Students create virtual bonds
Story by Emily Bivens
Photos by Jay Byrd
Design by Breanna Burba
Editor’s Note: This article was originally released in Issue 18 of the WKU Talisman print magazine. Click here to read more articles from the Talisman’s semesterly print.
With thousands of students on campus at any time, it can be challenging to stay connected. However, connecting through social media platforms offers students, staff and campus organizations the opportunity to keep in touch.
Social media apps like Instagram, X, Reddit and TikTok connect millions of users across the world. Through the direct messaging systems of these apps, users can chat with each other despite their physical distance.
Noel Baskin, a junior from Scottsville, Kentucky, has become online friends through Instagram with people across the country and even some outside the United States.
“We connect because we have more in common,” Baskin said.
Baskin established these relationships through shared interests in multiple forms of media, making each connection unique.
“It was like stuff on YouTube, TV shows, different games, all of that,” Baskin said.
The isolation of the coronavirus played a big part in why Baskin first began seeking out friendships with people online.
“I lived in a rural part of my hometown, and there wasn’t really anyone else that could go out, so I sort of just started talking to other people online,” Baskin said.
Baskin followed one of their closest friends, Shiloh, almost four years ago.
Baskin and Shiloh bonded over their interest in the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” television series. Despite both of them losing some interest in the show itself, their friendship has gone beyond the fandom.
“We talk to each other like you would an in-person friend. It’s just different because we live in different cities,” Baskin said.
During one of their conversations, Baskin discovered that Shiloh lives nearby in Nashville and expressed interest in meeting up one day.
“I was like, ‘Hey, I live close to there,’ and we didn’t even know until that point,” Baskin said.
Baskin said that if they were not as distanced and shared a space with Shiloh, they would be able to grow closer.
Baskin said online communication can be intimidating at times because it can be difficult to know how someone will perceive a message.
“Meeting face-to-face, you can explain, ‘Oh I didn’t mean it like that,’” Baskin said.
Baskin said this does not discourage them from seeking out online relationships and enjoys the accessibility of each friendship. Because of social media, Baskin said it is easier to keep up with their friends by checking what they post on their accounts.
Baskin said that friendships online can be just as beneficial as in-person ones and believes that everyone should give them a chance.
“Seek out people with similar interests, just try it for yourself and see what happens,” Baskin said.
Baskin said that forming deep connections online is possible and finds it difficult to understand how others disagree.
“We live in a society that thrives on technology, and we just use it to our advantage,” Baskin said.
On the other hand, despite living in a technology-driven-society, WKU Professor Bruce Crawley finds greater benefits with in-person communication. Crawley has been teaching communication for 22 years.
“You can talk on the phone with somebody on the other side of the world with a device you carry around in your pocket,” Crawley said, “How crazy is that?”
However, Crawley said social media has created more barriers than connections.
“There’s the potential to understand each other more clearly face-to-face than what we could through social media,” Crawley said.
Crawley said that through direct messaging, people miss out on the full context that can be seen in person as well as emotional appeal.
“Any kind of mediated communication is typically going to be less rich than face-to-face communication,” Crawley said.
Crawley said that beyond losing the richness of in-person communication, he has also witnessed a decline in face-to-face communication overall.
“It’s rare to walk into a classroom now and hear a buzz of conversation among students who should, seems to me, get to know each other,” Crawley said.
This was not always Crawley’s experience. He said cell phones are all that he can think of to blame since they are the main drastic difference compared to when he started teaching.
“Can it bring people together? Does it give you new and different ways to be connected with each other? Yeah. But I think the benefits are being outweighed by the problems,” Crawley said.
Someone who has experienced the benefits of social media is WKU instructor, and University of Delaware adjunct professor, Steven Momorella.
Previously, Momorella owned a software company and taught business owners and marketers through online and in-person seminars for 25 years. He has been teaching in higher education for the past five years.
“I’m connected to a lot of people in my educational profession via social media — mainly LinkedIn,” Momorella said. “I can ask questions, participate in group discussions, engage via private messages, all while using social media.”
Momorella teaches courses in strategic communication, digital public relations, advertising, artificial intelligence and online newsrooms. He said social media is a core focus point that he uses in teaching public relations.
“Social media has become another channel that we monitor, research, and create PR campaigns for as we work to persuade our various audiences,” Momorella said.
Momorella said he teaches students social media tactics like tracking social engagement, pitching stories via direct messages, and even creating content for Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.
Momorella said that social media has helped him grow and learn as a teacher. However, he also said that social media has created some barriers when it comes to genuinely getting to know someone online.
“Someone can create a fake email account using a fake phone number and then set up a fake social media account,” Momorella said, “That person can then communicate via social media to a lot of people without ever revealing their true identity.”
Someone who has benefitted from practicing anonymity online is Lynda Mary Eernisse. Eernisse is a senior at WKU from Milwaukee who is the social media account manager for the @WKUChicks Instagram account. She has kept her identity as the account manager private until now.
Eernisse said she has had great experiences running the account and keeping students connected to WKU.
“It hasn’t always been funny videos or memes,”Eernisse said, “Over the past couple of semesters, I have tried to use the page as an outlet to post events and things that are happening on campus.”
One of Eernisse’s favorite things to post has been the “Good Boy Friday” series. This series involves people sending in their dogs to be featured on the page. Eernisse said it brings in some of the most attention and always has many submissions.
“Honestly the hardest part is picking which ones to post,” Eernisse said, “I wish I could post them all.”
An unexpected hurdle that Eernisse encountered involving the account was finding out WKU sororities do not allow their members to be featured on the page.
“Many times, I have posted harmless content that included Greek life members and have received tons of criticism and threatening DMs due to this rule,” Eernisse said.
However, this allowed Eernisse to take the page into a different direction which she ended up being happier with.
Eernisse encourages everyone who manages a social media page to have fun with it and make it their own.
“Get creative with your posts; do a silly trend that you like; find new ways to source ideas,” Eernisse said, “If at any point it isn’t fun for you anymore, set down your phone and walk away for a bit.”
Using lighthearted, relatable and fun content, Eernisse has created a page that students as well as alumni take time to interact with.
“They like the nostalgic content that brings them back to their ‘glory days’ of college,” Eernisse said.
Some students have used their personal social media pages to connect themselves and others to WKU. Someone who has found success in this is TikTok creator Hunter Lee, a junior from Chickamauga, Georgia.
Lee, known by the username @huntsman8804 on TikTok, has gained over 10,000 followers on the platform since he first began making TikToks in the spring of 2020. His content typically includes weather reports, sports journalism and daily vlogging.
“I just wanted to have fun with it,” Lee said, “I wanted to share weather, share the fun of weather, and in some cases, share just my daily life.”
Lee’s daily life has changed since gaining popularity on social media. Now, he is able to use his platform to connect with the businesses and citizens of Bowling Green. Cheetah Clean Auto Wash recently gave Lee one of his biggest career opportunities so far.
“I started doing funny stuff with them during the football season of 2023,” Lee said, “and then it went from that to signing a contract.”
Lee was able to sign a name, image and likeness contract which allows him to profit from using his name, image and likeness by promoting his content as well as Cheetah Clean’s business. He has also been given opportunities to create content with individuals outside of Bowling Green.
Lee said one of his favorite interviews was with meteorologist Josh Wurman, featured on Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers.” It was one of the most emotional moments he’d had from starting his content creation career, since he has always been interested in pursuing meteorology, he said. “I’ve always wanted to meet him,” Lee said, “I’ve always wanted to ask him questions, and I got to do that over TikTok.”
Thanks to TikTok, Lee was able to interview baseball players Dakota “Stilts” Albritton of the Savannah Bananas and Bronson Balholm of the Party Animals. Lee said these accomplishments have made him more recognizable on campus and allowed him to meet more of his peers.
“All over campus people are asking, when is my next TikTok coming out,” Lee said, “It’s incredible because I’ve got to become friends with so many people on campus.”
Lee’s campus connections continue to grow as more students discover his content. Lee said his videos have not only brought people to him, but to WKU as well.
“You see me talk about how awesome our school is, our football, basketball, baseball,” Lee said, “I’ve had people say to me I really want to go play at WKU because of you.”
Lee’s TikTok platform has allowed him to connect. However, the future of TikTok is uncertain. According to AP News, Joe Biden signed that ByteDance had a year to sell TikTok to a new owner, but they did not and TikTok shut down on Jan. 18, 2025. However, President Donald Trump extended the ban to Apr. 5, 2025 which effectively brought TikTok back according to AP News.
“In my opinion, it’s not that big of a deal if TikTok ends up going away,” Lee said, “I can go to Instagram, Facebook — I can find a different app. People will find me on my other social medias.”
Lee said he is not afraid of losing the relationships he has fostered through his platforms. He said the bonds he has created have gone beyond online and will continue to flourish.
“If you make strong enough connections in life, it will withstand anything over social media,” Lee said.