Since Billy Penn launched three and a half years ago, the Instagram of the Day has always been one of our most popular features. Starting in May, we’re changing it up a bit — by inviting you to get involved.
Currently, our Instagram of the Day is selected daily by our newsroom using these loose criteria:
- It’s uniquely Philly
- It’s a scene many Philadelphians could relate to
- Or something many Philadelphia might not have seen before
- Or something related to recent news
- It’s not an overload of sunsets or skylines
- It doesn’t focus on a specific person or face (unless they were in the news)
- It’s not a stolen image or the watermarked work of a pro photographer
After we search around and sort through dozens of options every day, the chosen pic du jour shows up a lot of places: at the bottom of our articles on mobile, on the right-hand side of our articles on desktop and as the very first thing that appears when you open our email newsletter.
We get notes and comments about the Instagram of the Day all the time. Some people write to say how much they enjoyed a certain image. But a lot of you have written to ask how you can get your photo featured — and we didn’t have a ready answer. Now we do:
Introducing #BillyPennGram.
Yep, we’re adding another hashtag to the litany of links to slip under your Insta pics.
When you’re posting an image that’s just so very Philly — whether it’s beautiful, funny, shocking, touching, iconic or just representative of this city’s spirit — tag #BillyPennGram and we’ll consider it for use. (Check that list above to refresh your memory of what we’re looking for.)
Once the hashtag gets going, we’re planning to make it more than just a 24-hour thing. We’ll ask readers to vote on Instagram of the Week or Instagram of the Month, and maybe give out prizes, too.
But first we need you to start using it. Spread the word among your Insta friends, and we will too: use #BillyPennGram for a chance to be featured as the Instagram of the Day.
