Yes, we are already awash in silly little trending stories about “the cities with the rudest kids” and “the youngest looking cities” and, for some reason, “the best cities to survive a zombie apocalypse,” but at the risk of perpetuating the system that churns these out – obscure websites that seem to gain search engine prominence for doing basic “studies” on demographics and social media trends – here’s another.
A trio of Oregon destinations made a list of the Most Instagrammable Landmarks in the U.S., curated by online casino and sportsbook website BonusFinder. It’s not clear what Instagram trends have to do with online gambling, but here we are.
Cannon Beach, Smith Rock State Park and Silver Falls State Park, three of the most beautiful and popular destinations in the state, all made the cut. (Crater Lake, one of the most Instagrammable lakes in the U.S., per FishinAquarium.com, did not.)
To make the list, BonusFinder first curated a collection of 2,746 landmarks by simply searching for “the most photographed places,” “the most beautiful places,” “the most Instagrammable places” and “most popular landmarks” in travel articles and guides. (You’re welcome.) From there, they found the three most used Instagram hashtags for each place, calculated the overall number of hashtags and ranked them.
Instagram users who post photos without hashtags (hello!) were apparently not included.
It’s clear that “most Instagrammable places” here means “places that are somewhat photogenic and see a lot of visitors.” That’s how BonusFinder ended up with a list topped almost exclusively by places in New York City: Central Park, Broadway, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty all made the top 10.
There were zero Pacific Northwest landmarks in the main list, but thankfully BonusFinder broke out lists of the most Instagrammable national parks, state parks, zoos, sports stadiums and (of course) casinos. They also graciously created a list of the most Instagrammable place in each state, ensuring headlines for trending-hungry news outlets everywhere (uh, guilty).
Cannon Beach was the most Instagrammable place in Oregon, with 609,346 hashtags, according to BonusFinder. Oregon represented well on the state parks list, as Smith Rock State Park came in fifth with 215,864 hashtags and Silver Falls State Park came in sixth with 163,324 hashtags.
In an email, the casino website included a few runner-up landmarks in Oregon: Crater Lake National Park, the Willamette Valley (as a whole, apparently) and Multnomah Falls.
But again, what does “Instagrammable” even mean? The concept of natural beauty is entirely subjective (as evidenced by famous Instagram account Subpar Parks). Everybody takes a picture of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach – is that what makes it Instagrammable, or is it just an obligatory photo op? Is Instagram just a place for our obligatory photos? And what about less popular places? Are the Painted Hills less Instagrammable just because they see fewer people? What about Ecola State Park, Wallowa Lake, the Boardman Corridor?
All this without getting into the effects Instagram has (or does not have) on overcrowding in natural places – a popular social media battle waged over the very same hashtags used to make this list.
But, hey, if it gives us all a chance to celebrate Oregon’s beautiful natural places, what’s the harm? Maybe we should be thanking BonusFinder for the chance to stop and think about the ocean, the waterfalls and desert landscapes that make this place so special.
--Jamie Hale covers travel and the outdoors and co-hosts the Peak Northwest podcast. Reach him at 503-294-4077, jhale@oregonian.com or @HaleJamesB.
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