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Student creates humorous gossip website, looks to make content more interactive

Asst. Campus Editor

Published: Monday, December 5, 2011

Updated: Monday, December 5, 2011 23:12

College humor websites are becoming more and more popular and as of Oct. 25, Miami University has one of its very own — Youmofo.com

Senior finance major Charlie Matthews is the brains behind the operation. Known as "Chuck" on the site, Matthews approves all published content and is in charge of updating the site daily.

Matthews is a fan of college humor sites and created Youmofo.com for a class project.

"I thought it would be funny and interesting if people could have that same thing at Miami's campus," he said.

Since its creation in October, the site has continued to grow, Matthews said. The site gets the most hits on the days that feature the new MOFO Babe-O of the week.

Girls are nominated through the website's Facebook and Twitter sites and their last names are not published, according to Matthews.

Grace is a senior and was chosen as Babe-O of the week in November.

"At first I was a little hesitant," she said. "But it is a funny thing and meant to be a joke so I just did it."

Grace likes the social aspect of the site and the bar specials.

"I understand some of it might be vulgar, but it is meant to be funny not to be a serious hard-hitting news publication," she said. "A lot of schools have similar sites and it is cool that Miami has one now too."

Abbie was also nominated as Babe-O of the week in November and said she was already a reader of the website.

"It's all for fun so I was hesitant at first but I did it for fun because it's a joke," she said.

Abbie said that if readers have a sense of humor, there is nothing wrong with it.

"I think it is just for entertainment," she said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

When finding a name for the site, Matthews toyed with a few ideas.

Hawk Talk and Miami's ridiculousness were among the final contenders, but Matthews settled on Youmofo which stands for you and Miami of Ohio.

"I want it to stick in students minds and I thought this was the best way to do that," Matthews said.

Matthews is looking to expand the site and recruit more writers. Junior Saxon Baum heard about the site from one of his friends and contacted Matthews about contributing content.

"We sat down and I wrote a piece for him and he got back to me and published it," Baum said.

College humor sites like Barstool and Total Frat Move are the models for Youmofo, according to Baum.

"It's an outlet for kids to go read funny stuff that isn't the norm," he said. "It brings the community together."

Both Matthews and Baum want to see the site become more interactive.

"The coolest feature of the site hasn't been explored yet by the students," Matthews said, "The coolest part is that you can submit your own content and comment yourself."

Students are able to create a username on the site, according to Matthews. There are forums for Miami sports, gambling and other events.

"If we get that rolling, the site could really take off," Matthews said.

Baum said the Youmofo team has a lot of new ideas coming within the next month.

"Everybody can relate to it," he said. "We just want to get more people involved."

If Matthews can find a large enough staff to keep he website going, he plans to pass it down to the class below him while still serving as manager.

Students can follow Youmofo on Twitter @You_MOFO and on Facebook.

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