Arcade slid into Tulane Missed Connections’ DMs this past week to inquire about the new Tulane-relevant Instagram account.

“It stems from the craigslist type postings that people put up, instances where they meet someone at a concert or a bar and never got their name but wish they could continue the conversation,” says Ms. Connections, solo creator of the Instagram account. 

Ms. Connections was inspired to bring this type of account to campus after hearing about similar accounts at other universities. 

While the account creator has chosen to keep her identity anonymous in order to keep the content coming in, she did reveal her pronouns, graduating class – she’s a sophomore – and her modesty. 

“I’m not a super popular person (I’m definitely not the kind of girl people send in submissions about I don’t think). My friends that know were all really shocked when I told them it was me,” she says.

Although Ms. Connections posts most of the DMs she receives, she prioritizes true “missed connections,” rather than submissions about people witnessed from afar. 

“I think as the account goes on I might filter out more of those and just stick to the true missed connections, but right now they’re all pretty entertaining,” she says of the tons of messages that storm her DMs. 

The account started right before school started in August, and the account quickly blew up, reaching over 2,000 followers in about a month.

“I totally didn’t expect it to blow up this much, but I’ve overheard people talking about it all over campus,” she says. “I’m also honored that the account got big enough to be the focus of a Daily Wave article… People have been sharing my posts on their stories every now and then or tagging me in captions, and people are so kind and keep saying stuff along the lines of “keep up the good work!”, which always makes me smile a little bit.”

Ms. Connections also enjoys receiving submissions with which she feels personally connected. 

“It’s always kinda fun for me when people that I know personally send things in, not knowing that I’m the one running it … a few friends who have sent in stuff about crushes that they probably still don’t know that I know about.” 

While being the founder of the Tulane Missed Connections account is cooler than a student’s average hobby, running the account can be overwhelming when your inbox is constantly swarmed. 

“I always feel bad for not getting to all of them or posting them late, and every now and then I’ll have people respond with something like “please post!!” or “this is urgent!!” a few hours after they’ve sent them. I understand, but I’m also only one person and I have a lot of stuff going on! As fun as the account is it’s definitely NOT my #1 priority on campus,” she said. 

Keeping up with all the posts, keeping her identity a secret and coming up with creative captions for posts are difficulties Ms. Connections must deal with on a daily basis.

Regardless, her favorite part of running this account is hearing people talk about it in public. 

“ … I have this huge secret that only a few people know. I was studying in the library the other day and overheard people talking about it, and even my friends who don’t know will have conversations around me and I feel a lot cooler than I actually am. It’s definitely a little bit of an ego boost.” 

So, if you’ve learned anything from this article, look your best – all day, every day because you never know who’s watching 😉 But don’t be the type of person who sends in submissions about themselves, or their friends. Ms. Connections knows who you are. Xoxo.