If you’re too shy to talk to your crush in person, one Twitter account will let you anonymously profess your feelings — 140 characters at a time.
If you’re too shy to talk to your crush in person, one Twitter account will let you anonymously profess your feelings — 140 characters at a time.
@OUCrushes, which boasts more than 12,500 followers, allows users to submit their romantic — often erotic — infatuations with other Bobcats via ask.fm, the same website @OU_Confessions uses.
Originally started by three roommates in March 2012, the account is now run by two friends who met through one of the original members’ siblings. The main operator now has another girl, a junior studying publication design, helping her run the account; the help was needed after two of the original founders graduated.
“Me and my roommates a couple years ago came up with the idea because we were all a little boy crazy,” said the account’s main operator, a fifth-year student studying business.
Submissions were originally sent by email, but, in order to keep anonymity, they switched to the ask.fm account, she said.
But anonymity in real life is not a big concern for her.
“We wanted to be sneaky,” she said. “Most of our friends know. I have a tendency of drunkenly telling people now-a-days.”
She said some of those submissions have been quite entertaining.
“It takes up a good amount of time, but it’s fun to do, so I don’t mind,” she said.
“We usually try to post once a day, if we can, for an hour,” said the fifth-year student.
Her partner in posting said many of the submissions are funny, but “nothing you wouldn’t expect to hear out of a college student’s mouth.”
“There are some that are just crazy,” she said. “Some people take it too far with the sexual jokes.”
However, some students find the account entertaining, such as Matt Gype, a junior studying specialized studies.
“I always think it’s funny to see people on there I know,” Gype said. “It’s probably gotten somebody laid at some point.”
The account’s main operator said posts about professors are often too inappropriate and will not be posted.
Workers at Uptown bars tend to be popular subjects, the main operator said.
“As long as it’s funny; we just try to get a wide variety too,” she said.
She added that they also try to balance between students involved in greek life and between genders.
“I don’t want anyone to feel like I’m not posting about a certain group,” she said.
Some students, like Katie Hendershot, a senior studying journalism, feel that as long as the page is used in a positive way, they do not mind it.
“I don’t think it’s really a bad thing unless people use it to say bad things about others,” she said.
Jenna Prioli, a senior studying video production, said people using derogatory words turn her off to the account.
“It can be an interesting thing to check up on … after the weekends,” she said.
Lynde Jones, a freshman studying business, said that the account’s entertainment value overshadows the fact that she does not actually know the people who are posted about.
“I follow it even though I don’t know half of the people on there,” she said.
While the senior account admin already asserts that the junior will one day take over the account, the junior said she doesn’t know what the future holds.
“(I will probably) ask one of my friends to help me,” she said. “I really have no idea. I do have a year to think.”
If you want to stay up to date with the passionate sentiments of other Bobcats, or you want to see if your submission was posted, follow @OUCrushes.
@w_gibbs
wg868213@ohio.edu
