Most students are eager to share their opinions over social media. Recently, Adams students have created twitter accounts, such as Adams’ Honesty, which highlights interesting “ truths” about students, Adams’ Rumors, which brings attention to negative gossip that consumes the school, and Adams’ Kindness, which makes kind statements about students.

Students who use these accounts are free to post their opinions with very few consequences.  Many students find these accounts interesting and fun, while others think they spread negativity throughout the school.

The way these accounts work is simple.  One student creates the account anonymously while other students then send messages directly to the account owner (“direct message”).  Those messages usually consist of gossip, compliments or other information or misinformation about Adams’ students and staff. The account owner can then filter through the direct messages and post the ones they want public. Many of these accounts allow students to anonymously compliment their friends and peers.

“I saw a tweet about me once,” said sophomore Olivia Roberts. “It said I was nice and pretty, and it made me really happy that someone would go out of their way to tweet that about me.”

Many of these accounts, such as Adams Close Up Pics, which specializes in posting silly photos of Adams students’ faces zoomed in extremely close, are made to create a humorous atmosphere. Roberts also had a picture posted on this account.

“Adams’ close up pictures posted a photo of me sleeping,” said Roberts. “It made me laugh about myself.”

“Students seem to love these accounts,” said junior Sandra McClure. “Personally, the ones I have seen have all been really positive things about the people at school. It seems like a really awesome thing, and it helps everyone know everyone else a little more, so I think it has a positive impact!”

The goal of these positive anonymous twitter pages is to spread kindness among Adams’ students. The creator of Adams’ Honesty, who wishes to remain anonymous, wanted only to spread kindness around Adams.

“I am on a mission to brighten someone’s day,” said the anonymous account holder, “broadcasting others opinions about their peers, and a few of my own as well. I respect everyone’s opinions; however, I do not publish thoughts and comments that could be taken as offensive in any way. Any specific details on direct messages cannot, and will not be shared. The content of the messages are simple. Someone writes in, I read over the post, and directly copy it and paste to Twitter. I have received countless messages thanking me for the account and how thoughtful it is, but I do not take credit. This is an account from the eyes of the student body, hoping to charm some hearts along the way.”

Despite the positivity these accounts bring, negative accounts have graced many students’ timelines as well.

“I think some of them start with innocent intentions,” said senior Natalie Needs. “As a student body we make it more malicious. They’ve definitely violated some people’s privacy and probably hurt some friendships all for a few extra favorites.”

Many accounts, such as Adams Booty, Adams Beauty and Adams Rumors, are known for bringing attention to a specific aspect of Adams. Although these accounts do not attract grateful attention, and are quickly shut down due to low activity, they bring a plethora of negative reactions from outraged students.

“I think people should stop creating these accounts,” said sophomore Hali Faigley. “It centralizes aspects of people that aren’t important. Even people, who have been recognized as being ‘beautiful,’ were angry. The negative connotations these accounts have had are also spread to the people they recognize. All around they’re horrible.”

Often times, the administration gets involved because these accounts have such an effect on students. Several of the account holders were discovered and forced them to shut down.

“Social networking sites in general are not negative,” said Assistant Principal Chuck May. “It’s just so easy to post something quickly without taking a moment to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages of the statement. If any issues are brought to the school’s attention, then we do get involved. It can cause a lot of issues that compromise our secure and safe environment.”

Social media cites may be a great outlet for many students to share creative thought and ideas. However, for many students, these anonymous accounts hold negative connotations due to their mixed messages.