Among the sea of social media accounts anonymously representing the University of Dayton’s student body, a new Facebook account has been created that allows students to post positive messages about their peers for everyone to read.
UD Compliments is a Facebook account anonymously run by students and serves as a sharp contrast to accounts like UD Makeouts, UD Confessions and DaytonBroTalk. Although these accounts are often humorous and widely followed by students, they have earned their popularity at the expense of embarrassing other students.
“We do not post mean or potentially embarrassing messages sent to us, only kind messages,” UD Compliments said. “We want to make sure that everyone feels accepted and loved just like UD has accepted and loved us.”
The concept behind UD Compliments is simple: students can message the account on Facebook with a compliment about a fellow student, usually tagging that student in the post. The anonymous administrators of the account then read the messages and post the compliment for everyone to see.
“With ‘I Love UD’ month happening, we figured that the best way to send love was through media that almost everyone has access to,” UD Compliments said. They said they got the idea from a similar account at a college on the East Coast and wanted to use social media in the same positive way.
“We want to be the voice for UD students who want to give nice compliments and want to spread positive energy. From the responses that we have been given, we have found that this page has really impacted those involved.”
Students who have been complimented on the account can attest to this.
“When I first saw the compliment, I almost cried,” Jake Rettig, a junior criminal justice and political science double major, said of being complimented through the account. “It was really thoughtful for someone to write that about me.”
Ashley Stoetzel, a senior early childhood education major, shared similar sentiments of being mentioned.
“It was really nice to be tagged in a compliment,” Stoetzel said. “I had been having a rough couple of days, so it made me really happy to see my name pop up in my own news feed under a UD Compliments story.”
Katie Hopkins, a sophomore marketing and entrepreneurship double major, was also complimented by the account and said that it made her smile. She believes UD Compliments reinforces the community of our school, even though that word is often considered cliché.
“People generally care and it just reminds me why I am here,” Hopkins said. “Dayton is my home and there is no place like it. There is no place I’d rather be.”
UD Compliments said their favorite part about running the account is seeing the responses, much like these, from people who have been complimented. They said seeing people impacted by the compliments they post makes running the account worth it.
UD Compliments likes giving students the opportunity to say something nice about people they may not know well.
Stoetzel thinks this anonymity makes the account more meaningful. She believes this makes it easier for the person giving and receiving the compliment.
“Sometimes it’s easier to believe a compliment when you do not know who it came from,” she said.
UD Compliments hopes to gain popularity among students and continue spreading these positive messages while maintaining their anonymity.
“Eventually, we would like to reach all Flyers and alumni to continue to grow as a loving and accepting community,” they said.
