Novelty Twitter accounts at DePaul have become increasingly popular as students find humor in following parody profiles.

The online impersonations of celebrities, public figures, corporations and inanimate objects are initiated not only to showcase the creator’s comedic writing, but also to gain attention, which is exactly what developed from the “DPU Problems” Twitter account.

DePaul has its fair share of novelty Twitter accounts, such as DePaul Crushes, DePaul Drinks, DePaul Confessions and even DePaul Gossip Girl, but DPU Problems provides a community that allows students to vent about any issues they have regarding the university.

Followers of DPU Problems use comedic language to address the conflicts they have with DePaul.

One student writes, “I couldn’t find my [DePaul] ID so I wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom,” which DPU Problems then “retweeted” to highlight the issue.

The Twitter account started on Nov. 15, 2011 and remained anonymous for almost two years until Mike Canella, current president of DePaul’s Fiji fraternity, revealed himself as the mastermind behind the keyboard.

“It first started as a humor thing, like “white people problems” and other novelty twitters,” Canella said. “Over the years I’ve used it to help things get noticed at the university.”

With a following of more than 3,500, DPU Problems has developed a relationship with the university that started out negative, but has grown into a symbiotic appreciation.

Shortly after the account’s creation, a few of Canella’s friends who hold current or previous positions in DePaul’s SGA warned him to cool it on the controversial tweets, because of certain issues that were being brought to light and upsetting students and faculty.

DPU Problems initially received negative feedback from peers, occasionally due to debatable topics regarding politics and race that were “retweeted” or worded wrong, according to Canella.

Anamarie Fortuna, a senior marketing major at DePaul, finds solace in the DPU Problems Twitter account.

“It’s a way for students to connect to the DePaul community and a way for them to learn about issues going on,” she said. Fortuna also finds entertainment in reading about her peers’ views and concerns are regarding the university.

When the Twitter account was established, Canella set no guidelines when it came to what he posted. Over the years, and now that he has passed the torch down to his former “intern,” there are certain regulations the account must abide by.

Although he wishes to remain anonymous like his predecessor, the current DPU Problems account holder revealed through a Twitter message how he/she plans to keep this novelty Twitter significant.

“We already have the following; we just need to maintain it by tweeting relevant stuff that every DePaul student faces.”

When collecting content to tweet, it’s simple, according to the new account holder. “Just take a walk around campus and you’ll spot at least three problems.”

The mysterious person behind DPU Problems credits much of its success to the prevalence of the issues to which it references.

“Anything we post, at least ten other people have probably complained about it at some time or another.”

As long as DPU Problems maintains its humor and original intention to help get students’ problems noticed, both the original creator and new anonymous “tweeter” think it will stay active for a while.