As the Piedmont Barstool account gets its footing in its second year of posting content, the plot around ownership thickens. Students questioned if it would make its return as content over the summer was slim and even less prominent as this school year began. So, when Daisha Thompson, a former business major, revealed herself as the owner via the Barstool’s account Aug. 26, uncertainty arose.
Thompson’s vision for the account differed from the typical college Barstool account. “I wanted it to be an account that brought all of the sports and activities together and create more school culture specifically through funny content,” said Thompson. She did just that.
“It’s been really good because we can all relate to it as a student body, no matter if you are an athlete, non-athlete or whatever your major, it just kind of brings us all together,” said senior Sarah Fox.
Thompson chose not to return to Piedmont for her sophomore year, meaning she had been attempting to run the account from her home state, Colorado. Thompson soon took to the account, prospecting a potential student to take over. Thus, making the campus wonder yet again, who is the Piedmont Barstool owner?
Thompson was able to keep her anonymity throughout the duration of her ownership, and that was her intention. “It allowed for me to hear organic feedback about the account,” said Thompson. “It adds a level of mysteriousness, which ultimately makes the account so different from everything else.”
The Barstool account is notorious for receiving backlash, mainly because of the repetitiveness and lack of content. However, Thompson says that the time committed to running the account was strenuous, often putting in multiple hours a week generating content. This raises the question: what student wants to commit this kind of time and effort into something with little reward?
Thompson said that she got dozens of people asking for the account, but she was not giving it away that easily. She was meticulous in her decision, “I wanted to give it to someone that I knew would be consistent with it and also had a good sense of humor.” She required them to send in content examples and graphics. Of the dozens of people who asked for the account, only one was willing to share their ideas.
The new owner’s interest came from outside of their educational field, unlike Thompson, “I just thought, I don’t know. This might be a fun little thing to do,” said the current Barstool owner. “I’ve always kind of been interested in media but didn’t want to make a job out of it.”
The integrity of the account has remained consistent, with Thompson still assisting with content released on the account, even from 20 hours away. However, the stress of producing content from both Thompson and the new owner is at a high. Student submissions are slim and often received from the same demographics.
“We get three to five pictures a week, which is not enough for what we do,” said the Barstool owner. “A lot of the time, it’s the same two or three people sending them in, and it’s the same two or three people in the pictures. So we’re not getting submissions at all, which is hard to make content out of.”
The Barstool account’s representation of student culture, rather than party culture, is what keeps it alive. Fear of getting student-athletes and even students in trouble is high. The Barstool owner asks that students send in more content so that they can better reflect the student culture. “Send in pictures of your friends doing stupid things as well as funny things, your professor, your dean, or a stick you see on the sidewalk, anything you think might be funny or usable content,” said Barstool owner.
The Barstool owner has asked that they remain anonymous to preserve the integrity of the account. Content can be found on Instagram @piedmontubarstool, and submissions to be featured on the account can be made there via Direct Message.
