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tips on starting a college/nyc satirical news social media account(s)?
Posted by on May 23, 2026 at 6:28 pmhi! I’m a rising sophomore, and i wanted to hear feedback on a non-school-affiliated social media account pitch.
for context, i’m a polisci/film major, and i really have a strong interest in satirical news, particularly through video. i tried starting a school broadcast in high school, but that got overhauled by a teacher and just became normal school announcements. we also had an onion for my high school, but it was mostly just one joke headline posts and didn’t really go anywhere.
what i want to make are short-form videos (1-3 mins long) detailing school news and events in a similar fashion to SNL’s weekend update. i’d also want to do smaller segements (30-1) of other news in the city. for context, i go to fordham, so the news would be fordham related before expanding to other nyc colleges, like nyu, columbia, parsons, etc. the best example i could think of is Good Morning UCLA. he details college life while not technically affliated with the school, and i want to be that kind of correspondent.
i’d start this off solo, but i hopefully would like to expand to others.
i want to make this for 2 reasons: one, because no one really makes commentary about college in new york. the biggest instagram accounts for college in new york are just meme pages with general college life, and i want to try something unconventional for college journalism, because going to school in nyc is already an unconventional college experience for a lot of students. that’s why i’m also looking outward to other nyc schools, because it seems that they don’t really offer that kind of media. from what i’ve found, most schools have a newspaper, a radio station, and some magazines, but never anything relating to fun, student broadcast journalism.
the second reason is because of the nature of the media. this is obviously very akin to late night shows, and a lot of people i know either want to work in late night/interned for a late night show. but we don’t have many direct options for that line of work. we do have comedy clubs (i can’t say i know a lot about the rose hill one) but it covers basics: sketch, standup, improv. the newspaper doesn’t have a humor section aside from opinion pieces (occasionally) and comics. we have a screenwriting club but it’s for any form of writing. my hope is that since it’s not an academic club, people can exercise a little bit more of creative freedom if they want to write, edit, interview, shoot, whatever.
i have some branding ideas: a retro 70s/80s NYC inspired typeface, i want it to feel vintage in the very Gen Z way. the main color would be red, since it’s fordham first and foremost, and I would wear very professional clothing. so far i settled on a fordham red turtleneck, skirt and loafers (like NBC pages)
i initally worried a bit because i’m a sophomore, and most people start ambitious projects like this freshman year or high school (at least in my experience). so any feedback on this concept would be greatly appreciated!! thank you for reading this far lmao
tldr; i want to make a funny college/nyc news broadcast account and i'm worried about how it sells
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1 Reply
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way more interesting than another college meme account tbh.
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I actually think the fact you’re starting this as a sophomore helps more than hurts.
You still have enough time to let the format evolve naturally instead of trying to make it instantly “serious.”
And honestly the strongest part of your idea is not the satire itself.
It’s the combination of:– NYC college culture
– student journalism
– internet-native humor
– broadcast-style packagingThat’s a pretty underexplored lane.
But I think the biggest thing is:
don’t make it feel like “students trying to imitate SNL.”That can get painfully unfunny very fast.
What would make this work is if it feels:
– hyper-specific
– self-aware
– culturally accurate
– very NYC student coded
– slightly chaotic
– observantThe best satire usually comes from:
recognizable truths people already feel.Like:
– weird Fordham social dynamics
– NYC commuter/student survival
– internship culture
– rich kid vs broke student contrast
– dating/social scenes
– MTA suffering
– fake intellectualism
– campus politics
– “networking” culture
– media/film student stereotypesThat’s where the real shareability is.
Also your visual branding idea is strong.
The retro local-news aesthetic mixed with Gen Z pacing could actually stand out a lot compared to generic campus meme pages.One thing I’d suggest:
start SHORTER than you think.1–3 mins is harder than it sounds.
Especially solo.You’ll probably grow faster initially with:
– 20–45 second desk bits
– fake breaking news
– quick correspondent segments
– man-on-the-street clips
– recurring characters/jokesThen expand once people understand the tone.
And honestly don’t overthink “how it sells” yet.
The bigger risk isn’t monetization.
It’s consistency and format fatigue.If the tone becomes recognizable enough, people will start treating it like:
“the NYC college news account”
which is where the real momentum starts.
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