Melissa Hanson  Asst. News Editor

Two weeks ago, Suffolk’s new social media student group, InstaRam SU, launched.  The group is run by sophomores Erica LeBlanc and Corinne DeCost, and monitored by Director of P.A.O., Kristen Baker.

LeBlanc describes the club as, “your connection to the art community at Suffolk University.”

Over the summer, Baker had thought of bringing a social media group to Suffolk.  She had previously worked at other colleges that had some sort of similar group, and wanted to bring something akin to that to Suffolk.  Baker contacted LeBlanc and DeCost separately, knowing they would both be interested in running the group.  InstaRam SU is actually a workstudy, and thus LeBlanc and DeCost will be the only members.  DeCost likes to think of them as a social media “duo.”

The idea for the group was a “singular place where everyone could find out what’s going on for the week,” said LeBlanc.  The club exists to notify students about art-related events happening on campus.  This includes any PAO events, Program Council events, New England School of Art and Design (NESAD) events, and anything art-related from clubs and departments on campus.

“There are some really cool things going on campus that people didn’t know about,”   said DeCost.

“The big thing is to get us known,” said LeBlanc, “It’s not just a good medium to the students, but also to the clubs on campus.”  Each week InstaRam SU receives emails from clubs, searches the campus calendar and the NESAD calendar, and looks for posters around campus in order to promote all art activities to Suffolk students.

“We compile everything out there and put them in one source,” said LeBlanc.

Each week LeBlanc and DeCost meet with Baker to create an event list for the week and decide what event to feature in a blog.  They are constantly discussing new ways to promote themselves and especially the art events from Suffolk clubs and groups.

One of Baker’s main goals was to have the group run by students instead of professors.  She figured Suffolk students would be able to relate more to their peers and bring a different voice to social media thus giving InstaRam SU a better turnout.  DeCost said she wants her peers to use InstaRam SU and to think, “Hey, there’s really cool thing happening and it isn’t lame and you should go to it.”

When LeBlanc and DeCost found out they would co-run the group they got together at a local Starbucks to decide on a name for the group.  They wanted to pick something that was already associated with social media, but be able to relate it to Suffolk.  They used “Instagram,” the Suffolk mascot, and the school initials to create the name InstaRam SU.

“You get the info instantly,” said LeBlanc, “it worked.”  At first it was a joke, but according to DeCost, that is why it stuck.

According to LeBlanc, the feedback so far has been positive.  The Facebook page is not getting as many views as they would prefer, but they are getting likes, as well as, follow backs and retweets on Twitter.

“We don’t have a ton of interactions but the fact that people have been attracted to it is definitely good,” said DeCost.

Both LeBlanc and DeCost are public relations majors with interests in the arts.

“This was something that was definitely up our alley,” said LeBlanc.

The main thing InstaRam SU wants Suffolk students to know is that they will promote anything art related at Suffolk.

InstaRam SU can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube and WordPress.