Since I joined Instagram, my main goal with my page has been to have fun and bring joy to others. I remember when I was 12 years old, reposting, now that I look back, pretty silly memes and textposts, such as dogs that look like fried chicken. As I have grown older, that goal has not changed. I truly love puns, and having Instagram has allowed me to use my username as a platform to show off my pun-making ability. Currently, my handle is @xingleandreadytomingle, as my first name is XinMing (pronounced SING-ming).
Of course, once I joined the University of Tulsa (TU), I followed @utulsa on Instagram, not having any ulterior motives, but simply to support my school and keep up with current events at TU. However, I decided to have some fun with the TU Instagram account. For a month or two, every time I saw a TU post on my feed, I would comment “FIRST” and add emojis that related to the post, such as red, white, and blue hearts for a picture that had an American flag in it.
Eventually, I wondered what were the odds that TU would follow me back. I knew the odds were not great since they followed just over 200 accounts and had roughly 16,000 followers. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot. On November 17, 2020, the @utulsa posted a picture of the accredited Gilcrease Museum, explaining that TU students get free admission there. Of course, I commented “First!” with emojis of a painting and a painter. This time though, I added an additional comment: “Someday @utulsa will follow me back, I believe. After maybe 100000 comments of first with emojis 😤.” To be completely honest, I did not actually believe TU would follow me back. You can imagine my surprise when 18 hours later, I received an Instagram notification that read: “utulsa mentioned you in a comment: Consider it done! 🌀 🌀.” Right under that notification, I saw the glorious message: “utulsa started following you”.
TU following me was certainly amazing, but the whole experience overall was one of the funniest and most happily unexpected moments of my life. While it was “just” a social media account following me back, that interaction made me feel so seen by the university, and I hope I was able to bring joy to whoever runs the @utulsa account. Though TU following me was a pretty unique experience, feeling personally cared for and seen by the whole university is surely not exclusive to just me. I love being at a university where the faculty, staff, students, and even Instagram account do their absolute best to provide the best experience possible for anyone they are in contact with.