While riding the Muni with your headphones on, sitting in class and minding your own business or even just walking home from a long day of school, you might be oblivious to an admiring stranger waiting for you to look in their direction. The Instagram page @sfsuhallwaycrushes revolves around the lives of SF State students as they go about their days on campus while dealing with typical college student conflicts and relationship struggles.

In today’s digital age of social media and dating apps, spontaneous, real-life interpersonal connections and relationships are few and far between. In a divergent approach to how past generations have traditionally gone about finding romance, online dating has become an easier way for people to meet; but that doesn’t necessarily imply or ensure sincerity and authenticity.

Ivy Chen, who has been teaching students about sex and relationships for nearly 22 years,  believes that finding a relationship online could potentially be hit or miss. There is always the uncertainty that a virtual relationship could fall short and not lead to anything serious, and it might be more beneficial for someone to find a partner more organically.

“I feel like, especially with college students, a lot of people have traveled far from their home from where they grew up in,” said Chen. “There are a lot of people in general, but also a lot of young people in general—maybe single, maybe available—and there are a lot of opportunities. There are a lot of chances to meet somebody [virtually], but I just feel like the online dating is a way to meet somebody, and that is all I’m saying.’’

Apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have taken over the dating scene, giving people the security of avoiding face-to-face rejection; social media provides a similar luxury. In the era of catfishing, carefully crafted narratives and fabricated online personas, social media has been utilized to create anonymous platforms where users can freely speak their minds. 

Taking the place of Craigslist’s “Missed Connections” and ASKfm of the early 2010s, accounts dedicated to giving people an outlet to vent, confess or profess, have popped up all over campuses. From @csulbconfessions to @sdsu.confessions and our very own @sfsuconfessionspage, we see students actively utilizing these outlets. The latest account to gain traction on our campus is @sfsuhallwaycrushes—providing SF State students with a forum to anonymously confess their feelings or reach out to crushes they’ve developed in passing. 

Light pink squares with dark purple text revealing racy admissions cover the @sfsuhallwaycrushes Instagram page. Started on a whim in mid- to late-October 2023, @sfsuhallwaycrushes has since gained over 1,000 followers, with students flocking to the account in hopes of catching the attention of that special someone—or even looking to find themselves featured in a post. 

After hearing the buzz about @sfsuhallwaycrushes and seeing the account pop up in his recommended followees, Declan requested to follow the page. From looking for friends and romantic relationships to divulging dirty, juicy secrets, the account has caught the attention of SF State students and faculty alike.

“I’ll be in the elevators seeing people swipe on the posts,” said Declan, a first-year computer science major living in the dorms at SF State. “It’s a really common thing to see people on the page.”

Joshua Jones-Trammell, a second-year broadcast and electronic communication arts major at SF State, heard about @sfsuhallwaycrushes through his friends. Since he has never been in a relationship, he thought this could be an interesting way to put himself out there and meet as many new people as he could. Jones-Trammell doesn’t know if he will meet his special someone from the submission, but that did not stop him from taking a leap of faith and shooting his shot. With his back against a wall, he decided to ask his friends their opinions.

“It was an interesting experience, getting myself out there through this unconventional means of dating,” said Jones-Trammell. “Just posting some pink card online—it’s just interesting.”

For those who choose to submit their crushes to @sfsuhallwaycrushes, it’s a place to connect with the one that got away. But for the admins of the account, it can be stressful to keep up with the influx of submissions they receive as the page gains more traction.

Upon request for an interview, @sfsuhallwaycrushes asked to keep communication strictly within Instagram direct messages. The voices behind the account will be referred to as their Instagram handle throughout the remainder of the story for the purpose of anonymity and source protection.

How many people run the account, and what are your majors?

There are five people who run the account: a second- and first-year computer science major; a first-year fashion major; a first-year psychology major and a second-year environmental science major.

Were you all friends before starting the account?

Yeah, some of us were friends since last year, and some of us just met at the beginning of fall semester, but we were all kind of mutual friends and we just grouped together.

Why did you guys decide to start the account?

We were bored and one of us was just like, “What if?” And we were like, “What if?” And we just said, “Fuck it, we ball,” so we did it.

When did you start the page?

I think [it was in] early October. We gained popularity pretty fast.

On average, how many submissions do you get a day?

We typically get around 50-60 submissions each day. 

What kind of submissions do you get the most?

We typically get submissions trying to find people’s [Instagram handles], but lately people have been hella horny. I’m pretty sure that most of them are jokes, but there are definitely a few picks that are [for real].

Has there been any instances where the confessions are too inappropriate or concerning to post?

Oh yeah, for sure. We’ve been more lenient this semester cuz they’ve been pretty funny and most of our audience also think they’re funny, but if it’s anything harmful or that can make ppl uncomfortable we just don’t post it. We also have asked people for permission if they had a submission about them that might be weird and there have been instances where people have asked to delete a post and we immediately take it down.

How long does it take you to go through all the submissions?

Like maybe an hour; two hours max.

Does that include making the post?

Yeah, pretty much it’s all one process. We look through the Google form and make posts as we go through it.

Do you know any success stories that have come from someone shooting their shot through the confessions?

Yeah, a few people have [directly messaged] us saying they started talking to someone or dating through our account. It’s actually really cute.

Does it ever feel difficult running a page that is so demanding while also doing your school work?

Sometimes, especially when schoolwork is piling up. I think lately, since it’s the beginning of the semester, it is a lot easier to post continuously but there was a time last semester when we would only post every other day. 

What have been some of the craziest confessions you have gotten so far?

Honestly, a few of the ones about the skaters get really crazy. We recently got one about pegging and in the past, we received something that went along the lines of “I always see you riding that board, how about you ride something else instead.” I think a few of the really long ones we got recently are pretty crazy, especially the ones in the letter format.

Have you faced challenges or negative consequences as a result of running the confessions page?

I think it’s mainly just keeping our identity secret from our friends. There have been times when we’ve had close calls and there was a point where one of our friends actually found out. Other than that, our comments section can get heated sometimes. It’s not often, but when it does happen we try to stay away from it, and sometimes we delete out-of-pocket comments. That’s also why we pick and choose the submissions we post: because we don’t want our account to make anyone feel uncomfortable, or to spread any negativity. 

Does everyone who runs the account have a job or a role? Or does everyone do everything together?

It’s kind of a mixture of both. We have a main person posting submissions and a few different [people] post our stories and notes as well as reply to DMs.

Can you walk me through the process of making a post?

Basically, we have a Google form and we just copy and paste the submissions onto the pink background we use. As we go through the submissions, we pick ones that we have comments on and use them as the front picture in order to correlate them to the caption.

Has anyone who is a part of hallway crushes ever submitted their own confession?

 for sure just because we’re SFSUhalwaycrushes doesn’t mean we don’t have hallway crushes LMAO

Why do you think that people submit their crushes online rather than just going up to them in person?

I think it’s just a lot easier saying it anonymously online rather than in person. A lot of people are scared of rejection or being perceived as weird so they kind of just hide behind a screen.

“I think that fantasy aspect of it [having a crush] is really fun as well, but if they actually want to turn it into a real relationship at some point they are going to have to confront them, but maybe there is this wish that somehow putting it out there will mean that the other person will hear about it and take action,” said Chen.