Chase Checketts: The mastermind behind the @AggieStrife Twitter handle
Anyone with a Twitter account may have wondered who is the mastermind behind the @aggiestrife account and here’s the scoop. Before now, the @aggiestrife page on Twitter has been anonymous and now with a change in administration, the mysteries have been revealed, and the Aggies can now get a look into what it’s like to run a famous Twitter account, as an admin.
The @aggiestrife handle was created originally three years ago by Cory Checketts for a class assignment. A year and a half ago, Cory graduated and his brother Chase took over in December of 2014. The brothers didn’t expect the page to catch on, but that’s exactly what happened. They’ve gotten nearly 1,300 followers since April 2012.
Originally the purpose for the class assignment was to relate with other students, especially during the first week of school, finals week and the crazy Logan storms.
“A lot of followers gave me a lot of backlash for it and wanted our family to delete it,” Checketts said. “Since it started in our family, we thought about keeping it as a family thing, but with the amount of followers we had, and the more significant that it became to Utah State, the more we knew we had to keep it.”
Checkett’s favorite aspect of @aggiestrife is being able to connect with other students through a character in a way that is different from his personal Twitter account. Other than the hashtags, Checketts said there really isn’t a way for other students to relate. The hashtags make the post findable, and that’s what they want.
He said one of his favorite things to follow is the USUSA student elections. Around elections week, Checketts created a poll that over 300 people voted on. Checketts wanted to use the poll to mainly create awareness across campus using this character, to eliminate bias and make USUSA aware that they quite possibly may need to change the way elections are run.
Checketts said he hopes that someone will create an official Utah State University Twitter club. He said it would be a way for students to connect to each other on Twitter. Twitter helps makes those connections, especially in politics and in media. Having a Twitter Club would help students link to future networking connections may just be something that will help keep @aggiestrife afloat for years to come.
As a recent journalism graduate in public relations, Checketts is looking into making a new Twitter handle called @whatgrindsmygears. But he said his ultimate goal is to work for Wells Fargo Corporate Communications, and find his own direction in life.
Checketts hopes that the Aggie Strife page will be more more comical than the USU compliments page. He said he also hopes to will grow the followers to encompass more than just Utah State students.
kortni.marie.wells@aggiemail.usu.edu
@kortniwells
Kortni Wells is a current Sophomore studying Print Journalism. She has a secret love of adventure seeking, and enjoys making/decorating cheesecakes. When she isn’t working, she’s usually dreaming of new blog posts to write about.