Profile: @QueensUProblems is anything but a problem

By Julia Vriend

Assistant Blogs Editor

Whether you’ve heard of them or you’re a regular follower, @QueensUProblems has surpassed other anonymously-run Queen’s-related Twitter handles with its relevant and witty postings. Luckily for me, the three creators of @QueensUProblems had no problem disclosing their identities and recounting how they rose to the top of the Twittersphere at Queen’s.

Last October, housemates Alex Scott, Benjamin Grieve, and Eric Brown came up with a unique idea; a Twitter handle designed just for the Queen’s University community. Scott and Brown were hanging out in their house on Brock Street discussing their day and exchanging memorable stories typical of university life.

That’s when Scott thought, “that is such a Queen’s Problem”. And the rest is history. They’d previously been discussed creating an anonymous Twitter account as a way of conveying their humour to the Queen’s community, and playing with the stereotype of “Queen’s University problems” was the perfect solution.

“And that’s when Eric pitched the idea to me,” Grieve said.

With the Facebook page and Twitter handle up and running, “we were predicting a thousand likes, if we got 500 we would have been happy,” Scott said. Within the first day, they had an impressive 500 follows, achieving about one Facebook “like” every hour. “My phone died [due to the notifications] the first day we stared it,” he said. “I remember walking home that night at like 1 in the morning and hearing someone on the street talk about it – it just took off.”

However their success hasn’t come without obstacles. “We had a scare,” admits Scott. The university representatives didn’t want people associating their Twitter handle with the school logo; they didn’t want the handle to compromise the University’s reputation. “I had to add the message [on Twitter] that we weren’t affiliated with the University,” Grieve said.

The boys tweet spontaneously under the Twitter handle @QueensUProblems as ideas come to them. Grieve said the tweets comprise of situations they believe to be relatable to students. “I figured if I am hung over on a Thursday morning, someone else must have gone to Alfies and is also feeling the same way,” Grieve said.

With about two years left of study, the boys will continue keeping @QueensUProblems active and hope to further increase the handle’s number of followers. To get a taste of @QueensUProblems follow them @QueensUProblems on Twitter, or “like” them on Facebook; their comments are equally humorous.

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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