This year, social life in Park has a new setting on a whole different profile page.

Since the beginning of the school year, new Park-centered Twitter accounts are gaining traction.

These accounts do not represent actual people or organizations, but instead are used  as a means to engage students in entertaining, humorous and sometimes controversial  topics. For the most part, students create and run these accounts and tweet about their peers.

Junior Will Gleason, the previously anonymous account holder of slpeyebrows, said he edits out students’ eyebrows from pictures on Facebook and then tweets them on the account.

“My friends and I talked about this idea in study hall last year, but never got an opportunity to make it.” Gleason said. “I was bored one night so I decided to make it just for fun.”

Even though the slpeyebrows account is somewhat popular, Gleason said he does not think he will continue running the account due to the time commitment.

Senior Blake Smith said he was inspired by slpeyebrows to create his own account, SLP Face Swap. SLP Face Swap switches two students’ faces in a picture through photo editing.

“I noticed the slpeyebrows account, and thought I would attempt to one up them. I got the idea from other face swapping accounts,” Smith said. “The reason I made the account was to hopefully entertain the public.”

Students respond positively to trending accounts

Despite the potential controversy over unauthorized editing of a student’s picture, Smith said so far he has heard no complaints.

“I think other accounts have critics because some of their material is more controversial or rude toward other students,” Smith said. “Most of my work comes from requests, and it’s simply friends making their friends look ridiculous.”

Freshman Anya Lindell Paulson said she is concerned over accounts that tweet potentially contentious material.

“Some of these accounts are fine, but there are a lot that are stupid because they only cause drama,” Lindell Paulson said.

Among the more controversial accounts is Slp battle. This account posts two people’s names and assigns each to either “favorite” or “retweet.” Fans then either “favorite” or “retweet” the post, and the person who receives the most of their assigned action wins. The creator of Slp battle said he got the idea from seeing other school doing the same.

“I saw other accounts from different schools have it and I thought it be cool for SLP to have one,” said the senior Slp battle creator who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s also fun seeing who likes who better.”

The Slp battle account holder said he has not received much criticism for his account.

“I hear people all the time saying they really like Slp battle and love sending in battles, because it’s both fun and funny,” he said. “I feel like everyone wants to know everything about everyone, like who broke up with who, who’s dating who and who’s better than the other and Twitter is the perfect place for exactly that.”

Junior Kali Vinson, an avid fan of Slp battle, said she agrees.

“They post funny stuff, and it’s exciting,” she said. “Sometimes conflict is entertaining.”

Despite the support for Slp battle,senior Haley Hagstrom, the account creator of SLP love, is not as supportive of such conflict.

“I can definitely see how that would cause conflict. I find the account more as a joke than something that you should get upset over,” she said. “So far I haven’t seen any tweets from (Slp battle)  that I personally would be offended over, although I can see how someone would take those tweets the wrong way.”

Controversy over cyberbullying

Clinical Psychologist Dr. Ruth Hornstein said that in cases such as these, social media can play both a positive and negative role.

“Social media can have both positive and negative  effects on teens” Hornstein said. “On one hand it can give people who wouldn’t feel comfortable interacting with others. But on the other hand it can be used for bullying.”

Smith said he believes several reasons for the recent boom in SLP Twitter popularity exists.

“I think some people made the accounts for attention, however, there may be ulterior motives,” he said. “I think they have gained traction because our community is in need of some comic relief after all of the tragedy in the past years.”

Unlike Slp battle, Hagstrom said her account tweets compliments about other students. Her tweets are based on fan requests.

“It’s an account that I made to spread the love at SLP. People direct message me their ideas of what and who to tweet about and I occasionally tweet my own opinions as well,” Hagstrom said.

Among the most recent Park accounts is “Liberal,” previously known as “Liberal SLP.” This newly added perspective to this trend by tweeting and retweeting about policies and issues close to the American political left-wing. Although this added political account draws criticism for politicizing the trend, the account owner refuted much of those claims.

While these SLP accounts are popular now, some wonder what will become of these Twitter accounts as the year progresses. The Slp battle creator said he is hopeful that his message will live on Park students’ Twitter feeds.

“What goes up must come down,” said Slp battle. “I do believe that eventually all the SLP accounts will die out, but I hope Slp battle can stay alive until I graduate this year so I can pass it on to someone else.”