Next time you’re out taking pictures of the clock tower, look out, because @Peopleinstagrammingquinnipiac is on the prowl!
Peopleinstagrammingquinnipiac, run by junior Matt Francia, is the newest craze on campus. It is an Instagram account that posts pictures of people taking pictures of the Quinnipiac campus.
“I never had an Instagram, but I always thought it was funny that everywhere you look, someone was always taking a picture,” Francia said. “It kind of became a big running joke so I thought I’d put a visual on the joke.”
Quinnipiac is definitely a very photogenic campus. If you sit on the Quad for just a little while, you are almost certain to see someone pulling out their phone to snap a picture. What makes this Instagram interesting is the fact that Francia tries to take new and different types of pictures.
“There’s only so many times you can capture a girl with Uggs and a North Face taking a photo,” Francia said. “Most of my photos are multiple people or a guy in a suit. I try to be creative with what I do.”
Another thing that makes this account popular is the funny captions that Francia puts on his pictures. One picture of a girl on the quad looking at her phone reads “New game: Instagram or Snapchat?” Another photo of three people in a line taking pictures says, “Why Instagram the sunset from York Hill from one angle?”
The Instagram was originally anonymous, but now that it is gaining popularity, people are starting to talk about the person behind it all.
“I’m okay with people knowing that it’s me,” Francia said. “I kind of wanted it to stay a little anonymous so when I’m on the Quad people aren’t like, ‘Oh God, Matt’s on the prowl,’ but now that people know, I have people always sending me photos, so it makes my job easier. So in that way it’s kind of multiple people running this account.”
The Quad is not the only place on campus that is popular for picture taking. The New Haven skyline from York Hill, the law school fountain and pictures of the Quad from the top of Sleeping Giant are also very popular, Francia said.
Francia really enjoys running the Instagram. He did not care if it was popular or not he says, but he worked hard to get recognition.
“I would go through the #quinnipiac or #quinnipiacu tag and like every photo so people would get alerts that my account was liking their photos,” Francia said. “That’s how they found out about it. “
Although it didn’t matter to Francia whether or not the Instagram became popular, he is happy that it is. He feels that it is something that the entire campus can relate to and laugh about. He also really enjoys running the account.
“I do so much on campus and I guess this is one of the things that I’m doing just for my own enjoyment,” Francia said. “Whereas the stuff that I do, like campus involvement, that’s all for personal growth but this is just funny.”
Although there are several other Quinnipiac-centric comedic accounts on the Internet, this is the only one that is unique to only Quinnipiac. Other schools have accounts like @QUCrush and @Qpacproblems, but instagramming Quinnipiac is a running joke that every student here can relate to.
“Everyone has taken a picture of campus at some point and Instagrammed it,” sophomore Bailey Kircher said. “If you go through your Instagram at any point you’ll probably see multiple pictures of campus. That’s what makes this account so funny.”
