Green Parody Series: Keeping up the parody

Making people laugh is never easy, and doing that regularly with just 140 characters is no joke. Welcome to the second part of our parody account series about the ups and downs in the life of @Amphigong, @MoreFunInDLSU, and @Lozolpls and how they maintain their online prowess over the Lasallian community.

Eat-all-the-available-food-at-home weather

— DLSU Amphi-THOR-tle (@Amphigong) July 16, 2014

 

Being unknown

One of the earlier challenges that parody accounts seem to face is getting fans. Attaining popularity is no overnight task. With all the things that could take someone’s attention online, they have to think of ways to get the attention on them.

“We didn’t know at that time how to effectively create our own ‘brand’ of parody account,” says @morefuninDLSU. The account had to “strategize to attract more” with only 25 followers back then. This strategy reels in the first followers and, for some, could be hit-or-miss.

Overheard at DLSU: Someone’s demanding trial by combat at Agno around 5:45 PM just before Happy Thursday starts! DON’T MISS IT! — More Fun In DLSU (@morefuninDLSU) July 23, 2014

In the case of @Lozolpls, it started out as the follower rather than the followed. @Lozolpls managed to gain followers earlier by following other popular accounts and getting retweeted. From there, they caught more attention and the follower count began rising on its own.

teacher: what is the english of santol? student: santol? where, bro? rt if u cryed — Lozol pls (@Lozolpls) July 17, 2014

Something to say

Afterwards, it becomes a matter of maintenance or keeping the content interesting. There has to be regular updates, and to keep the number of followers going up, they need to come up with things viewers would want to share. This proves as one of the bigger challenges of these accounts.

There are no exact steps to coming up with a post, but there are certain qualities to tweets that audiences enjoy. A sense of humor is important, but relevance is the strongest draw. To get loyal fans, a parody account has to connect with audiences.

The tweets can involve pop culture or, for Lasallian accounts, anything that involves the University’s culture to relate to followers. @MorefuninDLSU, for instance, incorporates tweets about the University’s events or announcements and sometimes uses hashtags like #LPEPMemories for followers to join discussions.

“WOLCOOM TO LOSOLLE!” #LPEPMemories #itsmorefuninDLSU

— More Fun In DLSU (@morefuninDLSU) April 26, 2013

When thinking of content, according to @Amphigong, the goal is to ‘create witty and relatable tweets.’ “I have a checklist of tweets, and at the same time I just wing it,” he says. He can prepare tweets for anticipated events, like UAAP, but must adjust to what’s actually happening in the games to be interesting.

The Perks of Jason Perkins — DLSU Amphi-THOR-tle (@Amphigong) July 23, 2014

But there’s only so much to say about Lasallian culture. What’s there to tweet about when nothing’s happening in DLSU? Considering everything they’ve already tweeted about, the challenge is figuring out how to stay active during those periods without getting repetitive.

It can be an opportunity to enter other topics. Venturing into new subjects, like football for @Amphigong, is a “feeling process” since audiences aren’t always interested. Those moments or “off-days” like random school nights are what @Amphigong believes to be challenges to find another connection with the audience.  

Pleasing fans, handling haters

The most popular Lasallian parody accounts have over ten thousand followers. While producing regular content and getting support from Lasallians and outsiders alike, some of them cite fans as their reasons for going forward.

Despite all these fans though, there are still people who might not appreciate their thoughts. Some even come like vultures, just waiting for an opportunity to pick at anything that’s posted. Anything popular enough gets them.

@Amphigong shares that he experienced it most during the UAAP 76th Volleyball season. Sometimes these negative comments don’t matter at all, but there are times he occasionally responds with sarcasm. There are also those he takes as a basis for growth because, he says, “Legitimate criticism, especially from the community, is a chance to improve.” The parody accounts don’t let negative comments discourage them. As @Lozolpls puts it, “I have like 13,100 followers and they’re only two.”  

earthquake yesterday, baha today… still no suspension rt if lord god pls i cryed more than the baha

— Lozol pls (@Lozolpls) June 26, 2014

Keeping the tweet on

Coming up with regular flow of tweets is useless if nobody’s listening. This is where @Amphigong, @morefuninDLSU, and @Lozolpls all agree: The account continues as long as the support does.

@morefuninDLSU shares that it’s the retweets and mentions that keep its two owners going in maintaining their account. Because they aspire to make every Lasallian feel like a part of a “bigger team,” that is enough for them to continue.

@Amphigong is open-minded about what the future has in store, making it the reason to be pumped to keep going. “As long as there are people who think that my account deserves to continue, that is a reason for me to keep on going. And besides, who knows what the future holds?”

Maintaining a parody account implies a much deeper understanding of your audience and the medium. It’s not all about making fun of things. An owner follows the brand of the account it was set out to be while understanding what’s in and out in his environment. It’s about making people laugh while seeing issues differently and critically. This is what @Amphigong, @morefuninDLSU, and @Lozolpls have been about since they clicked that sign up page.

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This is the second part of a look into the parody accounts of DLSU. You can read about the beginnings of these parody accounts, as explored by the first article of the Green Parody Series: Backgrounds and beginnings.