Many students at the University of Rhode Island may have noticed a follow request from @uri_sights—an Instagram account that has been gaining popularity and aims to capture “breathtaking sights around our campus” as stated in the bio. As those who followed back are aware, the account parodies aesthetic Instagrams, taking candid shots of everyday sights around URI that reflect the opposite.
Active since March of this year, the account saw a spike in followers and recognition at the start of the Fall 2016 semester. @uri_sights gained 2,000 plus followers in September alone, surpassing the number of followers for @uriphotoclub and receiving more likes on photos than even the @urievents page.
The creator of the account, a female student who wishes to remain unnamed, explained that the “inspiration came from the @averagelifegoals twitter account, where they praise the most normal and realistic situations.”
The twitter account’s sarcasm and dry humor resonated with the @uri_sights creator. “My friends and I lived in Burnside and we’d just send each other pictures of the building like ‘omg goals’ as a complete inside joke,” she said.
She recalled creating the account last spring while sitting in her physics class.
“I remember coming up with the bio ‘breathtaking sights around our campus’ and just thinking how much it adds to the dry humor,” she said. But the account doesn’t aim to mock the university, “I love this school, URI really is a beautiful campus,” she added.
Initially keeping her involvement in the account a secret from her friends, she eventually told them and now feels comfortable sharing her identity with certain people. Whenever she tells people there’s a bit of disbelief, and she’ll often have to prove it by commenting on their pictures. She said people are always surprised and most think she is a guy.
To start the account, she followed everyone that already followed @urievents or had URI in their bio. She added that she gained followers by following others first instead of waiting.
“I follow everyone back, and I like their pictures—I hope that’s not creepy,” she joked. “It’s kind of difficult to keep up with the followers just because Instagram only lets you follow so many people within an hour, but I do make an effort to follow everyone back.”
The Instagram creator said she has gotten a lot of positive feedback on the ironic account so far. “I also get a lot of unique submissions from people finding their own sights around campus,” she added.
She explained that most of the submissions she receives are of holes in ceilings, rusty sinks and food in random places. However, she said submissions are sometimes “too gross to post,” and she tries to stay away from bathroom pictures.
In regard to the amount of submissions she receives, she said, “the post with the caption ‘adams hall’ was actually a submission I received from four different people.” The profile picture for the account is her favorite submission that she has received: ‘peanut butter pole.’
“Food where it doesn’t belong is starting to be featured more because I find it so funny,” she said. “‘Peanut butter pole’ is hands down my favorite submission. I remember checking my DM’s and just seeing that with only the words ‘peanut butter pole’ and that was it, normally I change people’s captions but this was too perfect. Honestly iconic.”
Followers slide into her DMs not only with submissions but also praise for the account.
“I even went on date with someone who messaged me through @uri_sights,” she said
As for pictures that she takes for the account, she said that her favorite is one that features “day before thanksgiving attendance” because she knew many people who were liking and commenting on the post contributed to the many empty seats on campus that day. And her second favorite is “ceiling,” because of the obvious hole and clearly exposed pipes.
“I think it all just comes back to my dry sense of humor,” she said, of the Instagram’s purpose. “I’m really sarcastic and I’ve always found things that weren’t supposed to be funny, really funny. No one really thinks about this kind of stuff.”