Impfluencers — a look into the big names on the My Imperial Campus app
The My Imperial Campus app has skyrocketed to seventh place on the Google Play and Apple App Store charts under the social media category. This surprising influx of downloads and engagement comes after a major update, introducing new features that allow users to create content like other social media giants, and publicly share and track students’ numerical data and location. The Campus app is now available for download for anyone in the world, including those from outside Imperial, however only students, staff, and alumni are able to become post publicly. The location tracking and lecture sign in features have allowed NegaFelix to unveil the surprising statistic that 20% of students actually spend less than one hour on campus a week.
One new feature is that students are able to track payments made on campus and write a short caption. One impfluencer known for this is Cantonio Hahine, who has garnered 54,000 followers for his excessive library café trips. On Wednesday alone he could be seen to have purchased 13 cappuccinos in the library café, posting them all with no caption. One fan of his, Juby Roy, said she loved to follow his expeditions as he seemed “introspective and mysterious”. She further explained that a core part of the Cantonioverse is “Friday sticky chicken at Kokoro where he always posts the caption 'nice'”.
Another core feature is that students are able to upload all their official test scores and grades directly from Blackboard so that all other accounts can view them. The most followed account, at 1.2 million followers, belongs to now global influencer, By Tolton, who after publishing their 43% on an assignment for public view received thousands of comments praising them for their “transparency” and being “so real”. “Really their bravery is incredible,” said one commenter, Wowen Ilkinson, “this is why By is the people’s prince.” It is estimated that Tolton made around £3000 in ad-revenue for this third-class grade.
By ultimately secured their 2:1 at the end of the academic year and published this publicly on the app whilst on livestream to promote a sponsorship deal with Quorn Picnic Eggs, huge influx of activity leading the app to crash. One Aerospace student posted “I’ll never forget that day, that academic year was more intense than any F1 race for the By-sexuals [the name of Tolton’s fanbase] – the academic comeback was insane.” NegaFelix noted that the academic powerhouses that were consistently on the Dean’s List, receiving firsts on every assignment, generally had far less followers. This could be correlated to their lack of personality and humour. A notable exception to this trend is Design Engineering undergraduate Feb Senton that has garnered almost 200,000 dedicated followers and received a second-place year ranking last academic year. He uses the platform to post nude drawings and 3-D printed dildos under his “coursework (arts and crafts)” tab on his profile. After this influx of fame, he is hoping he will be nominated for Turner Prize by the end of his time at Imperial.
While there have been many impfluencer success stories, unfortunately for some, this app has crushed a number of students’ perception that they are a “BNOC” (Big Name On Campus), as the top 10 followed students list has put everything into light.
