Here's a story that defines "modern romance."
A social media storm rained down on the UW-Madison campus last week, as two students used the Snapchat app to make a romantic connection.
The students – identified as “Vikings Fan” and “Mystery Girl” – noticed each other on Snapchat’s location-based story, and began sending video messages back and forth. They had never met before. After communicating throughout the day, they began trying to track each other down.
Eventually, Vikings Fan and Mystery Girl did meet up – and captured it all on their phones. Video of their day-long exchange went viral almost immediately. One version on YouTube had almost 2 million views in less than one week.
Abby Diamond is a senior studying zoology and environmental studies; Reed Bjork is a fifth-year senior studying biomedical engineering.
Bjork sent in the first video, wishing his favorite football team (the Minnesota Vikings) good luck in the NFL draft. Diamond responded, calling Bjork out and asking him to find her on campus. It wasn't until friends notified each of them about what had happened, that they decided to keep the conversation going.
"I was humiliated and regretted everything," Diamond laughs. "I didn't think he was going to say anything back!"
"Obviously it was really flattering, so I said why not?" Bjork says.
Snapchat gives users the ability to take pictures or videos, and send them to friends. The app recently added a feature called "Campus Stories," where users whose phones indicated they're in and around a college campus are able to submit their images to a community message thread.
Diamond and Bjork's entire exchange happened over the public thread at UW-Madison – so students all over campus watched the flirtation, and began cheering them on with video messages of their own.
"I'm from Wisconsin and I hate the Vikings," one student quipped. "But we really hope this couple gets together!"
"It was really cool to hear the support from everyone on campus," Bjork recalls. "[It] shows the kind of campus we have, too, the spirit that people have here."
"A lot of people say social media is so antisocial, it disconnects people from reality," Diamond says. "This kind of disproves all of that."
The duo says they've become friends since the original exchange. Bjork says they'll worry about going on a 'real date' once final exams end this month -- until then, they're spending time together in the campus library.
And, Diamond adds, the two hope their story gives people their age some confidence in making new connections on campus.
"A lot of people want to think it's fake and staged, because people nowadays don't put themselves out there," Diamond says. "Hopefully this will inspire people to break down those walls."
