Social Travel App: Foodies, Pet Lovers, LGBTs Flock to Middletown

Our fair city attracts hipsters, "caffeinistas," lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community members, pet fanatics and intellectuals according to a new app that measures people's social media photos.

The Jetpac City Guide uses Instagram photos to map Middletown and other municipalities' most frequently Instagrammed, coffeehouses, restaurants and other venues.

The app offers "snappiness" ratings. "We’ve analyzed every pixel of the world’s Instagram photos to give you the real picture of fun places. We can spot hipster mustaches, lipstick and the biggest smiles," says Jetpac in its app description.

According to Jetpac, four places in town with the bluest skies are: the Arrigoni Bridge, Wesleyan's Freeman Athletic Center, the Barns at Wesleyan Hills and the Inn at Middletown. 

Each location lists the most frequent types of people who have Instagrammed photos from the spot, including the Inn at Middletown which attracts students, skaters and pet lovers. 

Of course, frequent Instagrammers know that finding a location to tag a picture sometimes turns up some less than accurate information. If you live above a restaurant on Main Street, for instance, you may constantly use its location to tag rather than create a custom one that names your home.

Middletown's best coffee shops, according to Jetpac, are Klekolo World Coffee, Javapalooza and Pi Cafe at Wesleyan. 

Klekolo turns up an unusual number of photos from women and "stoners," (people who frequent smoke shops, according to Jetpac), Javapalooza, students and surfers (those who share photos from surf beaches), Pi, Asian people, "caffeinistas," students, intellectuals and parents (folks who share multiple photos from day care centers toy stores and theme parks).

Four places tourists go, Jetpac says, are It's Only Natural, which attracts hipsters, foodies and pet lovers; Five Guys (tourists, hipsters and students), New England Emporium and Froyo World.

If you're wondering how the heck the app knows which people identify as "hipsters," the app says the criteria is not self-identification, because true hipsters would never admit that they are hip, but exaggerated mustache displays.

Folks who visit O'Rourke's Diner and Krust pizza reportedly are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community because they share photos from gay bars. Other "top" Middletown restaurants are It's Only Natural, Us Restaurant (it's closed), La Boca, the Mattabesset Canoe Club, Mikado and Mondo (where people who post an overwhelming number of pet shots congregate. 

How are foodies characterized? "People who would rather photograph food than take their first bite," according to Jetpac.

You can also take quizzes by scrolling through photos of Middletown and guessing where they were taken.

Jetpac also reports America's happiest cities — sadly, nowhere near Connecticut — are compiled by counting the number and size of smiles on peoples faces in their Instagram photos. We smell an opportunity to raise Middletown's happiness quotient here!

The top five are: St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and San Antonio.

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