WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 4:13 P.M.

The only reason I have a Twitter account is because my best friend made it for me. She claimed it was for my own good, that she was looking out for my best interests.

I’ve barely used it. Since February 19, 2009, the birthday of my passive Twitter account, I’ve tweeted 43 times, followed 16 people, and been followed by 37. But now I’m sitting in class, clicking the refresh button on my Twitter page like it’s my job.

I’m freaking out because Ellen DeGeneres is at BU. I think. But I’m not sure. Because she’s tweeting clues to BU students about prizes and there are cameras on Marsh Chapel. And I’m on the Medical Campus.

FAIL.

The people sitting behind me must think I’m crazy. I’m constantly flitting between my class notes, Twitter, Facebook, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show Web site. It feels like Gossip Girl just got real. I’m getting texts that say, “Official looking cameras on marsh … Ellen???” and “The Ellen DeGeneres show is here!” The only thing that Ellen hasn’t done is sign her tweets, “You know you love me. Xoxo.”

But the thing is I do love her. She’s so cool. She was Dory in Finding Nemo. Enough said. And judging by the eight comments that were made on my Ellen-related Facebook status just 35 minutes after its post, I would say everybody else loves her, too.

No offense, Ellen, but why do we care so much?

“It’s ELLEN!” one of my friends says. “She’s relatable and funny and open.” Word. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder whether we, as a campus, are particularly attracted to her because BU is all of those things, too.

There are very few women we consistently call by first name only: Hilary, Oprah, Beyonce and, of course, Ellen. There’s an intimacy to that. We feel like we know them. And maybe it is this feeling of connectedness that explains why, in the span of a few hours, a chunk of the BU campus sacrifices time, money, and, in some cases, dignity for Ellen’s sake. There is a sense of investment. And, shockingly, this investment is in something totally uncertain.

“What does Ellen know?”

“How did this happen?”

“Why BU?”

“It’s going to be a scavenger hunt!”

“I bet you Ellen is hiding on top of CAS.”

This is just a sampling of things people are whispering at 6:15 p.m., standing clumped in front of the cameras, clinging to their phones. Clearly, nobody has any idea what’s going on. Everyone has gathered based on rumor, based on Twitter. I don’t even understand Twitter, but I do understand that whatever Ellen is trying to do, this is social networking.

Never have I ever seen such a tangibly immediate and widespread chain of communication. BU is showing up. And I think, this is a testament to how addicted BU is to our best friend and mortal enemy: the World Wide Web.

Visit here to see BU on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Sarah Zlotowitz can be reached at sarahz11@bu.edu.

How do you see BU’s culture? Let us know in the comments.