Online student group seeks bulls for date
Written by Lenay Ruhl, Apr 17, 2012, 0 Comments
USF St. Petersburg students have a new way to get informed through Facebook. Aside from the USFSP The Know It All’s Guide To Knowing It All, a page that allows students to post questions and information about anything campus related, there is now a Facebook page that has the same open forum with a more narrow purpose.
The new Facebook page, Date-A-Bull, describes itself as “a group for single Bulls looking to mingle! (And maybe find love!)”
After joining the Date-A-Bull group, USFSP Facebook users can post on the wall telling members their name, what type of people they are interested in or seeking, and their interests. They’re encouraged to have fun but be clean, and are provided an email address if they have any questions or concerns.
Date-A-Bull was created by sophomore Steve Goodwin, an education administration major. His friend Devan Carr, a freshman psychology major, can also log in as Date-A-Bull and is helping manage the page.
“I’m the founder, and he’s the face,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin came up with the idea during a conversation in the Sex and Relationship Club, which is a student club based around dating and sex. “I believe the final purpose is to help people understand each other better,” Carr said about the club.
Carr and Goodwin attend the club meetings every week. One week they were talking about what makes a person dateable and the Facebook page stemmed from that. The page was created a little over a week ago and they had 36 followers as of Friday, April 13. To promote their page they posted about it on the Know-It-All-Guide on Facebook. Christa Hegedus, president of the Sex and Relationship Club, mentioned it in their meeting. The majority of promotion was done through word of mouth. Carr and Goodwin heard that it was a good idea from people they didn’t expect.
“It’s a start,” said Carr.
Although Hegedus is involved, the Date-A-Bull site is independent from any club. They hope for the idea to expand but want to keep it on Facebook. They feel it’s easier since most people are already using Facebook.
The goal isn’t for people to always find each other on Date-A-Bull, Carr and Goodwin said. Maybe they meet at school and can refer to the page to find out more about the person, so it makes approaching someone easier, knowing if they are single and what they are interested in.
Goodwin and Carr feel that they will be successful once a couple starts dating from Date-A-Bull.
“Disclaimer,” Goodwin said. “If their relationship doesn’t go well it’s not our fault.”
They hope to moderate the site as best as possible. Goodwin and Carr both agree that they don’t want the page to turn into a “hook-up” forum, and discourage anything sexually suggestive or the use of swearing. The point is for people to meet up, Goodwin said. If objectionable content is posted, people will be asked to remove it.
“If they refuse to remove it they’re un-date-a-bull,” Goodwin said.
