![\"Natasha](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo-3-spotted.jpg\")
\u201cSpotted\u201d turns the private phase of beginning a relationship into something more fun and interactive, says Natasha Gnanam, a third-year law student. \u201cSometimes a friend will tell me to visit the page if they see a funny post, and its popularity grows when people talk about it in person.\u201d Although she has never posted a comment on the \u201cSpotted\u201d page, Gnanam visits the forum because she finds the posts amusing: \u201cI just see it as a distraction. And sometimes you see something genuinely romantic that\u2019s worth telling your friends about.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds, \u201cIf I saw a description of myself, I probably wouldn\u2019t get in touch with my admirer. But I would at least take a screenshot of it to show my friends \u2014 just for laughs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet not all Spotted-worthy posts are romantic in nature, as student Gill points out: \u201cYou\u2019re more likely to get ridiculed for a love-related post, but if you write about trying to reach out to someone who\u2019s done a good deed, the responses are much more positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
One kind message thanks a stranger who helped a first-year student find his classes, while another recognizes a person for holding a door open. Other posts ask readers for advice. For example, a student asking if anyone can recommend an easy elective course has about 40 comments that offer suggestions.<\/p>\n
Sparrow McGowan, the social media consultant for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, says people are more active on social media if they see other people engaging with it on a regular basis. Popular pages \u201cencourage more people to comment because it\u2019s a place where people aren\u2019t isolated as commentators,\u201d McGowan says. Posts that ask for opinions or seem applicable to a large number of readers quickly become popular because they act as open conversations, she adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s face it, we\u2019re an online community,\u201d Gill says, smiling. \u201cIn university, most of us haven\u2019t met each other but we know each other through our online posts and personas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The site administrators allow negative or slightly offensive posts if they are witty or will encourage responses. One post reads, \u201cTo the people on [the] forth floor\u2026 While I am impressed that every night at 1 you are having sex, I would kindly appreciate it if you didn\u2019t do it so loudly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018If I saw a description of myself, I probably wouldn\u2019t get in touch with my admirer. But I would take a screenshot to show my friends.\u2019 \u2014 Student Natasha Gnanam<\/p>\n
Since its launch in 2012, the page has been immensely popular. The thrill of finding out if you\u2019re the inspiration behind a post has over 10,000 students liking and visiting the page on a weekly, or even daily basis. A group of anonymous students at Carleton created the page and update it daily. With hundreds of posts, and thousands of Likes, it\u2019s hard to keep track of the amount of activity on the page. \u201cI visit the page a couple of time a day, and comment weekly,\u201d Gill says. \u201cIt\u2019s addictive because it\u2019s constantly being updated,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
University campuses are buzzing with life, and many across Canada have started their own \u201cSpotted\u201d pages on Facebook. The University of Ottawa\u2019s page has over 14,900 Likes, while the \u201cSpotted at Ryerson\u201d page is relatively new, with about 5,000 Likes since its launch in March 2013.<\/p>\n
There seem to be two main reasons behind the page\u2019s growing popularity: It presents romantic possibilities to starry-eyed students, but more importantly, the page thrives due to its entertainment value. Viewers often revisit the page to see if they were spotted, or to post comments they think will be Liked.<\/p>\n
The illusion of connection?<\/p>\n The idea that your soulmate could be one of the hundreds of people you unknowingly walk by each day is what makes the page an instant hit, says psychologist Sue Johnson, Ph.D., the director of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. On a few occasions, friends who know the spotted person reply to the post, offering to play matchmaker and get the potential lovers in touch.<\/p>\n In her new book, Love Sense<\/em>, Johnson says people are \u201cwired to bond with one another.\u201d University students feel the pressure to find a romantic partner because they need someone to confide in, especially if they\u2019re living away from home, she says. There\u2019s also the desire and need for a physical connection, Johnson explains. she adds, \u201cMen are more tuned to visual cues, which could explain why their posts are often about sexual attraction.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to tell if all the posts are heterosexual in message. Some comments indicate that the post is from a person of the opposite sex, but the majority of messages don\u2019t provide any indication.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the question of whether or not people are looking for sexual gratification. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly a \u2018hook-up\u2019 or \u2018friends with benefits\u2019 culture among some students,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cPeople who visit these sites with the intention of finding casual sex or a one-night stand think of it as freedom, but it\u2019s actually a desperate way of trying to connect. Sleeping with a stranger can even leave you feeling lonelier.\u201d These sites may help you reach out, but visitors are unlikely to find emotional fulfillment, she explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThe page allows people to engage in their fantasies of connecting with someone who they find attractive \u2014 and they can act on it without the risk of upfront rejection,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cThe only trouble is that the connection isn\u2019t real. It\u2019s just a Facebook post.\u201d<\/p>\n Gill says the page \u201cmakes Carleton students look like love-sick puppies.\u201d She says Carleton needs a separate dating site because she hasn\u2019t heard of any successful relationships that began on \u201cSpotted.\u201d But Badar Muhi, a second-year accounting student, says \u201cSpotted\u201d played a role in his love life. He says he sent a romantic message to the page\u2019s administrators about a crush he had on a girl in his economics class. Although the couple didn\u2019t get together because of his post, \u201cshe thought it was sweet,\u201d Muhi says. \u201cAt the time, she didn\u2019t have Facebook and didn\u2019t see it on the page, but it was still nice to\u00a0publicly\u00a0state my feelings for her,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Due to the page\u2019s popularity, the anonymous founders created a \u201cSpotted at Carleton Gym\u201d page in September 2013. \u201cYou\u2019re more likely to get in touch with someone if the page is limited to a smaller area like the university gym,\u201d Muhi says.<\/p>\n A love affair with social media<\/p>\n All feelings aside, it seems that trying to spot a mention of yourself on \u201cSpotted\u201d is adding to the page\u2019s popularity. \u201cSecretly, I\u2019ve always wanted to be spotted because I want to know how someone else would see me,\u201d says Muhi. There\u2019s something encouraging about being seen instead of being the one who\u2019s looking and searching, he adds confidently. \u201cI\u2019m not interested in making a romantic connection, but I am curious to see if anyone would notice something about me that\u2019s out of the norm and worth sharing.\u201d Muhi says he visits the page daily and has posted comments that encourage others to write kind and motivating messages, rather than simply romantic ones.<\/p>\n Gill, on the other hand, says she has little interest in posting anonymous messages or being the romantic subject in the posts. Instead, she prefers to comment on the posts. For example, there\u2019s recently been an increasing number of posts that criticize people at the gym for their body shape, Gill says. To respond to the negativity on the \u201cSpotted at Carleton Gym,\u201d she wrote, \u201cAll the love is on the neighbouring [\u2018Spotted\u2019] page, where people are seeking their soulmates.\u201d<\/p>\n Gill says readers need to stop being passive observers and start responding when they see hateful remarks. \u201cThe more you comment on a Facebook page, the more others learn about your online personality,\u201d she adds. \u201cThat\u2019s because when you send a post to the page\u2019s administrators, you remain anonymous, but when you respond to a post, you name shows up with your comment.\u201d<\/p>\n Some students are merely interested in seeing something they\u2019ve written posted online, where lots of other people will read it, says Rena Bivens, a fellow at Carleton\u2019s School of Journalism. The impulse to revisit the page to see if what you\u2019ve written was Liked or commented on can be addictive to some people, she says. \u201cOver time, Facebook tries to cultivate what a good user is, which is someone who posts a lot,\u201d Bivens adds.<\/p>\n Psychologist Johnson says that the writers of these \u201cselfish posts\u201d are equally as driven, as those who seek to connect, by the need to get attention and form a bond. The urge to display your thoughts indicates your need to reach out to others, she explains: \u201cYou don\u2019t know these people, yet you still want to hear from them. So even if you\u2019re not trying to reach out to that special person, you\u2019re trying to write something interesting that you want other readers to respond to.\u201d\u00a0 She adds, \u201cIn the end, the page is about the power of longing for human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n Gill explains that \u201cSpotted at Carleton U\u201d will continue to remain popular because students will use the page to talk about their shared university experiences. Even if students aren\u2019t writing about a specific person, she says students will post in order to complain about the winter weather or point out trends in clothing. \u201cPretty soon, people will be spotting everyone in the library during exam time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a Facebook page, but it can change the way we observe others,\u201d Muhi says. \u201cMaybe it challenges us to notice the little details about people we let slide by. If you really want to make a connection, you\u2019ll have to go beyond just describing someone. It\u2019s about something more important: It\u2019s about a lasting impression that stays with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Home-page photo \u00a9 Jasleen Singh. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carleton students are getting hooked by the thousands on this ego-boosting Facebook page. Is love one click away, or are students just fishing for compliments?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":8525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8261"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9224,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8261\/revisions\/9224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Students](\"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/wp-content\/uploads\/spotted-photo-2.jpg\")
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