nstagram, an online photo-sharing social network, is becoming popular among colleges and universities. On Sept. 1, Elizabethtown College challenged students, faculty, alumni and the local community to the third Etown photo-a-day challenge. Participation in the photo challenge has been growing every year the challenge has been offered. As of Sept. 20, more than 71 people have submitted at least one photo and more than 796 photos have been entered. The most popular photo submitted was on Labor Day, the theme of the day was “My Day Off” and the outcome was over 60 entries. The last Instagram challenge the College conducted, participation dropped off after the first few weeks, but this fall people have been consistent and creative with the daily challenges. Donna Talarico-Beerman, director of integrated communications at the College, said, “We love interacting with our students and alumni on social media, and what better way to tell our story and theirs than through photos?”

The College has learned that the campus community loves photos, and Talarico-Beerman credits the success of the challenges to the “awesomely open, engaged campus.”  “Instagram is our fastest growing social media platform, so we felt engaging people in this manner with a structured promotion would be a lot of fun,” said Talarico-Beerman. Talarico-Beerman’s favorite theme so far has been day five, ‘an E’ because she loved how creative the photos were: varying from desks arranged in a E, the American Sign Language E, lights strung in an E-shape, photos hung in an E-shape and more. Etown used photos from last year’s Instagram challenge in the Spring 2013 Elizabethtown magazine and they plan to do more integrated social media efforts, such as using user-generated photos in print material in the future.