The newest Twitter phenomenon is sweeping across the Big Blue Nation.
Within the last 24 hours a controversial Twitter feed, @UKMakeouts has sprung up, posting scandalous and sometimes lewd photos of University of Kentucky students engaged in not-so-discrete face-to-face contact.
The page is nearing 7,000 followers and has posted more than 100 photos, none of which have distinctly identifiable faces. Some photos feature students straddling others with partial nudity. Update: As of 4:40 p.m. @UKMakeouts has 7,382 followers, up nearly 500 from two-and-a-half hours previous.
It is unknown who is running the Twitter page. The official bio states it is not affiliated with the University, which UK Public Relations confirmed.
Because the Twitter accounts are not affiliated with the university and state it, UK Public Relations had no comment on the accounts, but acknowledged the department knew about both @UKMakeouts and @UKPassouts.
Twitter policy states, “You may not use obscene or pornographic images in either your profile photo, header photo, or user background.” The photos on @UKMakeouts are posted as uploaded images, not elements of the profile photo, header or user background, so they don’t violate that policy.
But there are reasons to be wary of participating in the feed. One is a Twitter policy that allows the microblogging platform to turn over information about users, including IP addresses, to law enforcement. Also, all tweets are recorded and archived by the Library of Congress, according to an April 14, 2010 New York Times article.
Another caution is that once a tag or a hashtag identifying (or even misidentifying) a student in a photo is added via a retweet or Facebook share, that sharer could be liable for fulfilling the libel triad of identification, publication and defamation, creating a legally actionable situation.
Students are able to submit photos via [email protected] But, since Twitter limits the number of photos posted to a single Twitter account each day, the site has moved to using Instagram for some posts.
A search on the [email protected] e-mail address yielded little clue about who might be maintaining it.
Similar accounts already exist at the University of Tennessee (@VolMakeout) and University of Missouri (@MizzouMakeout).
University of Kentucky police say Chief Joe Monroe is out of the state and not available for immediate comment, though UK Police are active in addressing cyber crimes.
The @ukmakeouts account was a hot topic on Twitter amongst late night studiers pushing towards the deadline-filled end of “Dead Week” and the upcoming Finals Week. Many of these Tweets seemed to come from the William T. Young “Willy T.” library. One Twitterer posted: “The only test I could pass right now is one on who is on @ukmakeouts.” Others bemoaned the site popping up as an irresistible distraction as they tried to concentrate in the library.
This twitter feed is just the latest example of UK party-related feeds. Another prominent example is @ukpassouts, which features students who appear to be passed out:
Another is less graphic and more comedic, featuring a variety of “Big Blue Nation Problems.”
Vote on your opinion of these Twitter accounts below:
[polldaddy poll=6748955]
[polldaddy poll=6748987]
