University students have found a new way to flirt shamelessly without having to face rejection — or face anyone, for that matter.
Students have been increasingly using LikeaLittle.com to flirt anonymously with other students by posting messages or compliments to crushes identified by their gender, hair color and location sighted.
Like a Little was launched in October 2010 and has expanded to more than 450 college campuses, including the University.
“At LSU — UREC: Female, Brown hair. You were running next to me on the treadmill last night in pink shorts. Made awkward eye contact. I’d love to meet you,” read a post on last week’s campus stream.
“It’s like a mix between the personal ads in the Reveille and Craigslist missed connections,” said Dylan Staley, Like a Little LSU founding member and English freshman.
Like a Little boasts a strong sense of anonymity, Staley said. Readers can comment on posts under pseudonyms or may send private messages to the author.
Staley said Like a Little is a “positive complimentary community” that does not tolerate offensive or personally identifying posts. The site is heavily moderated, and anyone with a University e-mail address has the ability to delete any post.
“If someone doesn’t respond to a post, instead of feeling rejected, students can reason that the person just didn’t see the post,” said Loretta Pecchioni, communication studies associate professor. “You can send a person a direct message while saving face.”
Pecchioni noted that most relationships today are a combination of face-to-face and technologically-mediated interactions.
“I think it’s a positive idea,” Pecchioni said. “You can see someone and get a vibe and still check each other out through a mediated form before meeting each other.”
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Patrick Veale, business freshman, believes in meeting people traditionally — by approaching them in person.
“I feel like sites like this are making people impersonal,” Veale said. “Everything is over e-mail, phone or text now. It’s not the same as actually talking to someone in person.”
Raynesha “Ray” Ducksworth, psychology sophomore, thinks Like a Little is a “cute” idea for a large campus.
“It opens the possibility of getting to know someone without the fear of rejection,” Ducksworth said.
Brian Ammon, biological sciences junior, was concerned about Like a Little’s effectiveness because he believes there is a small chance of everyone utilizing the site.
Like a Little’s website has a “stories” section where students post their testimonials of success stories using the service. Staley said he has not heard of any success stories at the University yet.
Staley’s goal is for the site to have a new post every hour.
“We want it to be like ‘Texts from Last Night’ where you can check it every day and be able to read new posts for 30 minutes,” Staley said.
 
 
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Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]