The OUSA Exec’s Instagram page has popped the fuck off after announcing a Hyde St Party ticket giveaway. All students had to do to enter was follow their Instagram page. OUSA’s President/Overlord Keegan reported to Critic Te Ārohi that, at the time of publishing, the giveaway had led to a 500% increase to the Exec’s once paltry sub-100 following.
The rapid boost in following comes after a steady downward trend in engagement with the OUSA Exec in recent years – sad, but true. In a scheme to revive this, Administrative Vice President Emily made the savvy move to launch a giveaway for something that people froth more than a cone after a big day: Hyde St tickets.
Hyde St Party tickets are a scarce treasure among students, hoarded with glee. This is especially true in the current lottery system OUSA employs to determine which lucky students are granted entry, following alleged server crashes from ticket-seeking traffic in the years before the system was implemented.
Many students miss out on entrance to the coveted event every year. “It’s a bit of a sensitive subject,” one student, Carmen, told Critic, after failing to snag the tix in the first lottery.
Keegan summed it up by saying, “Everyone is always looking for Hyde tickets. Hyde tickets are always of high demand.” In other words, the perfect bribe.
“It’s worked very well,” Emily told Critic. “We’re up to 662 followers” – up from like 80. Emily said that the inspiration for the giveaway was generally that it was “the only way that people would actually follow it. I had to use some kind of bribe […] Hopefully this raises awareness for the Exec.” If not, the cover this week should do the trick.
Keegan called the venture “incredible work by the Administrative Vice President Emily.” She did dampen the parade a bit by stating that the giveaway “comes under the condition that you have to be a second year or older. Sorry freshers, we do discriminate.”
From her presidential podium, Keegan went on to say that, in return for their newfound loyal social media following, the OUSA Exec are “committed to making lives better through Hyde tickets or shit posts on Instagram.” She argued that the increased following could serve to be a “better direct line to students on issues they may care about.” Critic warned against them snaking our pint night line story updates like U-Bar has attempted to.