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By Ysabelle Obieta

Instagram is a four-year old social media outlet that has about 300 million users.

Sharing more than 20 billion images to date, Instagram has proven to be one of the most used social media apps.

A common misconception about Instagram is how it’s mostly composed of selfies and photos of food but it’s much more than that.

The social media app has been able to help curate communities within cities, photographers and hobbyists alike. It has brought people closer such as people within Stockton.

“This doesn’t even look like Stockton” is a comment that has been popularly made on the @stocktonca Instagram page.

Stockton has been according to Forbes “one of the most miserable cities to live in” but the @stocktonca account has swayed the views of many people who live in Stockton and those living with the misconception.

With now over 20,000 followers the account has grown since October 2012.

Miguel Guillen, the curator of the account, has fueled his passion on creating awareness in Stockton. “There’s so much to do in Stockton and no one sees that. I made this account to change their view of Stockton,” said Guillen.

Guillen has brought together many people through the account by establishing takeovers and meet-ups.

“I think it’s great what he is doing,” said Dawin Mok, a drone operator who had a takeover earlier this year.

People like Mok have shown a different view of Stockton.

Mok utilizes his drone to show views from above.

The account has also connected him to new friends such as Donix Rodriguez who also is a drone operator in the area.

Rodriguez has also made an appearance doing a takeover for the @stocktonca account.

These takeovers helped share a #StocktonStory giving their audience a tidbit of their favorite locations around Stockton.

Every week there will be a new takeover spanning only a few days.

Places such as the @stockmarketca, the Haggin Museum, Louie’s Market gets featured on the page.

Every Monday the curator picks out his favorite images from the week and turns it into a collage.

The photos are captioned as: “There’s always something to do in Stockton.”

It has turned into a challenge to get featured on the page in order to get exposure for accounts.

By tagging a photo with #IGersStockton there’s a good chance the photo will get shown on the page. Miguel Guillen selects his takeover artists by their Instagram accounts.

No excessive selfies and must have creative direction.

This is because it helps give the viewers a different view of the city instead of frayed Instagram photos. The more interesting the person and their use of photography will create better engagement among users.

Jeremy Givens has also given his take on Stockton using his skill on long exposures.

“I would go out by Eight Mile Road in the middle of the night so I could capture the right moment,” Givens.

Givens has one of the highest engagements amongst the takeovers.

The feature has been proven beneficial to him.

“I wanted to make a bit of extra money in selling some of my prints and BAM! Ever since the feature I was able to sell a bunch of them in just a few days,” said Givens.

Mok and Rodriguez were able to get a few drone gigs for places like University of the Pacific and weddings.

As Stockton progresses these photographs have become a part of Stockton’s new look. With comments and images to show it has become evident that Stockton has truly become something greater than most perceive.