So yeah. 'Yun lang 'yung limit ko when it comes to my second account. Pero for
the most part, I just post whatever I want, yeah.
[00:15:20.21] Interviewer: Okay, so I think that's the end of the first part. The second and
the last part, we're gonna look uhm at some of your posts and then we're gonna talk about
it.
[00:15:29.26] Fina: Oh, okay, okay.
[00:15:51.24] Interviewer: So uhm, can you tell me like the story behind this photo?
[00:15:55.17] Fina: Okay, including the caption ba? Oh, I think this is one of those
moments na parang, "ah sige let's be funny on my main account," something like that.
Uhm, actually, parang it's for a DP shoot for my org. So this was part of th uhm rejects
pile of photos that I didn't post.
[00:16:15.15] Interviewer: That's rejected?!
[00:16:18.06] Fina: Haha, so, parang uhm... I thought na, uy ang ganda nung pagkakuha
nung photo na 'to, ta's ang ganda nung bokeh sa likod, and then all that, and then ang
ganda nung pagkafocus nung photo, so I was like, sige I'll post this on my main account.
Tapos uhm, what else... And then that particular night that I posted this, I was doing my
thesis, and then I think I was---I want uhm 'yung break ko from my thesis is like looking
through the photos and then like editing it. So parang, wow parang naging pastime ko na
'yung pagpost sa Instagram. So, that was just what I was doing when I posted that, na
like, nakita ko lang na ang ganda nung pagkakuha nung photo na 'to, sayang naman. So
let me just post it on Instagram instead of on Facebook, as part of the org DP blast thing.
So ayun, and then 'yung caption is, because I was doing my thesis nga. So ayun, I think
that's it. That's the story behind that photo.
[00:17:16.14] Interviewer: Aside from helping sa DP blast ng org mo, do you have any
other message behind this, like...?
[00:17:22.20] Fina: Wala, haha. Wala naman, yeah yeah yeah.
[00:17:26.03] Interviewer: Alright. Sige uhm, let's go to the second photo. Like, wait.
How do you---parang, do you have any expectation na parang, "I want my followers to
like this," ganun?
[00:17:34.19] Fina: Oh, no. No naman.
[00:17:37.10] Interviewer: That's nice! So, the second one, it's a ramen, again. (inaudible)
[00:17:43.17] Fina: Yes, yes. Very much.
[00:17:45.01] Interviewer: So, why did you post this, like what's the message, ganun?
[00:17:48.19] Fina: Ah, I was just also craving for ramen! And also, this is one of those
moments na sabi ko, uhm when I wanted to fix my feed, in a way, as I said na parang, I'm
posting photos to neutralize my feed kasi parang, sa below that, medyo masyado nang
orange-y, tapos parang I tried posting a photo that was so blue? Na parang 'yung pallette
nung parang grayish/bluish and it really didn't match my feed, but I wanted to post it so
badly. So I said na, let's post something that both has orange-y tones, orange-y and like
also cool tones. So that's why I posted that. And then I saw that this matched it perfectly.
Kasi before I post something, I upload it on VSCO---
[00:18:37.25] Interviewer: What's VSCO... oh VSCO!
[00:18:39.01] Fina: Yeah, VSCO. Sorry. I upload it first, so that I would see if I matches.
[00:18:44.22] Interviewer: Oh! So you have like ano a prototype IG?! That's nice!
[00:18:50.04] Fina: So, this I'm still uhm, I'm still debating whether to post it or not. So
ayun.
[00:18:54.13] Interviewer: I'm getting techniques from you ah! Haha.
[00:18:56.04] Fina: Haha! So... so kasi diba it also has a square feed, and then like may
borders din siya. So you can see it really well if you post it here first. So that's an
(inaudible). And then when I saw that it matched my feed, the photos before it, but at the
same time, it's not super vibrant, super bright, I was like, "oh, this might be a good way to
neutralize it". So ayun. That's why I posted that. And I was also craving for ramen that
time.
[00:19:21.28] Interviewer: Yeah, I'm craving now! Haha! I never thought na you can use
VSCO... haha okay. So this one... it's a temple? It's a picture of a temple. So like, tell me
naman like the story behind this.
[00:19:34.17] Fina: This is a temple in Cebu. And then that time kasi, it was nearly
Chinese New Year. Like it was two days before Chinese New Year? Like two or three
days before Chinese New Year. And then, I was going through---kasi nga I want a lot of
space on my phone for my future photos, so I delete photos every now and then. Like I
would go through my album to ano... and then I realized that I never posted this, and I
really like this photo. So sabi ko, parang in time naman siya for Chinese New Year, since
it's a Chinese Taoist temple, so parang in time naman siya. Magiging relevant naman
siya... ish. So and then I also really like the photograph, so ayun. I just... posted it.
[00:20:24.19] Interviewer: Parang... okay I was gonna ask why did you choose to filter,
but like 'yun nga, you're following a theme, yeah.
[00:20:29.04] Fina: Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:30.02] Interviewer: Yes, okay let's go to your Finsta naman. Nakakagutom! So
this one, could you tell me the story---why did you post it?
[00:20:39.07] Fina: I was drunk when I posted that... haha.
[00:20:41.09] Interviewer: You're with Patty!
[00:20:42.29] Fina: You know Patty?!
[00:20:43.22] Interviewer: Yeah, we were classmates nung freshie kami, and then every
now and then we, parang bump into each other, so parang we say hi...
[00:20:50.20] Fina: Patty's my high school best friend, yeah.
[00:20:52.16] Interviewer: Oh! I see, I see.
[00:20:52.28] Fina: Yeah, we went to the same high school.
[00:20:54.05] Interviewer: In...?
[00:20:55.10] Fina: Beda.
[00:20:55.29] Interviewer: Beda, oh! Yeah, Beda. So with, uhm Pazco(?)
[00:20:59.24] Fina: Oh my God, you also know Patchie(?)!
[00:21:00.25] Interviewer: AIESECer, AIESECer!
[00:21:05.12] Fina: Haha! The three of us were always together. Like, dinners. And then,
we would always go drinking out and all that.
[00:21:11.06] Interviewer: Oh the three of you here?
[00:21:11.08] Fina: Ah, Van kasi, is my Span classmate. Tapos, uhm, funny thing before
that night, nung first time ko siyang nameet sa Span, I was like, "I know this guy," like
parang, kiilala ko talaga 'to. I just can't remember... his name just doesn't ring a bell in the
back of my mind... pero sabi ko nakita ko na 'to eh. Tapos, I really couldn't remember it
for the life of me. And then, I don't know why... ay no! We had an activity in our Span
class, and I was like, what do we like doing? Parang we were asked to do stuff like that...
parang we were asked to make sentences, uhm, to tell our classmates and our prof what
we like doing. And then parang, I said na, "I like, uhm, going out with my friends at
night, and all that." And then, tinanong ng prof namin---parang our profs would ask the
rest of the class, parang, "do you like doing that also?" Parang, to create kind of like a
conversation in class, something like that. So parang, Van said "yes". And then, that's
when I was like, "oh my God, siya ba 'yung nameet ko sa Pop Up, kasi friend siya ni
Patty?"
[00:22:22.03] Interviewer: Ohhh!
[00:22:23.11] Fina: As in, napa-ganun na lang ako, parang, "siya ba 'yung friend ni
Patty?" so... of course, hindi naman kami close ni Van so I didn't ask him. I messaged my
friend first, I was like, "is Van your friend from NIP?" and then sabi niya, "yeah,
classmate mo sa Span class, diba?" Nakwento din niya! And I was like, oh my God! So
all this time, naalala ni Van na nagmeet na nga kami, ta's ayun. And then, that same day
na 'yun, which is just, five days ago actually---well, a month into the sem pa lang naman
tayo so it wasn't that long. Ta's nung pumunta ako ng Pop Up with my orgmates, nakita
ko na magkasama sila and I was like, okay, so naaalala ko na talaga, na-remember ko na.
[00:23:04.15] Interviewer: So why didn't you post this on your Instagram?
[00:23:09.09] Fina: Kasi it wasn't IG worthy... haha!
[00:23:09.29] Interviewer: Haha!
[00:23:15.24] Fina: Haha, it wasn't IG worthy---hindi siya ano, hindi siya maganda 'yung,
hindi super flattering 'yung angle, ganon. And it was just taken at the spur of the moment,
na again, hindi siya 'yung deliberate na something na I would take. Tapos also kasi uhm,
her Mom follows me on my main account. And we're like, really close nga talaga kami
since 2010. So parang, even our parents know each other. So parang'pag pinost ko siya sa
main account ko, makikita nung Mom niya. And then, her Mom might ask, kung saan 'to,
and then, I don't want to get her---parang
[00:23:49.24] Interviewer: Magtatanong pa?
[00:23:50.00] Fina: Ayun din, yeah. Baka magtanong pa or something, or like, matanong
siya and, I don't wanna put her in that position, so sa second account ko na lang din
pinost, since, ayun nga I... only stick to a couple of people who follow me there.
[00:24:05.28] Interviewer: Okay. So let's go to... I mean you explained this na, so...
hmmm. So this one, this is IG worthy but like why didn't you post this?
[00:24:16.01] Fina: Aw, thank you!
[00:24:17.10] Interviewer: Ayaw siya mag-load, pero 'yun na lang.
[00:24:19.09] Fina: Ah, okay. Ah, this photo... why didn't I post it on my main account...
I think it was just 'cause... on my main account din kasi I don't post a lot? Maybe once or
twice a week lang? So parang sabi ko, kaka-post ko lang nung isa, 'wag ko na munang i-
post 'to... I think it's just that. Uhm, also, I don't know what else. I think it was just that...
na parang I just posted, I don't wanna post again.
[00:24:47.09] Interviewer: Mhm... so 'di na siya makakarating sa Insta mo or something?
[00:24:50.07] Fina: Uhm, I don't think so... I don't think so.
[00:24:55.22] Interviewer: So I see that your Finsta is like, really a diary, kasi may group
photos, may unedited na food photos, and then humorous photos, ganyan.
[00:25:03.29] Fina: Uhuh.
[00:25:05.21] Interviewer: So I think... that's it? That's all for the second part. And that
ends our interview.
[00:25:10.17] Fina: Okay, okay.
[00:25:11.05] Interviewer: Thank you so much!
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
F. Hannah
[00:00:01:20] Interviewer: How long have you been using Instagram?
[00:00:04:23] Hannah: Uhm.
[00:00:05:03] Interviewer: Like, in general.
[00:00:05:23] Hannah: In general, I think I started in... I think, 3rd year ata. Yeah. 3rd
year high school.
[00:00:17:02] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:00:17:06] Interviewer: So that's around like 20...
[00:00:20:06] Hannah: 15.
[00:00:20:18] Interviewer: 15.
[00:00:21:02] Hannah: 2015.
[00:00:21:15] Interviewer: 2015.
[00:00:22:20] Interviewer: So uhm. Sa 20... Since 2015 you've been using Instagram and
then uhm. How long have you been using Finstagram? Like, another account?
[00:00:30:17] Hannah: Oh. Since like December (2018) lang.
[00:00:33:04] Interviewer: Ah. Since December 2018?
[00:00:34:03] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:00:34:13] Interviewer: So, where did you get the idea of na "Hey! There's a-- na
Finsta-- There's Finsta and I can use it."
[00:00:39:14] Hannah: 'Cause my friends like may mga Finsta din sila and I thought
"Okay." Like, I didn't bother at first na gumawa ng Finsta kasi you know parang-- Like,
there's an expression of always out of dated or something. Pero... Parang... Kasi I have
like a rant account also. Pero yung rant account ko its more of negative stuff so I thought
na itong Finsta-- kung gumawa ako ng Finsta is more of the positive stuff.
[00:01:02:03] Interviewer: Oo.
[00:01:02:17] Hannah: So like its a more positive outlet. And parang my friend was
saying na yung nga... Like, it's just her outlet of like thoughts...
[00:01:12:16] Interviewer: So basically, you got it from your friends and uhm. Parang
peer influence.
[00:01:18:01] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:01:18:03] Interviewer: So, right now what is the main purpose of your Finstagram? If
you will explain it briefly.
[00:01:23:10] Hannah: I think, purpose like its more of parang... Like documenting yung
mga good stuff that happen.
[00:01:31:00] Interviewer: Uh huh.
[00:01:31:16] Hannah: Like, parang-- parang commentary on like the day and stuff. And
then like a great-- Like. Parang some stuff to be grateful about. Parang ganon.
[00:01:41:22] Interviewer: Parang summary, ganon?
[00:01:42:22] Hannah: Yeah yeah yeah.
[00:01:43:14] Interviewer: So its like a visual diary?
[00:01:45:05] Hannah: Yeah yeah yeah.
[00:01:46:12] Interviewer: So parang uhm. How often do you update your Instagram
then?
[00:01:50:12] Hannah: Instagram its not of-- I don't update it often. I mean like sa
pictures o my story?
[00:01:57:20] Interviewer: Pictures.
[00:01:58:03] Hannah: Oh. Pag pictures, I don't-- I only update it pag like if I go on
vacation and stuff. And I have like nice pictures naman. But then... yeah.
[00:02:08:10] Interviewer: So-- Pero yung Finstagram mo you make sure na you update it
everyday, ganun?
[00:02:11:17] Hannah: Not naman everyday. Para lang if something like insteresting
happens sa week na gusto kong ikwento. Then that's when I update...
[00:02:20:06] Interviewer: So if you have a photo, how do you determine if its gonna go
to your Finstagram or its gonna go to your Instagram? How do you choose?
[00:02:27:10] Hannah: Like... Well, if its like-- If it fits sa feed ko. Like, if its a nice aes--
aestetically nice picture na kakasya sa feed ko then I'll upload it to my main. Pero pag
yung mga random lang. Like, group pic or like random pictures edi hanggang Finsta lang
siya.
[00:02:49:09] Interviewer: Can you-- like uhm. Meaning parang IG-worthy na yung
parang aesthetically. Can you explain what an IG-worthy photo is for you?
[00:02:56:15] Hannah: I think yung mga-- Obviously I have to look nice. Haha. Look
nice on the picture and parang maganda yung like lighting, yung editing, and like color
scheme kung kumakasya yung color scheme sa feed ko.
[00:03:12:06] Interviewer: So, with this... para-- Do you edit yung photos mo sa
Instagram?
[00:03:16:02] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:03:16:18] Interviewer: Paano? Like, do you increase the brightness or do you like...
[00:03:20:01] Hannah: Yeah. I just fix around the colors. Usually yung sa brightness
and... yeah.
[00:03:27:13] Interviewer: So why did you choose to have like uhm very upbright-ish
theme?
[00:03:32:18] Hannah: Well, cause I noticed na parang I'm always like... in a beach.
Haha. So parang yun yung like easiest like way na parang... para consistent siya na like
bright. Kasi parang its hard na yung... Kung yung ibang people may mga-- Like feed sila
na dark na theme so its kind of hard to like find... And then parang hindi din siya... Hindi
rin makikita yung actual like kurtinas of like the actual picture of the people in it. Tas
parang maganda like bright nakikita nila like lahat ng details and stuff.
[00:04:06:00] Interviewer: I see. I see. So sa Finstagram naman, do you... Do you edit pa
ba yung uhm--
[00:04:10:22] Hannah: I don't.
[00:04:11:13] Interviewer: Ah. As in like salpak lang ng ano.
[00:04:13:18] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:04:14:12] Interviewer: Oh. I see. I see.
[00:04:16:11] Interviewer: So. Whenever you post naman on your main Instagram
account, what do you feel? Like, parang do you have expectations? Do you expect to like
get likes? Like, these number of likes...
[00:04:26:04] Hannah: Well, yeah. Like I expect people like see it and then they like it.
[00:04:32:13] Interviewer: So how many likes usually do you expect na parang "Oh. Pag
nareach ko 'to, I'm okay na." ganun?
[00:04:37:27] Hannah: Like usually, I'm happy na with a hundred plus like 120
minimum.
[00:04:43:25] Interviewer: Oh really? I see. I see. Pero on Finstagram, do you have any
expectations about--
[00:04:52:11] Hannha: Ah. No. Haha. Like its fine if people really don't find nice because
it just more like me ranting. So I don't mind.. Like how many likes I get on Finsta.
[00:05:02:06] Interviewer: So uhm. With your post sa Finstagram at Instagram kasi-- Ay
wait. uhm. Do you have like seperate audience like do you have like a specific audience
for your Instagram and do you have like a different audience for your Finstagram? Like,
how-- What's the difference of your followers and demographics?
[00:05:19:20] Hannah: Oh yung-- Sa friends-- Sa regular Instagram, its just like any of
my friends like whoever wants to follow me like for friends. If I know you then its fine
lang. But then in Finstagram its more of parang people na I trust to like... like talk about
my life. Parang yung tipong if I write the story of my life its fine if they end up reading it.
Like parang ganon. Like, its very... yung-- Like really close friends ko lang yung like
allowed and... or yung mga like people that I make kwento to a lot. So yun. That's my
audience.
[00:05:52:15] Interviewer: So your content on Finstagram parang you're not comfortable
to share it to your audience sa Instagram mo?
[00:05:59:12] Hannah: Yeah. Well, for the most part yeah. Like for example if I have
more of yung mga milestone like on my story pag ina-IG story ko sometimes there like
mga sad IG stories so yun that's like for them lang-- for my close friends. Pero usually,
yeah... like yun yung limitation-- that's why I keep... I keep yung like audience ko sa
Finsta. I'm not comfortable with other people to see it.
[00:06:34:25] Interviewer: So uhm. With your Instagram and Finstagram, how do you see
yourself? Like what is the image na you see of yourself or you want to see for yourself na
parang-- For example, parang if you want to be seen as a photographer you're gonna post
more uhm very aesthetic pictures, right? So what about you? Parang do you have any
ideal image na you want to project?
[00:06:59:08] Hannah: Uhm. For my Instagram, like the regular one, is just more of I
want to be seen na like "Oh. Cool." Like nice-- Like chill person like it's kinda funny
sometimes and parang maganda-- parang nice yung life niya and stuff. Pero for my Finsta
naman its more of like yung image ko is more parang wise or like wise and funny. Kasi
parang in my Finsta yung mga captions ko like there's always like... Parang "Today's
gratitude. Dedication." Parang ganon. Like "Oh. Shit." Like "It's so cool." Like... And or-
- Parang pag nagcocommentary ako like I make it kinda funny and light. So yun yung
image na pinoportray ko sa Finsta.
[00:07:42:12] Interviewer: Oh. Yeah. Like most of the caption you have to place
gratitude [and] dedication. That's nice. So uhm. Parang do you think na may expectations
sayo yung audience mo? Like for example, ako yung audience mo like for your-- hindi.
Ako, audience mo sa main Instagram mo na when I see it ???? this is what I think of her.
Parang do you feel na may expectations sayo yung audience mo?
[00:08:09:00] Hannah: For real Insta--?
[00:08:10:23] Interviewer: Yeah. For real. Oo. Yung parang ito siya on Finstagram
parang ito yung image niya on Instagram. Gets mo?
[00:08:17:05] Hannah: Ah. Yeah. I think so. Sometimes its like that. Cause... I guess rin
cause a lot of my friends sa real Instagram, they post really nice pics.
[00:08:26:16] Interviewer: Uh huh.
[00:08:26:26] Hannah: So parang yun yung ineexpect ng people sa feed na they see nice
pictures. And then-- yeah.
[00:08:32:17] Interviewer: So, how about sa Finstagram?
[00:08:33:17] Hannah: Sa Finstagram... I don't think people have like expectations naman
for me in Finstagram. Its just more of like just go rant and just do your thing.
[00:08:42:20] Interviewer: So do you think parang-- do you feel sometimes torn ka
between the image you want to portray and then the image that you feel na people want
you to portray?
[00:08:52:18] Hannah: Parang no naman. Like I don't feel torn naman about it. Its just
what ever goes na lang. It's fine.
[00:09:01:10] Interviewer: So, That's it for the first part of our interview. For the second
and the last of our interview uhm, I'm gonna choose three photos from each of your
accounts. And then we're gonna talk about it.
[00:09:12:11] Hannah: Okay.
[00:09:19:02] Interviewer: So this one, the last one, last-- Sorry. Last of us. So uhm. Can
you like tell the story behind the photo and what's the message na you want-- Hindi. Like
why did you post this on your Instagram.
[00:09:32:01] Hannah: Okay. Ano... for views.
[00:09:33:00] Interviewer: Di. Like for example-- for record lang sorry like this is a pic
of you like in a falls--
[00:09:38:01] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:09:38:21] Interviewer: --going down ba?
[00:09:42:21] Hannah: Well I think with this one its like-- Kasi I went to Cebu with my
friends. So nag-- As in kami kami lang and then we want vacation and stuff. And parang
I wanted to post that kasi I thought like ang ganda nung picture niya like its so...visually
pleasing like ang bright niya and parang very... like adventure like type na theme na
parang when you see it parang my gosh you're doing like such a cool things pala on
vacation. So yun.
[00:10:09:18] Interviewer: So parang... How do you imagine people very activist? Like
using the filters that you put... the... the... Basically the subject of the photo--
[00:10:19:25] Hannah: Little bit-- Oh wow. Like ang ganda ng picture.
[00:10:23:18] Interviewer: Okay.
[00:10:23:22] Hannah: Haha. Yeah.
[00:10:24:21] Interviewer: Alright. So let's go to another one. Haha. Ang cute. Yun this
one. Okay this is from May 2017. It's a pic of you--
[00:10:35:23] Hannah: My cousin. That's my cousin.
[00:10:36:22} Interviewer: Ah. Your cousin?
[00:10:37:08] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:10:37:20] Interviewer: Your cousin sa like facing waves--
[00:10:40:02] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:10:41:02] Interviewer: Why did you choose to post this photo?
[00:10:43:18] Hannah: Well, I like it cause wala its like... I thought it's not-- It's not a
picture of me-- para di lang ako lagi yung nasa pictures ko. And... I don't know. I like
yung composition ng waves and like yung light and stuff. So its looks pretty-- Also, it
kinda fits din sa-- It helps to even out the feed.
[00:11:10:03] Interviewer: So last one is... uhm. I'm gonna choose this one now. So this
is a pic of you with friends... on the beach. On the sand. And then smiling. And then like-
- Can you tell the story behind this?
[00:11:27:23] Hannah: Oh. That one... ano like I went... That's the-- parang we had this
?? party from my friend like Krissy... the one in the middle beside me. Cause like she was
moving na in Australia so we rented the beach together. And then parang-- We're just
parang taking-- Oh let's take a nice pictures for Instagram. Although, I like the fun kasi
its like... parang happy siya like very fun yung vibe niya. So yeah...
[00:11:56:02] Interviewer: Did you enhance this photo?
[00:11:57:15] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:11:57:27] Interviewer: That color... ganon?
[00:11:58:23] Hannah: I still want to... ***
[00:12:02:15] Interviewer: Oh. Okay. So that's it for your Instagram. So for your
Finstagram uhm. So this one. This is a photo of you and Ga... Gab?
[00:12:21:02] Hannah: Gabby.
[00:12:21:15] Interviewer: Gabby. Gabby. Haha. And another friend and the you guys are
wearing formal clothes.
[00:12:26:28] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:12:27:10] Interviewer: So like could you like share...
[00:12:29:27] Hannah: Oh. I like uhm. Kasi parang Anniv ya-- Anniv celebration ng
PsychSoc. So... And then so we got to dress up and everything. And I thought parang its
kinda memorable thing to let people-- Wow look at those she likes dressing up or having
fun. And I have like nice... Kasi I super like love having to dress up. And like makeup
and everything. So I thought na if its something na I enjoyed doing solely-- something
nice. So I post it.
[00:12:57:26] Interviewer: So why not post this on your Instagram?
[00:13:00:15] Hannah: Kasi hindi na siya kakasya sa feed ko. Like I don't know how.
Cause parang my feeds like by three's. Like by the row.
[00:13:07:03] Interviewer: Oh.
[00:13:08:07] Hannah: And then-- It's not... primetime though. Ish. Like I tried to fix the
colors. Parang siya yung colors niya aren't fit for my main Instagram.
[00:13:20:06] Interviewer: So parang yun yung batayan mo. Parang the colors and how it
would look... like look overall.
[00:13:24:18] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:13:26:06] Interviewer: So why? Parang why do you fix it like that? Yung feed mo.
Parang...
[00:13:30:07] Hannah: Parang like when you-- people open it like at the glance lang the
thing. Cause ako like I like looking at colors and stuff. Like magandang colors, themes,
and everything. So when I open someones like feed-- Like it doesn't have to be.. like
properly curated. Pero kung maganda yung mga colors-- like overall colors ng picture its
nice to look at.
[00:13:52:28] Interviewer: Oh. So... second-- this one. Okay this is a pic of you drinking-
- Oh is this like an I Psych--
[00:14:04:22] Hannah: Ah. Psych Soc also--
[00:14:05:26] Interviewer: Ah. Psych Soc. Okay. Sorry. Okay. What are you drinking
here?
[00:14:10:01] Hannah: Parang ano siya like vape-- vape into a mug tapos nung tinanggal
nila-- kasi parang my first pose nakaganon ako without any. Kinda looks weird. So yun
yung ginamit. So yeah.
[00:14:27:12] Interviewer: So this is like a humor-- humorous photo. So uhm. Parang
hindi ba siya fit sa Instagram mo ganon?
[00:14:35:26] Hannah: Well cause-- I post like cause... at first yan yung gusto kong
gawing profile picture. Haha. But then I chose a different one. And then I thought if I
post that on my Instagram, I'm gonna look for other pictures pa... to make-- to fit the feed
on Instagram. So, baka what if masira pa yung feed ko I don't get the colors right--
[00:14:56:23] Interviewer: So by tweek talaga yung pag pili mo?
[00:14:57:28] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:14:58:27] Interviewer: So sabay sabay yung... yung tatlo?
[00:15:00:26] Hannah: Sometimes sabay sabay or sometimes like one a day. Parang
ganun.
[00:15:04:26] Interviewer: I see.
[00:15:05:15] Hannah: So people have enough time to see it.
[00:15:07:12] Interviewer: Okay. So parang you post it this year kasi humorous siya--
[00:15:10:07] Hannah: Yeah.
[00:15:11:12] Interviewer: Haha.
[00:15:12:06] Hannah: Para di rin sayang yung--
[00:15:14:26] Interviewer: Okay. So this one... Haha. So this last one. Well, like, why did
you post a pic of yourself?
[00:15:28:15] Hannah: Kasi as in I was super sick after that day. As in I have like flu and
everything. And then parang people knew na oh cause of my allergies... Pero flu pala.
And then I have fever pala... **** Random lang na parang I'm gonna let people know
that I'm strong. And then-- But then its too funny like I make-- I make a funny parang--
like I make a humo-- I make it more humorous yung situation para its like... ****
[00:16:02:00] Interviewer: I think its actually funny. Haha. Okay. So uhm do you have
anything more to say about your Instagram and Finstagram?
[00:16:11:10] Hannah: Uhm. Well, I feel like more than just the pictures. It's-- yung mga
IG stories ko rin. Like parang... I don't really post as of-- Parang I... At least sa-- like I
use din yung Finstagram. Cause maganda yun sa close friends option sa IG. So usually
parang to use that option less sa main Instagram ko tinatransfer ko siya sa Finstagram.
[00:16:42:28] Interviewer: As in like close friends mo na sa Instagram?
[00:16:45:18] Hannah: Yeah yeah. As well sa Finstagram.
[00:16:47:01] Interviewer: Oh. I see. I see. Okay. So yun, thank you so much its the end
of our interview--
[00:16:50:01] Hannah: Thank you.
[00:16:51:27] Interviewer: So uhm as like different thing lang uhm. How do you feel
during and after the interview?
[00:16:57:20] Hannah: It was nice. Like... Parang I have to look back sa mga posts ko.
-- END OF INTERVIEW –
G. Kira
[00:00:00.00] Interviewer: Okay, alright. So first question uhm, how long have you been
using Instagram?
[00:00:05.22] Kira: I think high school pa. So, if I'm 3rd year college, ta's nag-start ako
mga 2nd year high school or 1st year high school pa nga ata. So that was 2012. Matagal-
tagal na rin.
[00:00:19.28] Interviewer: Okay. So sa years na 'yon, parang, kailan mo na-realize na "I
need a second account, I need a dump account," gano'n?
[00:00:26.23] Kira: No'ng college lang, so last school year - 2017. Parang, I thought na
gusto kong i-explore kasi as a person, I wanted a place where I can uhm, have an avenue
to express my feelings. Tapos dati kasi I keep writing blog or diary of some sort. And
then, parang naging uhm, part din siya ng learning ko na in terms of photography kasi I
wanted to learn how to take photos better 'cause of my position din sa organization. So
kaya ako nagkaroon ng second account, so do'n ako nagpo-post ng mga uhm, pictures of
the campus, or my friends, mga random adventures ko. So do'n ko dina-dump 'yong mga
stuff with. Ta's minsan parang medyo thought-provoking 'yong captions pero 'yong iba
parang wala lang, para lang may ma-caption lang ako.
[00:01:28.28] Interviewer: So saan mo nakuha 'yong idea na 'yon, parang nakita mo ba sa
idea na "Oh, pwede pala mag-ka dump account," gano'n.
[00:01:35.28] Kira: Kasi no'ng 2016, so graduate na kami ng high school, ang dami kong
batchmates na nagki-keep ng mga 3-6-5 accounts...
[00:01:46.29] Interviewer: 3-6-5 accounts?
[00:01:48.02] Kira: 3-6-5 accounts, 'yong parang one photo a day. So parang nagda-dump
sila, kasi diba dati hindi pa naman pwedeng multiple photos per post so talagang one
photo per day. So parang no'ng una, hindi ko siya gets! As in, gano'n ba dapat 'yong 2nd
account, na dapat one photo a day? Hindi ko siya kaya, kasi ako 'yong type na mabilis
magsawa, mabilis makalimot ng mga gano'ng bagay so hindi ko siya ginawa. Pero
nakikita ko 'yong ibang tao na parang uhm, pino-post lang nila do'n 'yong mga, may mga
specific silang mga uhm, photos na nilalagay sa second account nila like, makikita mo
talaga 'yong distinction no'ng first account sa second account, so 'yon kaya naisip ko na
siguro ito na lang 'yong gagamitin kong parang platform para i-post din 'yong uhm,
photos ko.
[00:02:40.24] Interviewer: Kumbaga, to be clear lang, 'yong kaninang sinabi mo is 'yong
kino-consider mo na dump account, siya 'yong curated, 'yong parang staged 'yong photo?
Kasi sinasabi mo diba parang gusto mo ng isa pang uhm, account for your photography.
[00:02:55.20] Kira: Yeah.
[00:02:56.08] Interviwer: So kumbaga, parang mas maintained or mas curated 'yong
second account?
[00:02:59.18] Kira: Yeah, for me it is. Kasi alam kong ang concept ngayon ng Finsta is
medyo 'yong parang blurry, as in authentic photos na hindi siya inayos, ganyan. Pero ako
kasi, ayoko no'ng hindi maayos. I mean, kahit naman sa first account ko, 'yong original
account ko, maayos naman siya, pero it's more of my uhm, me together with my friends
or my family, or me during my adventures.
[00:03:32.01] Interviewer: Oo. It's interesting kasi parang it's kinda different from most
Finstagram.
[00:03:37.23] Kira: 'Yon nga daw.
[00:03:38.24] Interviewer: Diba, pero is your photo dump, 'yong Finstagram mo, 'yon ba
'yong private account or no?
[00:03:45.11] Kira: Hindi. 'Yong photo dump ko 'yong public account tapos 'yong
original account ko 'yong private.
[00:03:53.11] Interviwer: Why so? Bakit mo na-decide na parang "'Yong dump account
ko 'yong mas.."
[00:03:58.23] Kira: Since parang mas curated rin 'yong uhm, photo dump so... actually
nagagamit ko siya halimbawa sa portfolio, ganyan, so like no'ng nag-a-apply ako for
internship, ganyan, if like may part na photography do'n, 'yon 'yong ni-link ko kasi 'yon
'yong medyo mas maayos na post process, ganyan. Although mas intimate siya- 'yong
mga captions. Pero 'yong photos kasi, 'yong syempre una mong makikita sa feed.
[00:04:24.28] Interviewer: Oo. Is there a difference sa audience mo, sa Finstagram mo
pati sa Instagram mo?
[00:04:30.01] Kira: Sa Finsta...
[00:04:32.04] Interviewer: 'Yong most followers mo, ano 'yong, sino-sino sila? Parang..
[00:04:35.03] Kira: I think both naman, for both accounts, mostly my friends pa rin. Pero
like, ako, I follow almost all my friends in my original Instagram account pero sa Finsta,
like, close friends.
[00:04:49.02] Interviewer: Ohh...
[00:04:50.11] Kira: Tapos ano rin, 'yong mga Finsta or like, mga photo dump accounts
din ng friends ko, do'n ko sa photo dump account ginagamit kasi parang 'yong Finsta
account ko, parang naging avenue rin siya for me to look for more creative stuff.
[00:05:05.17] Kira: So 'yong mga, kahit 'yong mga foreign accounts na gumagawa sila ng
logos or like, lay-out, do'n ako nagfo-follow do'n sa main account ko.
[00:05:15.21] Interviewer: Okay so uhm, parang 'yong Finstagram mo, siya 'yong nagfu-
fulfill ng creativity mo?
[00:05:22.10] Kira: Yes.
[00:05:22.21] Interviewer: Parang gano'n?
[00:05:23.05] Kira: Yes.
[00:05:24.14] Interviewer: Would you say na parang, uhm, parang, nevermind,
nakalimutan ko 'yong question. Haha.
[00:05:30.09] Kira: Oh, sige. Go lang.
[00:05:30.25] Interviewer: Okay, so ayun. Parang uhm, when you have a photo, parang
how do you choose siya na parang "Oh, this photo goes to my Instagram, this photo goes
to my Finstagram." Parang how do you uhm, pa'no ba, decide?
[00:05:45.02] Kira: Basta sa Finstagram ko, sinisigurado kong ako 'yong kumuha and ako
'yong nag-process kasi do'n ko... para sa akin do'n ko masasabi na akin 'yong photo
talaga. Kapag halimbawa kinuha ko from a friend na sabi ko "O, picturan mo ko," pero
maganda naman, ganyan, hindi akin 'yon eh. Kahit ipost-process ko 'yon. 'Yong framing
no'n, 'yong angle ganyan, hindi kasi sa akin nanggaling, so 'pag sa Finsta ko, akin talaga
'yan lahat.
[00:06:17.27] Interviwer: So 'yong sa Instagram mo... pero sa Instagram, may mga
pictures pa rin na ikaw 'yong kumuha?
[00:06:22.17] Kira: Yeah
.
[00:06:23.06] Interviewer: How do you decide na "Ah, sa Instagram na lang 'to or hindi
'to mapupunta sa Finstagram"?
[00:06:27.27] Kira: Hmm... I actually don't know. As in, well, ngayon parang medyo mas
ano na ako eh, mas particular na ako na kapag I'm with people, it's in my main account.
Pero kapag usually mga sceneries tsaka when I take photos of my friends or my loved
ones, sa Finsta 'yon.
[00:06:51.28] Interviewer: Pag nagpo-post ka naman, parang, diba nagpo-post ka na, for
example something na about sa photography mo, parang ikaw talaga ang nag-angle, nag-
frame, tapos ipo-post mo siya sa Finstagram mo, parang do you have any expectations?
[00:07:07.01] Kira: No. Kasi 'yon nga. Parang I dont force myself naman to post like,
very often, ganyan, halimbawa, usually kapag, 'yon nga kasi diba naging extension siya
no'ng parang writing blog ko. 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 do'n sa Finsta.
[00:07:33.21] Interviewer: What about on Instagram? Do u have any expectation na
dapat, "Oh, dapat magkaro'n ako ng ganitong like," gano'n.
[00:07:39.24] Kira : Siguro. Kasi marami akong followers do'n so parang alam ko 'yong
mga tao do'n parang active users naman. Pero, parang sa Instagram kasi hindi naman ako
sobrang particular sa uhm, engagement ng mga followers ko and stuff compared sa
Facebook, syempre, kasi mas malaki 'yong network do'n.
[00:08:06.12] Interviewer: So parang uhm, you just post for the sake of posting, gano'n?
[00:08:11.02] Kira: Yeah, especially kapag mga big events of my life. So sa main
account, nagpo-post ako na parang, mga best photo of the day, ganyan, with the people.
[00:08:19.12] Interviewer: Ahh, pero not necessarily everyday?
[00:08:22.14] Kira: No, I dont.
[00:08:23.10] Interviewer: Or occasional visual diary gano'n?
[00:08:25.23] Kira: Yes.
[00:08:28.09] Interviewer: Okay. So parang do you have an image - a particular image-
na gusto mong i-establish using your Instagram - your main Instagram. Parang "Kira is
like this." Parang 'yon 'yong nakikita mo sa sarili mo. Gets?
[00:08:44.06] Kira: Uhh, oo. Nage-gets naman pero uhm, feeling ko wala naman. Basta,
'yon nga kasi parang my main account is like, showing na parang, me with the people I
love so ito 'yong... kaya nga parang do'n sa bio ko din do'n sa account na 'yon parang "lol
at my messy feed." So messy talaga like, hindi kasi talaga ako marunong mag-curate,
hindi ko gets kung pa'no ginagawa ng mga tao.
[00:09:14.11] Interviewer: Oo.
[00:09:15.04] Kira : So parang wala, wala talagang pattern whatsoever. I mean 'yon na
'yong pinaka-distinction ko sa main account and sa Finsta. Mas curated tapos mas
personal, intimate 'yong Finsta kaysa sa main.
[00:09:30.06] Interviewer: You dont have like, a specific filter na ginagamit do'n?
[00:09:34.13] Kira: No, no.
[00:09:35.04] Interviewer: You just post-process it according to what you think looks
best?
[00:09:39.22] Kira: Oo pero na-realize ko na I'm the type of person like, artistic side na,
mas gusto ko 'yong vibrant. Mas nakita mo 'yong kulay kaysa sa dissaturated, muted
colors kasi...
[00:09:52.23] Interviewer: Bakit?
[00:09:55.04] Kira: Siguro since bata kasi ako, parang gusto ko 'yong mga colorful
things, as in no'ng time na hindi ko pa na-associate 'yong rainbow sa Pride ganyan, gusto
ko talaga 'yong mga rainbow colors. Kitang-kita mong putok na putok 'yong kulay.
[00:10:08.12] Interviewer: Pero do you think it has something to do with your personality
ba? Or...
[00:10:11.27] Kira: Siguro, na parang medyo loud 'yong personality ko, na parang gusto
ko makulay, masaya, ganyan, medyo maingay. So baka 'yon 'yong napo-project din no'ng
photos, gano'n din 'yong mga photos ko.
[00:10:27.14] Interviewer: So uhm, last question sa first part, sa first half. Parang, do you
post for you or do you post for other people?
[00:10:36.18] Kira: For me.
[00:10:37.17]Interviewer: For you?
[00:10:38.09]Kira: Yeah.
[00:10:38.18] Interviewer: Para...
[00:10:39.22] Kira: Kasi Instagram for me is like art? Parang, eh ang art naman sa'kin
parang, I want to be satisfied, parang do'n ko nakikilala kung sino talaga ako and 'yon so
iba't iba 'yong avenues ko for posting my artworks like may literary, may photo, may
music, gano'n.
[00:11:07.08] Interviewer: Alright, so tapos na tayo sa first half. Let's go on with the last
half. Kumbaga this is the part where I show you a few of your Instagram and Finstagram
posts and we're gonna talk about it.
[00:11:17.23] Kira: Okay, sure.
[00:11:18.12] Interviewer: Okay. So uhm, this is a photo of you, like, this is I think is for
elections?
[00:11:23.22] Kira: Yes.
[00:11:24.06] Interviewer: Tama ba?
[00:11:24.07] Kira: Yes.
[00:11:24.22] Interviewer: Ayan, nakasuot ka ng uhm, off-shoulder na white gano'n,
smiling at the camera. So parang could you uhm, tell the story behind this? Parang, why
did you choose to post this, gano'n.
[00:11:36.10] Kira: Election's such a big part of my 2018 kasi plot twist siya of some
sort, parang I never thought I would run. I mean, alam ko namang nasa political party ako
pero never ko inisip na tatakbo ako, ganyan, so ang dami kong natutunan. Para siyang
life-changing, as in iba talaga 'yong experience. Hindi ko siya ma-put into words. Kaya
parang sabi ko do'n sa caption is like, "2018 was a year of growing up and being more
mature," kasi ang daming nangyari sa buhay ko na- besides electons like, before
elections, after election. So parang it was a year of learning talaga for me which is really
big for me kasi ako 'yong type of person na I love learning and 'yong elections was my
peak so siguro 'yon 'yon... Tsaka ang ganda ko diyan!
[00:12:32.17] Interviewer: Haha
[00:12:34.15] Kira: Tsaka 'yon na 'yong... parang selected lang 'yong mga times na
nagkakaroon talaga ako ng magandang photo kasi sanay ako na ako 'yong nagte-take ng
photo so ayun.
[00:12:45.12] Interviewer: So what is exactly the reason why you decided to post this on
your Instagram and not on Finstagram? Kasi diba sinabi mo parang uhm, sometimes may
mga caption na deep ka rin sa Finstagram diba? So why post this on Instagram?
[00:13:01.11] Kira: Kasi, hindi ako 'yong kumuha niyan.
[00:13:03.14] Interviewer: Ah, right, right.
[00:13:05.02] Kira: Yeah, 'yon 'yong main reason.
[00:13:08.29] Interviewer: So the next one, this one. 'Yan!
[00:13:14.03] Kira: So this is in the National Museum in Manila. So uhm, I dont know
what this is pero I think this is a sculpture or something or...
[00:13:22.04] Kira: Ito 'yong parang middle part no'ng museum, eh.
[00:13:24.29] Interviewer: Oh, nice. Did you take this photo? Haha.
[00:13:27.24] Kira: Yeah, I did take this photo.
[00:13:29.10] Interviewer: So could you like, could you tell me the story behind this?
Parang why is this on your Instagram account?
[00:13:35.11] Kira: Uhm, wala siya masyadong hugot, parang hindi ako makakuha ng
emotions from that photo kasi. Pero it was part of my adventures so 'yon 'yong first
adventure ko for 2019. So ako kasi 'yong type na uhm, I like going to places alone. I
enjoy being alone naman. So I'm not lonely. So 'yon uhm, memorable siya kasi 'yon 'yong
adventure ko na nagka-sprain ako, ganyan.
[00:14:04.13] Interviewer: Oh, haha, mag-isa ka tapos. Haha.
[00:14:06.14] Kira: Oo, so parang buong araw lang akong naglalakad 'cause it started
with an errand in Manila, ta's sabi ko gusto ko rin- gusto ko rin- eh malapit siya sa
National History Museum so sabi ko gusto kong pumunta. So chineck ko ta's after no'n
naglalakad na lang ako the whole day sa Manila.
[00:14:25.13] Interviewer: Why not post this on your Finstagram?
[00:14:29.20] Kira: Uhm, oo nga 'no?
[00:14:32.22] Interviewer: Haha.
[00:14:33.02] Kira: Pero hindi, kasi ang dami kong photos that day tapos sabi ko gusto
kong 'yong mga nasa uhm, Finsta ko mostly 'yong mga colored ones, so parang medyo
na-sort ko na siya, na parang may mga plants and animals na nando'n sa loob ng museum
tapos 'yong structures tsaka 'yong mga people. Tsaka mas colorful 'yon. Tapos parang
wala naman 'ata akong black and white sa Finsta ko, if I'm not mistaken. Parang wala
masyado. Laging may kulay.
[00:15:14.21] Interviewer: Oo
[00:15:15.12] Kira: As much as possible.
[00:15:16.03] Interviewer: Yata mas may contrast gano'n?
[00:15:17.24] Kira: Yeah, I'm that person.
[00:15:20.19] Interviewer: Alright, so ayun. Pero basically it didn't fit...
[00:15:27.11] Kira: It didnt fit
[00:15:28.02] Interviewer: Oo. Haha. 'Yong photo dump mo?
[00:15:30.00]Kira: Oo.
[00:15:30.19] Interviewer: Ayun. So next one is... this one. Ayan. It's a photo, basically
parang it's not... kasi first you didnt- parang it's a photo of you with your UP Fair team?
[00:15:46.21] Kira: Yeah.
[00:15:47.18] Interviewer: Yeah? Uhm, basically because, nasa Finsta mo siya because
hindi mo siya tinake diba?
[00:15:53.01] Kira: Oo.
[00:15:53.16] Interviewer: Pero like, parang, whats the story behind this? Why did you
choose to post this on your Instagram?
[00:16:00.19] Kira: Ayun, kasi big part siya ng life ko kasi UP Fair is like a manifestation
of my advocacy na promoting OPM and at the Kirae time, it has always been like a thing
of mine na I want to be part of something big and for me, malaking bagay ang UP Fair sa
UP culture so nafu-fulfill ko 'yong dalawang bagay na 'yon at the Kirae time and 'yong
journey ko and 'yong learning experience ko sa UP Fair was really something I would
never uhm, replace, something I could never replace. Parang it's priceless, ganyan.
[00:16:45.08] Interviewer: Oo.
[00:16:46.21] Kira: 'Yon.
[00:16:46.25] Interviewer: So parang sort of a memory na 'yon?
[00:16:49.00] Kira: Yes.
[00:16:49.16] Interviewer: Sa Instagram mo. Alright. So lets go on to your... like, sa
photo dump mo.
[00:16:57.14] Kira: Okay.
[00:16:58.00] Interviewer: Alright. So uhm, like, parang 'yong mga photos mo dito sa
Finstagram mo, they're all in different landmarks, in Manila...
[00:17:11.29] Kira: Yeah...
[00:17:13.01] Interviewer: So parang how do you decide na "Oh" parang... Do you think
na parang "Oh, parang I'm in a pretty place so I'm gonna take a photo for my
Finstagram." Is that how you think?
[00:17:25.03] Kira: Sometimes. Pero usually when I'm outdoors, kapag maganda 'yong,
halimbawa 'yong tama ng ilaw, 'yon, parang naca-capture talaga ako no'n. Parang do'n
talaga nakukuha 'yong attention ko kasi I'm a sunset type of person.
[00:17:44.13] Interviewer: Oh. So let's talk about this one, 'yong latest photo mo. It's like
a silhouette of trees tapos sunset?
[00:17:52.00] Kira: Yeah...
[00:17:52.20] Interviewer: Sunset. So uhm, parang, what's the story behind this?
[00:17:57.09] Kira: Oh my gosh, where was this photo? I cant even...
[00:18:00.04] Interviewer: A few days ago. Haha. Five days ago.
[00:18:02.08] Kira: Oh! Ay, okay. Well 'yong photo na 'yan, parang sa may Masskom
'yan, sa may Hacienda 'ata 'to, if im not mistaken tapos ganda no'ng sunset so 'yon since
mahilig nga ako sa sunset, 'pag maganda kinukunan ko talaga. Tapos hindi ko siya pino-
post agad ta's no'ng pinost ko 'to, it was that day na parang I felt so loved, like, parang,
naa-appreciate ko 'yong friendships ko, 'yong mga friendship ko with different people,
from college, from high school, 'yong mga nawala tapos biglang bumalik. So parang I felt
something na medyo mabigat pero it was good na feeling na mabigat kaya parang gusto
ko lang siyang i-release.
[00:18:53.10] Interviewer: So parang, to clear it out lang, 'yong pareho mong uhm,
Instagram accounts, 'yong Finstagram pati 'yong main, parehas silang visual diary of
some sort?
[00:19:03.19] Kira: Yeah.
[00:19:04.22] Interviewer: But like...
[00:19:06.02] Kira: Ito, mas intimate? Like, it's more of my internal feelings, 'yong
Finsta. Pero 'yong uhm, main account is more of like me outside uhm, or like, having fun
with people.
[00:19:21.00] Interviewer: Oh, okay. So next one is this one. Sa ano, Intramuros 'to!
[00:19:30.25] Kira: Oo.
[00:19:31.11] Interviewer: Yes, sa Intramuros 'to. I have the same picture. Haha.
[00:19:34.25] Kira: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Diba ang ganda, ang ganda ng kulay.
[00:19:36.25] Interviewer: Ang ganda, ang ganda.
[00:19:38.04] Kira: Ang ganda ng kulay no'ng building.
[00:19:38.26] Interviewer: Oo. So like, could you tell me the story behind it?
[00:19:43.01] Kira: No'ng pinost ko 'to, there was this one time na I was cleaning my
gallery no'ng mga photos, tapos parang na-realize ko "Oh my God," kasi nada-damage
siya- 'yong file, hindi ko alam, parang, basta naco-corrupt or something. Hindi ko
maintindihan. Ta's parang, buti nasa VSCO ko siya, so kasi I usually edit photos sa
VSCO. So okay pa naman siya do'n pero sa gallery ko medyo may problem na siya. And
then sabi ko eh para ma-preserve ko siya, para at least nando'n na siya , nakapost na siya
nang maayos online bago siya masira. So kaya ko siya pinost. And kasi parang connected
'to do'n sa- sorry ayusin ko lang...
[00:20:29.10] Interviewer: 'Kay, go lang.
[00:20:29.28] Kira: Parang connected do'n sa may bridge akong photo. This one.
[00:20:34.01] Interviewer: Ohhh...
[00:20:34.15] Kira: Ito, magkakasama 'to. Manila yan. parang isang araw lang lahat yan.
[00:20:38.21] Interviewer: Mga post mo no'ng March 24.
[00:20:40.18] Kira: Oo. So kasi nagpunta ako ng Manila no'n for a class activity. Sabi ko
dito sa... ito parang sabi ko medyo shy pa ako i-post 'yong ibang Manila photos so enjoy
this beautiful bridge pic. So plano ko talaga mag-post ng Manila photos ko no'n pero
hindi ko na nagawa kasi... kaya may picture ako ng Binondo Church, kasi ito 'yong time,
so March 24, ito 'yong time na nare-realize ko tatakbo na ako. So parang, seeking
guidance from the Lord...
[00:21:17.07] Interviewer: Oo. Haha.
[00:21:17.29] Kira: Ganyan, so 'yon 'yon. So Manila-related pa rin siya pero may iba na
siyang meaning sa'kin.
[00:21:24.09] Interviewer: So it's very intimate talaga.
[00:21:25.17] Kira: Yeah.
[00:21:29.15] Interviewer: So this one. It's very deep.
[00:21:32.27] Kira: Talaga?
[00:21:33.19] Interviewer: I think, I think. Parang it's a picture of the sky ta's may isang
airplane sa gitna lang.
[00:21:38.04] Kira: As in nachansingan ko nga- ang galing nga niyan, eh. Pero akala ko
nga parang blurred 'yan or something. As in chance lang 'yong photo na 'yan.
[00:21:45.01]Interviewer: Oo.
[00:21:46.05] Kira: Parang hindi ko na kung ano 'yong nafi-feel ko no'ng time na 'to.
Siguro like, I was lost, I guess? Or I wanted to go on an adventure again siguro kasi
stressed ako with school stuff. So parang diba like, airplanes means you're going like, on
another place so siguro 'yon ta's parang 'yong caption is part of a, parang lyrics siya of a
song. So that's Up Dharma Down ata. So 'yon. Parang ang ganda- actually ang ganda nga.
Sinasabi nga nila ang ganda ng photo na parang hindi ko pa siya naga-grasp. "Talaga? Eh
parang sakto lang, siguro sinwerte lang talaga ako."
[00:22:28.11] Interviewer: Ang deep niya, ang deep niya. Ta's with that ano pa, with that
caption pa. So ayun, uhm, do you like, before we end this interview, do you have any
other parang uhm, explanations or comments about your Instagram and Finstagram that
you wanna add?
[00:22:43.20] Kira: Uhm, ayun nga kasi hindi ko alam kung important, parang no'ng
tinatanong mo ako about Instagram and Finsta before, as in fisrt time pa, parang do'n ko
na-realize na iba pala ako mag-maintain, as in do'n ko lang na-realize na "Ay, iba pala
ako? Weird pala."
[00:23:03.28] Interviewer: Haha
[00:23:04.11] Kira: Well, okay lang naman kasi nafu-fulfill ko naman 'yong gusto kong
uhm, mangyari na may avenue ako for my photos and I get to learn kasi I follow other
creative accounts din in my Finsta. Parang mas curated nga siya and mas maayos siya in
a sense compared do'n sa main account ko.
[00:23:27.18] Interviewer: So pero you think naman diba na nasa-satisfy ka, 'yong pag-
utilize mo ng Instagram?
[00:23:32.02] Kira: Hm-mmm. Parang kanya-kanya naman ata tayo ng paggamit ng
social media accounts natin. So ako, masaya ako sa way ko ng pag-keep track ng life ko.
So 'yong iba, kung gusto nila everyday, feeling ko naman, okay lang din naman 'yon.
Kanya-kanya namang avenue.
[00:23:52.29] Interviewer: So uhm, do you have any other messgaes? Haha. Or...
[00:23:56.15] Kira: Good luck sa thesis mo. Interesting siya.
[00:23:57.28] Interviewer: Haha. Thank you. Ayan. So that ends our interview.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
H. Lisa
[00:00:03.16] Interviewer: I’ll not ice break na or anything; so to start, how long have
you been using Instagram?
[00:00:08.04] Lisa: Uhm I think, when did it blow up? Siguro 20-- 2012, 2013.
[00:00:17.21] Interviewer: It’s a very high school, ganun?
[00:00:18.03] Lisa: Yeah, highschool. 2nd year high school.
[00:00:21.03] Interviewer: How about a dump account or a Finstagram? How have you
been using that?
[00:00:25.02] Lisa: Oh, the -- my account. It started, uhm nine -- 19th birthday. So, I
wanted to do the 365 day post challenge, pero I failed like after a month or two so I
turned it into a dump nalang instead.
[00:00:44.17] Interviewer: So like, saan mo nakuha yung idea na pwede magka-365
challenge?
[00:00:50.26] Lisa: Sa friend ko.
[00:00:51.21] Interviewer: Oh, she’s doing that din?
[00:00:53.21] Lisa: Yeah, she did that when she turned 18. Sige, let’s try, but I can’t
commit to that haha.
[00:01:01.08] Interviewer: Oh. So parang when you start to realize na I can’t commit to
the 365 degree, uhm, post challenge, parang ano na yung naging focus? Saan na
nagrevolve yung Finstagram mo ngayon?
[00:01:10.19] Lisa: Uhm, it started with like aesthetic post, kasi I had a personal “for a
while” for like at least two or three years before the Finsta one, and then 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.
[00:01:40.29] Interviewer: O yung mga gusto mo sanang ipost pero hindi pumapatok sa
followers mo?
[00:01:44.13] Lisa: Oo.
[00:01:47.14] Interviewer: So parang lahat ng hindi bagay sa main Instagram mo,
nilalagay mo nalang sa dump account mo?
[00:01:50.21] Lisa: Dump -- yeah
[00:01:51.21] Interviewer: So what do you mean na parang hindi pumapatok sa audience
mo? Parang, can you elaborate that?
[00:01:57.19] Lisa: Yeah. Kasi I think bare minimum of likes is -- is 30, and if I post like
yung aesthetic, like headless outfits or uhm just weird objects with uhm with, with
negative space, it only gets like barely 20 and stuff.
[00:02:16.03] Interviewer: Oo. Haha
[00:02:19.06] Lisa: It hurts me. It hurts me, so I delete it din
[00:02:19.25] Interviewer: Kasi when you post on Instagram parang you have this kind of
expectation
[00:02:23.28] Lisa: Yeah
[00:02:26.08] Interviewer: Na dapat at least bare minimum, 30.
[00:02:28.09] Lisa: Uhm yeah. I tried multiple feed styles. So if you scroll through my
main, the very first ones talaga 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 uhmm -- 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, pero right now, I just, I
don’t use filters na.
[00:03:02.21] Interviewer: Oh, I see I see
[00:03:05.14] Lisa: Yeah, it’s just like contrast, brightness. Ganun lang.
[00:03:08.11] Interviewer: So what can you say on your main Instagram? You post for
your audience, ganun?
[00:03:11.14] Lisa: Yeah. Kinda.
[00:03:14.09] Interviewer: Why do you think so? Parang why do you feel na you have to
post for your audience?
[00:03:18.01] Lisa: Uhm, I think it’s part of how I curate my identity or how I fit the --
their perceptions of my identity? So uhm, I don’t think they’d like if let’s say I try to post
the other aesthetic post that didn’t make the cut. It’s like they’re not acknowledging the
part of my identity that wants to come out. So I just uhm -- that’s why I cater to what they
like -- is -- para -- wala -- ma-acknowledge na this kind of Kyla exists, but the other side
doesn’t. It just exists in the dump account.
[00:04:01.02] Interviewer: So could you describe yung, yung kind na tingin mong gusto
makita ng audience mo? Parang Lisa is blank ganun?
[00:04:08.25] Lisa: I think -- well -- I -- 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 says that it’s my outfits that -- they identify me with my
outfits, but they -- like this one -- the -- I think -- this one --- this post gained likes lang
because it’s branded, and -- but that’s usually how I want. That’s how I want it talaga, but
yun.
[00:04:40.03] Interviewer: Oh, so parang you think na they see you as this fashion icon of
some sort?
[00:04:47.05] Lisa: Yeah, for fashionable --
[00:04:50.09] Interviewer: Parang you, you convince yourself to post more of that,
ganun?
[00:04:53.22] Lisa: Oo. That’s why there -- ang daming wide gaps between my post
because I don’t have the energy to do that everyday.
[00:04:59.27] Interviewer: Oo. So, pero what about the image na you want to see for
yourself. Parang nasisingit mo pa ba yun sa feed mo?
[00:05:07.16] Lisa: Ah yeah, sometimes. Kasi the outfits naman are self-expression, but
it’s not always everyday that I dress up like that. So yeah, I still have my own.
[00:05:21.02] Interviewer: Like paano, paano mo yun na-express? Kasi yung aesthetic,
yung fashion, sa kanila yun eh diba? Gusto nila yun eh.
[00:05:24.16] Lisa: Yeah
[00:05:27.26] Interviewer: Pero what about you? Parang, do you express it pa? Parang,
were you able to express pa ba using your main Instagram or lahat na yun ay nasa dump
account mo na?
[00:05:34.15] Lisa: Uhm well, sa food.
[00:05:37.06] Interviewer: Oh, sa food?
[00:05:39.15] Lisa: The food takes there. My favorite food is laksa so I post about it a lot.
[00:05:41.28] Interviewer: Same haha
[00:05:44.25] Lisa: Even the food when I went to Mendokoro. So, I post food. Even if
it’s out of trend, I post food sometimes, if not, the places that I like to go. So, this was in
Singapore. This is also in Singapore. So -- uhm -- uhm -- on top of being of -- instead of -
- uhm -- I express myself that I’ve gone around, in a sense. Ayun.
[00:06:10.08] Interviewer: So let’s go back to the audience thing. Parang, how would
you describe your audience in Instagram mo pati sa Finstagram mo?
[00:06:17.18] Lisa: My main audience is --yung audience ko sa main kasi it’s like uhmm,
friends. Friends, family, and peers, like I haven’t talked to them a lot or haven’t self-
disclosed a lot of information to the most of my followers in the main, but they know me
on the surface level. Meanwhile sa Finsta, those are my closest friends. So yeah, I uhm,
nakakapagrant ako or alam nila yung true colors ko. Tapos yun.
[00:06:52.28] Interviewer: Oo. Kaya finifilter mo sila by -- kasi private yung, diba private
yung account mo? So --
[00:06:59.02] Lisa: Yeah, and my mom follows me kasi haha.
[00:07:01.22] Interviewer: Oh, unnamed.
[00:07:05.07] Lisa: Yeah. Eh -- like 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.
[00:07:14.14] Interviewer: Define magkalat? Like how do you “kalat” on Finstagram
ganyan?
[00:07:20.16] Lisa: Oh, here. This one uhm, this photo is uhm, a photo of the cards when
Dom tried to tell my fortune, and like “My mom won’t like that. A cultist? Like it’s, it’s
out of religion”. Something religious kasi siya; she’s gonna hate me. Then there, I can’t
really say that kasi it’s also the public image.
[00:07:41.25] Interviewer: Pero on Finsta naman, parang when you, when you post on
Finstagram, do you have some sort of expectations din?
[00:07:50.05] Lisa: Oh no, I just like really dump my -- everything ‘cause uhm I think
that’s also how my twitter functions kasi. I also have a uhm, I also have a private twitter
with like all my close friends, and that’s -- I just dump everything there. So that’s how
Finsta evolved from 365 day challenge or to aesthetic dump post to a rant, semi rant
account.
[00:08:13.28] Interviewer: So are you the type of Instagram user na parang uhm, parang,
sa main Instagram mo -- parang are you the type of main Instagram user na parang “I
hope you like this”, parang I hope they like the image that I -- ganun?
[00:08:27.07] Lisa: Yeah, like it was worse before.
[00:08:29.25] Interviewer: Oh, really?
[00:08:32.06] Lisa: Kasi before talaga like ”Oh no, this needs more black!”, or “I have to
edit it like this” -- like that "I can't edit", or “Bakit kulang sa sunlight?” At least now, it’s
like uhm “Oh I have this picture, siguro naman they’ll like it” or "sana they’ll like it, and
then I ‘ll post it". Yeah.
[00:08:50.20] Interviewer: So, very curated depende sa trend and all. Meanwhile sa
Finstagram, as in may fan account, ang kalat and all.
[00:08:55.10] Lisa: Ang kalat. Yeah
[00:08:58.13] Interviewer: So parang would you say, yung image mo naman sa
Finstagram, do you have like a certain image na you have established using your
Finstagram?
[00:09:04.26] Lisa: None. It’just a window to my head. That’s, that’s what it is.
[00:09:18.08] Interviewer: So would you say na parang , which of the two: your main
Instagram -- the curated one, and the kalat one na Finstagram, parang uhm, may --
mayroon bang account na parang mas nagpapakita ng totoong Lisa? Or parang --
[00:09:31.08] Lisa: Uhm I think it’s -- walang superlative or one has the most but I think
uhm -- but the Finsta one is less filtered talaga because this is where I get to disclose
everything from my day, to my issues, and stuff, and that’s ‘cause --it’s part of me.
Meanwhile the main, it’s still part of me, but it’s more of like how I am perceived
outside. It’s like attached to me, but it’s also catering to how people think of me.
[00:10:01.18] Interviewer: And how you want them to see you?
[00:10:04.18] Lisa: And how you want them to see me. Yeah.
[00:10:07.26] Interviewer: So would you say na parang both of them are like your visual
diaries? or--
[00:10:07.17] Lisa: So yeah. My favorite parts, so far, would be when I went to
Singapore. So I filled the, the entire grid talaga
[00:10:21.18] Interviewer: It’s nice. Very aesthetic.
[00:10:22.14] Lisa: Thank you.
[00:10:24.19] Interview: So wait, I'm gonna ready lang --
[00:10:25.28] Lisa: Hindi, go lang.
[00:10:25.14] Interviewer: Okay, so I think that’s it for the first half of, of our interview.
Let’s go on to the second, the last part. So I’m gonna choose a, a few of your photos and
then we’re gonna talk about it.
[00:10:39.01] Lisa: Okay.
[00:10:43.04] Interviewer: So basically, talk about the -- yung grid na medyo medyo
orangey about your Singapore travel. Why do you think you posted, let’s say this one, a
photo of you in front of a mural?
[00:10:51.14] Lisa: Oh, that one. Uhm, I had another photo of the entire mural, but it
didn’t look balanced because a lot, there was a lot of greeneries, out of trees around;
tapos, since it was a wall, it wasn’t square, so it didn’t fit, eh I have a small uhm -- I
have my own principle na dapat square pa rin lahat kahit na it allow, kahit Instagram
allows the rectangular variety na, but no – so I posted this one instead; the one with me
because it still fits and uhm, my shirt matches the wall.
[00:11:22.29] Interviewer: Ah, oo. Ah, yeah. Parang , dito ba parang -- ano yung
expectations mo, and how you want them to react?
[00:11:32.00] Lisa: Oh, I know they’re gonna like it haha. I knew cause it’s, it’s a mural,
and it has my outfit, so, parang it’s, it’s really coordinated if you see, so harmonious, so
parang sabi ko “ay papatok to”. I knew though, you know, you have those photos that
you know your followers would like talaga, so that’s one of them.
[00:11:52.01] Interviewer: So you really talaga ano, you really studied talaga how your
followers would react and then you created a theme or created photos based on that?
[00:11:56.06] Lisa: Yeah
[00:12:02.16] Interviewer: Usually before like -- before, they want the entire feed to look
like a certain color, sabi ko "masyado siyang matrabaho, hindi ko yan kaya", so I did it by
row nalang. So if you noticed that, ito orange --yan magkakakulay.
[00:12:18.27] Interviewer: Ayan. So let’s go on to uhm, this one. Pinakalatest, yung sa
Mendokoro Ramen House? Yeah, so if you like tell a story? Tell the story behind this.
[00:12:34.16] Lisa: Uhm, I posted the photos of the food na kasi on my story, so I didn’t
want it to be repetitive na. I posted it here, and then I wanted usually -- I take photos of
the interior kasi, but my seat sa mendokoro, I was at the pinakadulo, near the bathroom,
so corner. So ang pangit nung view, tapos against the light; it’s so crowded. So, I didn’t
have time -- and the place kasi it’s like, it’s high ceiling pero medyo masikip, so bawat
corner may tao, may ulo. So like, "ang pangit". So I said, “Sige , let’s focus on the people
nalang”.
[00:13:14.23] Interviewer: So, tanong lang rin? Do you also curate your Instagram story
on your main?
[00:13:23.19] Lisa: Uhm you know, the close, the close friends function helped me ano..
not curate it. Well, before it was kind of curated pa because -- but it’s not as much as the
feed kasi the feed it permanent eh; so the stories, they disappear, so it’s okay if we make
a mess kasi it you can see lang for 24 hours; but the close friends function helped into,
helped me to actually take all of it out na “I won’t -- I am not gonna curate this. I’m
gonna treat it like snapchat”. Yeah.
[00:13:57.09] Interviewer: Do you also use the, the IG story function sa Finstagram mo?
[00:14:00.18] Lisa: Yes, sometimes.
[00:13:59.22] Interviewer: So what’s the difference between the close friends na function
sa main Instagram mo and how you IG story yung sa Finstagram? ‘cause they’re --
[00:14:14.03] Lisa: Well, none. Kasi before, the more confidential, the more private
stories, they go to the Finsta, but since they introduced the closed friends function; it’s
like I stopped using Instagram stories in the Finsta, and then I moved to the main. Yeah.
[00:14:31.02] Interviewer: So, last one for your main Instagram. This one, this is the
photo na you showed me kanina.
[00:14:35.04] Lisa: Yes.
[00:14:36.06] Interviewer: Make up. Blush on, i think?
[00:14:36.22] Lisa: Yeah, it’s blush on.
[00:14:38.17] Interviewer: So why did you choose to post this on your Instagram?
[00:14:40.02] Lisa: Actually, it’s a filler pic. The caption is just an “x”. It’s a filler pic
because it’s all black, so I wanted to change the palette. So the raw is white kasi I knew I
was gonna post this. That was the first – this, the photo next to it, that was the day that
the -- I first used the blush on kasi.
[00:15:01.01] Interviewer: Ah okay.
[00:15:02.27] Lisa: So ayun -- 26 and then, 26. So I just posted the make up earlier, and
then I posted the selfie kasi puro white na yan, and then I added another one. This one is
also a filler. This was in Singapore. See, so 14 likes? Tiniis ko siya kasi filler, so it looks
nice.
[00:15:20.10] Interviewer: Haha. Oo. Oo.
[00:15:23.08] Lisa: Okay. So yun
[00:15:24.16] Interviewer: I see. I see. I see
[00:15:25.02] Lisa: Filler yan.
[00:15:27.03] Interviewer: So talagang hangga’t maari, ayaw mo talaga ng less 30 likes?
[00:15:29.20] Lisa: Yeah.
[00:15:32.10] Interviewer: Ganun? I see. I see. Okay. That’s it for your main Instagram.
Let’s go on with your Finstagram. Okay so -- this one, it’s a photo of you taking a pic of
view in the mirror.
[00:15:45.00] Lisa: Oo.
[00:15:47.03] Interviewer: Uhm tapos bakit siya nasa Finstagram, basically?
[00:15:49.17] Lisa: Uhm, because that’s what -- those were the photos of when I was
trying to blazer on, and I didn’t want to post it on my main 'cause I had a different outfit
fo with it -- outfit --outfit for -- it in my head, so that’s when this, days will appear, when
I wear a certain outfit.
[00:16:07.09] Interviewer: Oh, I see. Pati talaga yung combination mo talaga as in cinu-
curate mo?
[00:16:13.09] Lisa: Also, I don’t like posting things that I didn’t buy or I don’t own?
[00:16:20.16] Interviewer: Oh, Did you buy this?
[00:16:25.01] Lisa: Yeah, I bought it. I bought it. I was just waiting for the right time
haha.
[00:16:28.09] Interviewer: Right. So next is, so this one, latest mo? Parang yung ano
lang, from eye, the eyes up lang.
[00:16:35.26] Lisa: Yeah.
[00:16:38.05] Interviewer: Why, parang--
[00:16:40.12] Lisa: Mood lang siya. I think, I was five days ago -- Oh, that was when I
was about -- it's either I came home from camping or I was about to leave for the
camping trip for PE. I’m so tired kasi thesis thesis thesis tapos camping, and then thesis
thesis thesis ulit so I just posted this like "Oh, I was bored", so really just for --
[00:17:00.01] Interviewer: So really just for the for the sake of posting it. For expression
talaga?
[00:17:01.26] Lisa: Yeah.
[00:17:03.21] Interviewer: Sorry haha. So that’s -- this is like, like a street sign tapos may
picture?
[00:17:09.29] Lisa: Yeah. That was a sticker. I think that’s the sign near maskom?
[00:17:13.02] Interviewer: Oh, really?
[00:17:14.06] Lisa: Going -- yeah, papasok from the kiosks
[00:17:17.01] Interviewer: Oo.
[00:17:19.14] Lisa: Yeah. I have a fixation with like street art and stickers. It was weird,
and then this one uhm -- it reminded of another artist that they follow on tumblr. So, it’s
medyo explicit yung art niya, Kahit line art siya, very explicit yung images niya but yun,
it reminded me of it and I took a photo of it. Now, I posted it kasi it’s explicit and my
mom follows me.
[00:17:43.11] Interviewer: Oh, alright.
[00:17:42.15] Lisa: But, I also have another one in my main -- of the -- “Garapata” icon..
wait lang. I think. Yeah, basta I remember posting about the Garapa -- ay -- Garapa –
“Garapata” character. Uhm, it’s either that or I hid it. Basta ‘yun. The “Garapata”
character, it’s a Filipino brand. Animated “Garapata”, so usually kasi it -- the game there
is you spot “Garapata” everywhere, so I took a photo and posted it there kasi it’s
“garapata”, it's not explicit, but also shows the fixation ko nga sa street art and street
signs ganyan.
[00:18:30.11] Interviewer: I see. Really, it's like mirroring you?
[00:18:33.22] Lisa: Yeah.
[00:18:38.18] Interviewer: Okay, so that’s the end of the interview. Siguro lang before we
end nalang, we have any more parang comments or message na you want to add na you
think might help ganun?
[00:18:51.21] Lisa: Uhm, I think ano uhm, Finstas serve like as the counterpart lang of
private twitters on Instagram cause that’s most -- that’s how I use mine, but there are -- I
have also friends who -- their main are filled with their faces, or like their family, or
something, and then they have a Finsta for their aesthetic; so it really depends upon the
person of uhm-- uhm -- of how they use Finsta. Madaming nuances yung mga ano, but
they all fall under Finsta.
[00:19:25.27] Interviewer: Oo, pero actually, si Sam ganun din eh. Aesthetic yung Finsta
niya.
[00:19:29.01] Lisa: Yeah.
[00:19:31.13] Interviewer: Tapos yung main niya yung parang kalat, ganyan.
[00:19:36.16] Interviewer: So, last one. Uhm, how do you feel.. how did you feel
throughout the whole interview?
[00:19:47.17] Lisa: Nakakaaliw. Wala, natuwa ako kasi usually I pass Instagram of as
like something shallow. It’s a -- it’s a -- it’s a very shallow application kasi – ‘cause you
try to narrate your life in pictures, but really, it’s just you, curating. I think nga eh
Instagram was part of the reason why ang lala ng beauty industry eh.
[00:20:02.07] Interviewer: Oh, aesthetic.
[00:20:02.22] Lisa: Kasi from-- yeah, everywhere. Uhm, yung mga models, yung mga
brands, they’re always there and then, wala kang takas sa kanila. Yun, so nakakaaliw din
na you dig deeper on how it actually influences my identity and how I present myself. So,
Judith Butler is shaking.
[00:20:25.08] Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, true
[00:20:27.21] Lisa: Instagram is a performance.
[00:20:27.20] Interviewer: A feminist literature.
-- END OF INTERVIEW –
I. Naomi
[00:00:21.04] Interviewer: Hello! Thank you for accepting my invitation. So ayun, for
starters, could you state your name, age, and your school?
[00:00:51.20] Naomi: I'm Naomi, 18 years old, from UPD.
[00:00:55.08] Interviewer: Okay, so how long have you been using Instagram?
[00:00:57.18] Naomi: Maybe like 4 or 5 years but I've only been active... I started my
main account 4 or 5 year ago but I've only been posting mga 2 years ago.
[00:01:13.14] Interviewer: I see. How about sa Finstagram?
[00:01:17.13] Naomi: I started on my senior year in high school so last year or no... 2017.
[00:01:28.10] Interviewer: But back then ba do you call it Finstagram na?
[00:01:30.13] Naomi: No. We called it like a "dump account". So it's mostly like where
we tell stories about stuff and event that happened that aren't really like worthy to put on
your IG feed. But mostly it's just for like, before "Close Friends" was made on Instagram.
[00:01:53.03] Interviewer: Define like an "IG-worthy" parang why do you feel na you
can't post some photos on your main account?
[00:02:00.06] Naomi: Uh, I don't know, like 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 will know me would understand. Like, they know about me
ganyan and I want them to know about it.
[00:02:22.16] Interviewer: So what is the difference ba between the audience on your
main and on your Finstagram?
[00:02:26.12] Naomi: Oh, on my dump, my Finstagram these are people na I'm really
close like I'm comfortable with sharing my random stories with them. Then on my main,
they're people na I've met maybe once or twice and then we don't really interact as much.
[00:02:43.16] Interviewer: Kanina you mentioned like "IG-worthy", could you define it?
What is an "IG-worthy" photo for you?
[00:02:52.27] Naomi: For me it's about travel pictures and siguro, like, there's like an
organization DP shoot tapos you're gonna post outtakes from it. Yung mga stuff na you
didn't use, mga ganon. Like mostly, aesthetic pictures.
[00:03:11.05] Interviewer: With this one, your feed on Instagram, could you define your
aesthetics? Do you have a specific filter that you maintain?
[00:03:20.27] Naomi: Kinda. Like, this photo, I only have 6 posts on my main Instagram.
So this one, the bottom row, this one if from 2 years ago so it's kinda like vintage and this
one is like, the 2nd row, is like blacks and parang orange, and then this one is from my
Japan trip, that's why I said travel kanina. The 2nd row is from concerts that I went to.
[00:03:42.24] Interviewer: Do you maintain it by row--
[00:03:44.29] Naomi: By 3 pictures, yes.
[00:03:45.21] Interviewer: Why so?
[00:03:48.04] Naomi: I don't know, kase the layout of Instagram is like that. So parang it
looks nicer, as in, hindi siya magulo to look at.
[00:03:57.22] Interviewer: I see, I see. On Finstagram, do you have a specific theme
there?
[00:04:06.03] Naomi: No, no.
[00:04:11.20] Interviewer: Anyways, whenever you post on Instagram, do you have a
certain expectation?
[00:04:21.13] Naomi: Yeah, on my main, I am more anxious like "Gosh, will people
react to it?". As in, sometimes you tell people to like your post. But on my Finstagram, I
don't really care if people like it or not. It's just more of like, it's like Twitter, but with
more words and pictures.
[00:04:48.08] Interviewer: You try to keep a certain prettiness, so parang minsan ka lang
mag-post and all. What about on Finstagram, do you feel anything?
[00:05:00.15] Naomi: I can show you. Parang ganyan, there's not really a certain theme
tapos most of them are like, 10 pictures in one post, kase there are pictures na I don't
know what to do with it pero I wanna share to people pa rin.
[00:05:16.28] Interviewer: Ohh so do you post everyday on Finstagram?
[00:05:16.28] Naomi: Not really. I used to, but then I got tired. So parang I post once in a
while, parang accumulative of the events that happened in my life.
[00:05:31.17] Interviewer: So parang you maintain a visual diary of some sort?
[00:05:31.17] Naomi: Yeah, kinda.
[00:05:33.09] Interviewer: I see, pero hindi everyday.
[00:05:36.27] Naomi: No, although there are some people I follow who still do that.
Yung everyday, they post.
[00:05:42.25] Interviewer: Ito ba yung 365 challenge?
[00:05:43.25] Naomi: Oo, and they forget about it.
[00:05:46.29] Interviewer: I see, I see. So with both of your accounts, do you have a
specific image na you see of yourself? Na parang, this is the image of Naomi that I want
to convey through my Instagram and Finstagram. It can be different.
[00:06:04.18] Naomi: I think parang like what I said kanina, it's not really an image per
se, but on Finstagram like I'm more personal. Parang, hindi naman na parang I'm fake on
my main pero, I don't know, it's not really as personal as my Finstagram.
[00:06:24.28] Interviewer: Pero parang there's no specific na "Naomi is blank".
[00:06:27.23] Naomi: No naman.
[00:06:28.28] Interviewer: Oh I see. It's just that you really want to just maintain a certain
aesthetic?
[00:06:33.26] Naomi: Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:33.26] Interviewer: How about the expectation of your image from others?
Parang, do you feel na parang they should see me as like this.
[00:06:44.27] Naomi: Oh, kind of. Like on my main Instagram, parang, I kind of care
more about how other people see me. Like, even on my story, with parang the stories on
my main they're like stuff na I want people to see. And then on my dump, parang I want
my close friends lang to see. That's why I don't have the "Close Friends" list kase parang
my close friends naman are on my Finstagram na. So I post na lang on my dump.
[00:07:13.23] Interviewer: Could you elaborate on that image? Ano image mo sa close
friends mo at ano naman yung sa general public?
[00:07:21.08] Naomi: Oh, maybe like the general, parang I want people to see me na
parang social na parang traveler. Tapos with my close friends, parang wala lang, parang
funny. Kase with my close friends, I don't really have to try as much 'cause they know me
already. So parang I just post natural stuff. For example, sometimes I'm gonna post an IG
story of me stressed about school then I'm gonna post like a derp photo but I wouldn't do
that with my main. Wala lang, it's different kase it's with people na I've only met once or
twice. So parang, I don't want them to see me like that yet.
[00:08:05.14] Interviewer: When you post, do you post for that image? Parang to satisfy
that image? Or do you post kase gusto mo lang?
[00:08:13.27] Naomi: I feel like with me kase there's two types of posts, one is yung sa
IG story and then one sa feed mismo. Like, I'm more active kase with the story so
parang...
[00:08:29.24] Interviewer: For both accounts ba ito?
[00:08:29.24] Naomi: No for my main. Sa 2nd account, I'm more active sa feed posts. So
sa main I mostly post stories like just for the sake of it. But then parang I think about who
I want to see my story, but parang, yun nga, I feel like with posting on my feed, 'yun
yung parang I want people to see me in a different way.
[00:08:57.08] Interviewer: Why is that na you're more active on you IG story on your
main Instagram?
[00:09:04.13] Naomi: Actually, I don't know. I haven't had the time take IG-worthy
pictures. As in yung feed worthy pictures. Wala lang, kase it takes a while to think about
it. Kunwari, in my main Instagram, my Japan pictures it took me like two or three weeks
after my trip to upload that. So I didn't really upload them agad.
[00:09:28.27] Interviewer: Doon sa Finstagram, as in diretso na lang?
[00:09:30.21] Naomi: Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:32.10] Interviewer: You don't edit it at all?
[00:09:32.17] Naomi: No, no.
[00:09:41.01] Interviewer: So that's it for our first half of the interview. Pero the last half
is gonna be so short lang. Since we discussed na your Instagram photos, I'm gonna
choose a few of your Finstagram photos and we're gonna discuss it about them lang.
[00:10:04.23] Naomi: There's 10 in 1 ah. 10 pictures in 1 post.
[00:10:05.28] Interviewer: We're going to discuss yung nakikita na lang. Yung cover ng
post. Anyways, this is a photo of you in front of a circular mirror with friends. It's in
Vargas Museum, could you discuss why did you choose to post this and the story behind
this...
[00:10:26.26] Naomi: Oh okay, so for our arts class we had to go to Vargas. And our prof
said "Oh document yourself, take a selfie" adn we were like okay so we took the picture.
Wala, it was really nice kase parang puro art pieces sa Vargas and then one of my friends,
the one in the middle, she was like "Oh look, it's a masterpiece" tapos she's looking into a
mirror pala. So ayun, we took a picture, haha.
[00:10:52.10] Interviewer: It's like remembering the memory...
[00:10:56.18] Naomi: Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:57.29] Interviewer: So next one is, this is you...
[00:11:04.13] Naomi: In my debut.
[00:11:06.00] Interviewer: It's a good picture for me, pero why didn't you post this on
your main?
[00:11:10.09] Naomi: Oh okay, there's a story behind it. I wanted to post pictures of my
debut on my main. But then parang I changed my profile picture on Facebook. So I was
like, if I posted this one for my main, baka people will be like "Oh she's using that photo
again". Parang ganon, so wala I just posted it there.
[00:11:31.05] Interviewer: So you didn't post it just because you were thinking of what
your followers would say?
[00:11:34.05] Naomi: No, like na-bother rin ako kase parang I wanted a space on the pic
above my head. It's for the aesthetic.
[00:11:42.26] Interviewer: Ito ba yung ginawa mong profile picture on your Facebook?
[00:11:44.08] Naomi: No, no. Pero like from the same day naman.
[00:11:48.08] Interviewer: I see, I see. Last one siguro, this one is a photo of you in your
organization's tambayan.
[00:12:05.16] Naomi: Oh kase, I wanted to dump like parang what happened in my life.
These are all tambayan photos. I wanted to post these like after I passed, so there. When I
passed parang I showed everything.
[00:12:21.05] Interviewer: So parang memory ulit...
[00:12:21.29] Naomi: Yeah, parang, I could've added it with the other months where it
actually happened pero I decided na lang to put them all in one post 'cause like, it's nice.
[00:12:34.26] Interviewer: So every last na, how would you explain the purpose of your
Finstagram in a brief sentence?
[00:12:43.16] Naomi: I think it's something to update like the people I'm close with with
what's happening with my life and also sometimes I catch myself going on Instagram and
then looking back at everything and "look, I remember this". Parang it's like reminiscing
talaga with what happened in my life.
[00:13:02.04] Interviewer: So there you go, that's it for our interview. Thank you so
much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---
J. Paco
[00:00:10.16] Interviewer: Thank you so much for agreeing to be one of my participants.
Could you state your name, your age, and your school?
[00:00:18.08] Paco: I'm Paco, 23 years old, and I study in UPD.
[00:00:26.01] Interviewer: How long have you been using Instagram?
[00:00:35.05] Paco: I've been using for probably 4 to 5 years?
[00:00:42.29] Interviewer: So like, 2014?
[00:00:43.22] Paco: More pa pala, wait check ko lang first post ko.
[00:00:50.03] Interviewer: Okay.
[00:00:50.25] Paco: Uhm, I've been using it since 2012. Wow.
[00:01:06.25] Interviewer: Out of thsoe years, kailan ka gumawa ng dump accounts? You
have three accounts, right?
[00:01:15.18] Paco: Yes. I made them last year.
[00:01:21.25] Interviewer: Both?
[00:01:21.25] Paco: Yes.
[00:01:32.25] Interviewer: Ano yung nagtulak or nag-influence sa'yo into making another
account?
[00:01:39.10] Paco: Well, one, kase nahihiya ako I guess, like especially 'yung isang
account ko is for my... it's basically a training log. It's where I put all my powerlifting
matters na baka isipin ng ibang tao "ang vain naman ng taong 'to, ganyan ganyan, puro
ganito lang ginagawa niya sa buhay niya, whatever". Pero kasi, kailangan ko 'yun to
check for consistency and to also have space in my phone. So pagiging practical rin, kase
they kept on saving stuff on my phone na videos ng powerlifting, napupuno na siya so I
just put stuff on the air. 'Yung isang account naman is for iPhone photos, so like, photos
that I take na wala, ayoko lang makita ng ibang tao. Kase, ewan ko. Parang hindi siya
bagay sa feed ko or what. Parang, hindi iyun yung "image" ko e. Or like, I have this fear
na baka konti yung likes and that's sad to think pero syempre likes are approvals so for
you not to be able to feel bad about yourself, 'wag mo na lang ipost kung saan makikita,
pero at least napost mo pa rin. Kumbaga, catharsis siya.
[00:03:05.10] Interviewer: Could you explain to me or share to me kung ano ba yung
Instagram mo? Kase 'di ba your iPhone photography is posted somewhere else, ano 'yung
usual na pinopost mo on your main Instagram?
[00:03:26.22] Paco: On main Instagram, I think it's more of life, my life milestones,
adventures, my dogs, and yung mga life posts. Parang mga life posts na milestones, na
parang monumental stuff. For example, na kahit naka-training log ako, I still post sa main
Instagram ko kung sumali ako ng competitions or ganyan so 'yun. More on life talaga.
[00:03:59.19] Interviewer: Do you maintain a specific theme or aesthetics sa main
Instagram mo?
[00:04:08.17] Paco: Ah I think I wanted parang... I tried to maintain a medyo cool na
vibe.
[00:04:18.15] Interviewer: Could you elaborate on that?
[00:04:19.24] Paco: Cool.. tipong, parang Jericho Rosales-style na... parang I'm a fun
guy, I go to adventures on my motorcycle so parang when you see me parang, naks, it's
Paco. Siya yung nagmo-motor. Siya yung nagd-drive. Siya yung gumaganyan and stuff.
[00:04:40.12] Interviewer: So that's the image na you see of yourself.
[00:04:41.24] Paco: Yeah, yeah. Or that's how I project myself.
[00:04:47.22] Interviewer: It's kinda tricky kase you have 2 dump accounts. Pero both of
your dump accounts, yung one for the weightlifting, you have followers there. Do you
filter the followers?
[00:05:09.06] Paco: Yeah, sobrang filtered.
[00:05:10.18] Interviewer: How? You have 6 followers.
[00:05:14.13] Paco: Kung papansinin mo, yung people I follow are my training buddies
or like other lifting logs. Kase, parang, what I want to do is when I go to that account, is
that the only thing I see is like powerlighting stuff. Kase gusto ko makita yung
consistency and form e. Gusto kong makita yung parang magiging progression ng ibang
tao compared to if I put it in my with other people, parang masyadong kalat and all. Pero
if you do have that, as in you check my followers, lahat iyan nagbubuhat or what.
[00:05:57.06] Interviewer: Anong effect niyan sa'yo? Like ano yung gratification na
ginagawa niya sa'yo? Kase if you post these kase on you main Instagram, it might get
more followers, 'di ba? Kase nasabi mo kanina na parang you're worried about getting
likes or approvals and all, so what kind of gratification, specific na gratification yung
nakukuha mo from having a lifting account?
[00:06:20.15] Paco: It makes me feel focused and mas supported. Kase parang once
someone likes a dump account, you feel parang, "Oh wow". Kahit na dump sutff siya,
people actually still like it. So it gives you a sense of approval and na people actually see
your progress. So that's my gratification.
[00:07:02.23] Interviewer: Punta naman tayo sa photography account mo. These are
actually good photos pero--
[00:07:23.09] Paco: Nafa-follow mo siya?
[00:07:23.09] Interviewer: Yeah it's actually public...
[00:07:22.19] Paco: Ah weh?
[00:07:24.19] Interviewer: So is this supposed to be a private account?
[00:07:42.14] Paco: Uhm, I don't care. Regardless...
[00:07:44.21] Interviewer: Bakit ka surprised?
[00:07:45.22] Paco: Kase akala ko naka-private siya. Eh may mga personal stuff ako
diyan e. Mga feels ko and shit.
[00:07:55.05] Interviewer: Could you explain to me, these are good photos... it's like your
art, it's your creativity in a content pero why do you choose to seclude it from public
attention?
[00:08:12.22] Paco: Kase feel ko it doesn't express yung... 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.
[00:09:01.05] Interviewer: 'Di ba sinabi mo kanina na yung biker Paco, the cool Paco,
that's the image na you think of yourself. Yung kaninang sinabi mo na you don't think
these creative photos would satifty yung tingin ng tao sa'yo. Could you elaborate yung
image na 'yun na feel mo ineexpect sa'yo ng tao?
[00:09:21.13] Paco: Ah ayun, may siguro, parang 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. 'Yun lang. I'm
just sad and I don't...
[00:09:59.10] Interviewer: Very emo, ganon?
[00:10:00.09] Paco: Yeah, 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 happened or what, sad lang ako. And it's hard to give that bad
effect to people kase negative siya e.
[00:10:23.23] Interviewer: Do you think that's negative?
[00:10:23.23] Paco: Oo kase kapag may nakita kang dude, na sobrang negative ng mga
posts, parang "ang basura naman ng content na 'to". So mapapaganon ka. And 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.
[00:10:39.05] Interviewer: You create, would you say na you post on Instagram, like in
general, for others?
[00:10:47.01] Paco: Oo, kase for clout eh.
[00:10:49.29] Interviewer: For what?
[00:10:49.29] Paco: For clout.
[00:10:55.09] Interviewer: What clout?
[00:10:55.09] Paco: Clout, for your connections. So yeah, parang that's where you get
connected and like, meet the community online. So sometimes, kaya nga 'di ba merong
line na "do it for the gram".
[00:11:14.05] Interviewer: Oo, do you strictly adhere to that?
[00:11:14.28] Paco: May ano naman ako doon, na parang "sige, Instagram natin iyan".
Wala e, do it for the gram! Parang gandahan mo. So yeah, I do sometimes post for...
Yung isang video ko sa main Instagram, yung ginawa ko na parang adventure stuff na
may Mountain Dew, that was for--
[00:11:35.08] Interviewer: Is that the one underwater?
[00:11:37.20] Paco: Yeah, that was because of a competition ng Mountain Dew. So alam
mo 'yun, yes I post for others but at the same time I get also gratified when I do that.
[00:11:51.22] Interviewer: Did you create another Finstagram kase feeling mo parang
hindi nasasatisfy ng main Instagram mo... parang, Paco 'di ba, there's this multiple facets
of Paco, so there's this main Instagram and there's this Finstagram number 1 and 2, ganon
ba yung feeling mo?
[00:12:56.26] Paco: 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.
[00:13:16.24] Interviewer: Parang feeling mo na nalilimit ka-- there's no limit kase on
Instagram, pero nalilimit ka because of your audience?
[00:13:21.20] Paco: Oo nalilimit ako--
[00:13:23.10] Interviewer: And how they perceive you and how you want to be
perceived.
[00:13:25.24] Paco: Oo, kase 'yun yung parang ganap na, "Ah okay sige, if ito yung
ineexpect ng mga tao, edi parang I'll post something on my main Instagram when there is
content that fits that thing", pero when I have my own personal shit, na parang I just want
it up there, that's when I post sa Finstas.
[00:13:49.26] Interviewer: Alright. So punta naman tayo sa feels mo whenever you post
on your accounts. Sa main Instagram mo parang, whenever you post something, what do
you feel? Parang, do you have any expectations?
[00:14:04.03] Paco: I feel good.
[00:14:06.01] Interviewer: You feel good in what way?
[00:14:06.14] Paco: I feel good kase parang iyun yung main Instagram na you monitor
your likes and your comments.
[00:14:15.15] Interviewer: Haha.
[00:14:15.15] Paco: Guilty naman siguro tayo diyan na may ganyan. Uhm, I feel
expectant pero ang sama kase, 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. Ayan,
so, hindi ka muna magrereply and like--
[00:14:45.17] Interviewer: Para mabump...
[00:14:46.21] Paco: Tapos antayin mong mag-hype, yung ganong klaseng mga bagay and
it's just something gratifying especially yung mga success stuff. Like your really cool
stuff, like for example, 'yung ginawa kong GoPro video na may dive and everything na
may parang transitions and shit na parang "holy shit! ang galing!", yung mga ganon. Or
kapag yung powerlifting na "holy shit! nabuhat mo yun?". Yung mga holy shit moments,
parang eureka moments na mapapa-like sila and not just a boring picture of a sunset na
parang "eehhh... I saw that already".
[00:15:32.08] Interviewer: So you don't like to post yung basic, yung sad, white boy
captions kase parang you think that wouldn't generate likes.
[00:15:53.00] Paco: I know I'm not gonna get likes. Kase I tried it na e, like sa other
photos for me "ah shit, parang walang attraction yan ah". Parang "oh, ba't 50 likes lang?
Bakit yung iba hundred plus?". Ganyan. Mapapatanong ka.
[00:16:05.15] Interviewer: Do you have a minimum number of likes? Na parang when
your reached this number of likes, parang "oh, I'm okay".
[00:16:11.09] Paco: Yeah, hundred plus. Okay na ako doon. Pero parang nagbelow that
parang, "pangit yung pag-tint ko siguro.... not good enough".
[00:16:22.25] Interviewer: So really for the gram...
[00:16:23.17] Paco: Mhm…
[00:16:23.23] Interviewer: So about on your other accounts? Sa lifting account mo? I
won't ask about your photography account kase basically you don't have any followers.
Or do you have some sort of expectation ba?
[00:16:36.19] Paco: Wala naman.
[00:16:37.20] Interviewer: What about sa lifting account?
[00:16:38.25] Paco: Ayoko ngang may nagla-like doon e. Ayokong may nakakakita
doon.
[00:16:43.00] Interviewer: Ng lifting account?
[00:16:43.00] Paco: Hindi, yung photography account. 'Yung sa lifting account, siguro
okay lang kung makita ng iba, kase it's just me being honest and like I'm open to... dun sa
part na 'yun, I'm open to criticism very much, as in, parang if something's off with my
form, parang fine by me, tell me. Kase alam ko naman na parang very constructive yung
part na 'yun e. So ayun yung, ano, yun yung nafi-feel ko sa IG.
[00:17:20.02] Interviewer: Actually, that's it for the first half. For the second half kase,
it's supposed to me asking some of your posts but like tingin ko naman nacover na natin
'yun. Maybe, just in case, I'm gonna ask for some posts sa main Instagram mo. This one,
this is like a sad white boy post. It's you nakatalikod ka sa camera and then it's black and
white. Sabi mo 'di ba, you wanted happy vibe sa main Instagram mo, pero why this photo
on your main Instagram?
[00:18:07.11] Paco: Kase, more than being emotional, anniv date kase iyan e. So again,
milestone. Hindi lang halata, pero for me, yung kahit na sad siya tignan pero kase
something happened during that day na alam mo 'yun, na monumental. Selfish na wala
yung girlfriend ko sa picture pero tinag ko naman siya, haha.
[00:18:31.27] Interviewer: Pero bakit black and white yung photo?
[00:18:34.08] Paco: Black and white kase...
[00:18:35.20] Interviewer: Kase sabi mo 'di ba, it's something to celebrate pero it's black
and white. Is there a hidden meaning?
[00:18:38.00] Paco: Kase pawis yung likod ko, haha. Ayan oh, pawis. Kapag may kulay
iyan, lalabas na pansin yung pawis, haha.
[00:19:05.13] Interviewer: So you put that filter parang lang hindi makita pawis mo?
Haha.
[00:19:07.20] Paco: Para hindi ako mukhang dugyot, haha. Pero wait, kase pwede naman
na may kulay or what, pero, yun lang yung feels ko nung panahon na 'yun. Medyo senti,
sad, iyung basta yung moment na 'yan. Parang for me, black and white is serene. It's
calms me. Parang I just like black and white so much na sinubukan kong gumawa so
ayan. Maliban doon sa pawis, that's the reason.
[00:19:54.03] Interviewer: So this one, this is a photo of one of your dogs. Nakapost rin
siya sa photography account mo, and then here sa main Instagram mo, so parang, what
for? Why is it on your main Instagram?
[00:20:22.20] Paco: Well siguro nilagay ko na lang yung pangalawa sa photography
account kase I like the flatness. Parang it's a nice photo for me. Uhm, nilagay ko siya sa
main Instagram kase cute eh, parang it's always what I do. I take photos of my dogs and
like that. Parang, it's a thing that I do talaga for my dogs. Ayan, kaya, uhm, cute lang e.
Cute lang talaga. Cute lang na I hope na people like so may mga 60 likes naman.
[00:21:10.29] Interviewer: So maybe last one, hmm, this one. Sa Ilocos, and
nakasideways ka, standing. It's a colored picture. Could you share the message na you
want to convey?
[00:21:40.22] Paco: Parang self-expression lang siya of... I think parang ganyan lang ako
as a person. Parang, uhm, I'm that person na pwedeng legit mag-isa and alam mo 'yun, I
could die in loneliness and sad music. As in, ganon talaga ako, sad ako as a person 'di
lang talaga halata.
[00:22:07.11] Interviewer: Hindi mo pinapahalata sa main Instagram mo, tama ba?
[00:22:09.17] Paco: Hindi e, oo, parang at least totoo na may mountain, may sun, may
kulay-kulay pang konti, pero at the same time, sinusubukan kong iinsert a bit of myself
and not fake it really to make it. So yeah, 'yun yung vibes ko for that photo.
[00:22:47.13] Interviewer: So may i just ask you na parang, kung tama ba na yung image
mo dito sa main Instagram is yung parang the cool, happy, the travel-type of Paco, pero
may hints pa rin ng pagka-senti.
[00:22:47.13] Paco: Yeah.
[00:22:48.13] Interviewer: Using your photos, the black and white, ... kung bakit mo
pinost 'to.
[00:22:54.08] Paco: Para at least not all of me is taken away.
[00:22:59.19] Interviewer: What do you mean?
[00:23:01.28] Paco: 'Yung mga ganitong photo.. 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.
[00:23:20.08] Interviewer: Yung alin?
[00:23:20.08] Paco: Yung main Instagram ko, parang, nandun pa rin ako.
[00:23:27.07] Interviewer: Would you say na nag-aaway yung images na 'yun?
[00:23:27.07] Paco: Oo, kase parang hmm, parang should I post this? Is this main
account-worthy? 'Yun yung parang ano, I guess that's the question pero, uhm, and when it
hits that soft spot na, ah pwede. Bagay, kase saktong malungkot pero may something
majestic behind it. Like for example, ito, malungkot pero may majestic. Other one as well
is malungkot, keri lang, may something. Same thing, sad, sad ako, there's a bigger
picture. Parang, yeah it's like contrast between ako personally pero nagmimeet ako
halfway diyan. Pag hindi talaga, ah dump iyan. Alam mo 'yun? It goes sobrang negatives.
[00:24:22.13] Interviewer: Would you say na mas malapit yung senti na Paco sa
personality mo? Kase 'diba nabanggit mo kanina na parang you're posting for the gram,
you're posting for your audience. That's why you're maintaining this image na happy.
That's for them, your followers. Pero parang nasabi mo kanina na nag-aaway yung senti
pati yung happy na Paco, and then parang mas prefer mo yung senti? That's what I got.
[00:24:50.10] Paco: Oo, as the sad person.
[00:24:53.10] Interviewer: So the senti image and posts are for you?
[00:24:54.08] Paco: Oo.
[00:24:54.08] Interviewer: And then the happy one is for them, your followers. Then the
main Instagram, nandoon yung compromise?
[00:24:59.29] Paco: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, oo nga no? Haha. Parang do it for the gram,
do it for the people and the likes. But at the same time, me expressing myself and 'yun
nga, nagiging medium yung Instagram for that. Na may catharsis ka but at the same time,
may benefit yung catharsis mo in a way. So, I guess, yun yung nagsspeak sa account ko.
[00:25:41.02] Interviewer: That ends our interview. Do you have any more things to
share that you want to share?
[00:25:57.19] Paco: No.
[00:25:57.19] Interviewer: Thank you so much.
--- END OF INTERVIEW ---