About two years ago, a couple of women wanted to find a way to anonymously compliment someone they saw on campus.
Since its creation in March 2013, the MSU Crushes Twitter account has become an avenue for everything from thanking people for doing good deeds around campus to proposing to athletes.
"Marry me Conner Cook!!!"
— MSU Crushes (@MSUCrushes) January 7, 2014“We would see people in class and wish they knew that we thought they were cute, so we wanted to create an account that could do that,” MSU alumna and one of the account’s creators Gabrielle Tobel said.
The Twitter account is one of the more popular ones created for MSU students with more than 14,000 followers and more than 11,000 tweets.
However, when the account was first made, not even the creators expected it to be as popular as it is now.
Chelsea Saferian, MSU alumna and fellow MSU Crushes creator, said she and the other creators hoped it would gain popularity, but never thought they would receive hundreds of submissions a day and the large following.
Saferian said being ordinary students and having classes made controlling the account difficult.
“We would get so many submissions and it would be difficult to keep up with all of them and make sure that they all got posted,” Saferian said. “Some people would get mad if their post wouldn’t get tweeted out so we tried our best to keep up with it.”
Psychology and criminal justice junior Heather Trost has had multiple tweets submitted about her and said she sees it as a flattering gesture.
“It was definitely the biggest compliment,” Trost said. “It made me feel really good. ... I think it’s a really nice account and it lets people know that someone is thinking about them.”
"Heather Trost, you are one gorgeous gift from God. Holyyy!"
— MSU Crushes (@MSUCrushes) November 5, 2014When Tobel and Saferian graduated last spring, they wanted the MSU Crushes account to continue on. They passed the account down to the newest anonymous account holder.
Saferian said passing down the account was definitely something they wanted to do when their time at MSU had come to a close.
“We got a lot of people that tweeted us and said they wanted to take it over,” Saferian said. “We wanted to give it to someone that was funny and someone we could trust.”
Spartans, the torch has been passed down & we can only hope to live up to their expectations! The 2nd generation is ready for your crushes!
— MSU Crushes (@MSUCrushes) July 7, 2015Saferian and Tobel both said they had a good run being in control of the account and were humbled to know just how much it affected others in a positive way.
“My favorite thing about being a part of MSU Crushes was just bringing people together and making people feel good and making them feel special,” Tobel said.
