The Instagram Effect: Is Social Media Influencing Visitation to Public Lands?

Abstract

Public lands in the United States have recently experienced significant increases in visitation. Journalists and park managers suggest Instagram is a primary reason. We explore this issue in the Oregon state park system by combining visitation data with park-specific georeferenced content and engagement indicators from Instagram. Using several empirical specifications, we show suggestive evidence that Instagram is not likely correlated to increased visitation everywhere; rather, it is only in a few locations generating high user participation within the app. We find no contemporary effect and a positive association with cumulative Instagram engagement indicators on visits at this subset of parks.