“Who am I? You sure you want to know?” Peter Parker, alias Spiderman, asks in the 2002 hit movie. Parker struggles to lead a double life and keep his superhero identity a secret. With social media accounts such as Twitter, however, ordinary people are finding it much easier to rise to fame yet remain anonymous.
Anonymous Twitter accounts allow people to be sarcastic, witty, and sometimes vulgar without the consequences or risk of ruining their own reputations. With benefits like that, the appeal is high. The popularity of such accounts has grown to cult status, with many accounts having thousands of followers.
Twitter accounts ending with the words “problems” or “probs” are internet sensations, as the public pokes fun at everyday situations and certain demographics.
One nationally recognized Twitter account, @PrincessProbz, has almost 350,000 followers!
The hashtag #firstworldproblems is consistently trending, with variations of the account @FirstWorldProblems gathering followers. The moniker makes fun of the “problems” citizens in privileged first world countries such as the United States complain about. “Someone watched a terrible movie on the Netflix account I use, now all of the recommendations are awful #FirstWorldProblems.”
Such Twitter accounts aren’t only popular on the national level. On High Point University’s campus alone, there are at least eight documented Twitter accounts dedicated to making fun of the good, the bad, and the ugly. These accounts have become a humorous way to highlight situations that students face on a daily basis, or to exaggerate the luxury surrounding them.
Some High Point-centered accounts include @hpugreekvprobs, @HPUFreshmnProbs, @HPUSophProbs, @HPUgirlproblem, @HPUGirlProblems, @HPUVillageProbs, @HPUboyproblems, and the generalized @HighPointProbs.
“I follow all of the High Point accounts because I think it’s funny, we’re so privileged but people still find ways to make fun of our lifestyle,” senior Whitney Kaltenbach said.
For example, @hpugreekvprobs tweeted, “That awkward moment when the door handle to your room in your new 1.2 million dollar house just falls off #greekvillageproblems.” For students living in the brand new Greek Village High Point University completed in just a few months, tweets highlighting the pitfalls of the progress create a humorous situation they all can relate to.
Sophomore Alexandra Purves, who lives in one of the unaffiliated houses in the Greek Village, said, “I think it’s hilarious and everything they say is so true! I love it!”
The identities of the people behind these successful accounts are shrouded in secrecy, which only adds to the allure and popularity. Some information was offered up in regards to the @hpugreekvprobs account, however.
“They started it because there are like a million other ‘HPUproblems’ twitters that relate to so many different things at HPU, and so there are a ton of problems in the Greek Village and it’s fun to make jokes about them,” Purves said.
So who are they? They’ll never tell. But that doesn’t sound like a #problem.