MOMV: Jacob Espinoza knows (and runs) "What's Happening Salem" on Instagram

Where do Salemites go online to connect about Salem?

Jacob Espinoza is part of paving a place to connect with the "What's Happening Salem" page on Instagram .

For most people in Salem, Facebook and Reddit are the social media spaces people have established communities, like r/SALEM and Salem Eats on Facebook , among other buy/sell and info-sharing groups. Espinoza had the idea to start on Instagram since there weren't other pages or groups established on the platform.

"What's Happening Salem" actually began as a collaboration with The Forge, formerly Liberty Plaza . Espinoza brought it up with AJ Nash, a real estate broker helping with The Forge, as a place for conversation about community. The original idea was to launch a podcast about community development, but they decided to go with an Instagram page that The Forge would sponsor instead. Espinoza launched the page in April and has seen exponential growth as the online presence of Salem has another place to unite.

"Even on Instagram, forums and even on Facebook, people are still very divisive and passionate about things — and that's okay," Espinoza said. "But it's important for us as a community that we recognize we are more like each other than we are different, and that allowing things to divide us will make it harder for us to build meaningful relationships with each other."

Espinoza said the content he shares is meant to be humorous and informative, allowing folks another avenue to show how much they care and provide input. He said it's been great to provide information about people, places and things around the city, as representing the community is the greatest priority. Salem isn't the most up-to-date digitally, and it's "a charm" that Salemites don't want to change, but with how the world is changing, they need to try changing too, he said.

Especially since Facebook typically has an older demographic, the Instagram page has mostly resonated with the 25-45 age group, especially the memes, which are humorous images and references to local people, places and events from around the community.

The first meme to go viral was about the Salem housing market, Espinoza said. It was a photo of the Simpson's house, with the caption "How much would this house cost in Salem right now?" The simple short-form video brought in hundreds of views and an influx of new followers; the video currently has almost 500,000 views. Since then, most videos and posts consistently net between 4,000 and 12,000 views.

The immense growth was not something Espinoza expected to happen.

Espinoza studied journalism at the University of Oregon and graduated in 2007. He is a business coach working with dad business owners as Dad and Company . He has a background in leadership, content creation and coaching from working at T-Mobile's customer care teams, media company Workweek and the Salem Chamber of Commerce's McLaran Leadership Foundation.

Despite how the connections are made online, the long-term goal is to have some of it translate to in-person community building, Espinoza said. For now, they're open and looking for relevant and fun collaborations with local folks and businesses. In the short term, Espinoza is working on building a newsletter.

"The thought is, how can this be made fun and interactive for folks?" Espinoza said. "I'm blessed that people have enjoyed the page and sharing ideas with me, the Internet is so powerful when you have a product that fits the market."

To keep up on what's happening, follow the Instagram page, @whatshappeningsalem.

Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her at echan@gannett.com and follow her on X @ catchuptoemily.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: MOMV: Jacob Espinoza knows (and runs) "What's Happening Salem" on Instagram