By Matthew Laurrie
Features Assignment Editor
You can say a lot in 140 characters or less. Some Bonaventure-themed parody accounts take to Twitter to make every character count.
Fake accounts associated with the university include @5th_DEV_Gh0st, @FakeSisterMarge and @BonaStudentProb, among many others. Each account creates a unique persona of a well-known figure on campus or says what it feels Bonaventure students are really thinking. Most of the accounts tweet about topics ranging from praise for Bonaventure, to venting about schoolwork, to providing opinions about campus happenings, usually in a humorous and entertaining way.
“The Twitter Glossary,” an online dictionary for Twitter terminology, defines a parody account as a forum used “to spoof or make fun of something in jest.” These spoof accounts generate posts intended to imitate a particular person, institution or belief with a humorous or satirical undertone.
Meaghan O’Rourke, a senior French and journalism and mass communication major, summed up students’ general reactions to the parody accounts.
“They’re hilarious,” she said.
O’Rourke said each tweet contains hints of accuracy every Bonaventure student can appreciate and relate to.
“Some of (the tweets) are exaggerations, but there’s a little bit of truth to every single one of them, so they’re fun,” O’Rourke said.
As of yesterday afternoon, @5th_DEV_Gh0st floats around 246 followers, 304 individuals follow @FakeSisterMarge on their good journey and @BonaStudentProb leads the parody account pack with 556 followers.
Julie Keller, a sophomore psychology and music major, said she followed some of the parody accounts after seeing retweets of their content on her Twitter timeline. She said she finds most of the accounts fairly amusing, but said she is curious about who is operating them.
“Who’s doing this, and whose accounts are these?” Keller asked.
One person, or spirit, may be able to help answer that. The ominously anonymous @5th_DEV_Gh0st explained its reason for creating one of Bonaventure’s top parody accounts.
“I’ve seen so many other parody accounts on Twitter, and no one had made one for the 5th Dev Ghost,” wrote @5th_DEV_Gh0st via Twitter message. “The idea just popped into my head one day while sitting in my room in Deveraux Hall.”
Mark Inman, assistant director of print and electronic publications, said he follows almost all of the accounts to monitor their activity, but doesn’t feel they negatively impact the university.
“There’s really not much you can do with this stuff; it just comes with the territory,” Inman said. “If people have a strong enough attachment to their brand, they’re probably going to do some kind of role-playing activity to some extent … People always love seeing stuff that’s unofficial or off the record; it’s more like back-room gossip, water-cooler type of thing. It might not be real, but it’s fun to think of.”
O’Rourke said although some of the material on these Twitter pages could be misconstrued, she believes the account operators don’t aim to insult anyone.
“Some of the things you read on these fake accounts could be taken offensively, but in no way do I think they’re intended to be offensive,” O’Rourke said.
Christopher Scheppner, a senior journalism and mass communication major, said he wanted to maintain his connection to Bonaventure while he was off campus this summer, so he began following some of the parody accounts.
“I just saw (the accounts) and looked through a couple of the tweets and thought, ‘that’s kind of funny, I wish I was back at Bonaventure right now,’” he said.
Scheppner said the parody tweets are most applicable to upperclassmen and their experiences at Bonas.
“I think they’re relevant for people who have been here and for more than just a year or two,” Scheppner said.
Inman said the accounts will only stick around for as long as people take an interest in them.
“If students support them and there’s a lot of original content that people contribute to, then, yes, they will continue; that takes a lot of effort,” he said.
@5th_DEV_Gh0st, who has been “haunting people since 1928,” according to its Twitter bio, concluded with a heartwarming message and ghoulish invitation to its followers:
“I just really appreciate everyone following me and hope they enjoy reading what I post,” wrote @5th_DEV_Gh0st. “They should all stop by the 5th floor and visit sometime.”
Accept it at your own risk.
