This is something to tweet about.
When New York magazine’s arts and culture section, Vulture, published its list of “30 people the Internet Needs you to Know,” we were surprised to see a Filipina included in the list.
“Clara Quiambao, who lives in the Philippines, manages the feed ‘It’s a Teen Thing,’ where she tweets out pithy, inspirational quotes,” says Vulture about the Twitter account (@ohteenquotes).
It has a whopping 2.6 million followers, we were very surprised it’s flown under the radar—at least, under the Coconuts radar—all this time.
We tracked Clara down and found out she’s an unassuming 20-year-old mass communications student majoring in broadcast at Centro Escolar University. She had no idea that she was included in the list. “OMG,” she replies to our email. “I didn’t know I was included!—Really?!”
She’s only been on Twitter for five years and began “It’s a Teen Thing” after her friends noticed the quotes she’d post on her personal account. “People were telling me to make another account because I love posting these things. So I did!”
“One of my main goals is to let everyone know that they’re not alone, that there are other people too out there who feels the same, undergoing the same situation,” says Clara.
Already, our mind is buzzing: para sa mga bigo, umaasa, kaka-break lang—you get the drift.
Did anyone break your heart,” we asked. The incoming graduating college student just laughed it off but gave as resounding yes when asked if the one who broke her heart knows about this Twitter project. “HAHAHA. Yes, he is,” she admits laughing. Very Adele, no?
She tweets about 40 times a day, with a 30-minute interval, to a resounding 2.6-million lovelorn followers. She only uses English because “I don’t want to limit my audience to the Philippines. I want ‘everyone’ to understand what I wanted to share,” she says.
This considerable success has made her a subject of trolling—”Yes, there are those kinds of people out there!”—but whatever. She’s actually made some money off this already. “My parents pay for my tuiton. I take care of the rest of my expenses,” she says. Below are some of her patok na patok Tweets.
You never stop loving someone, you just learn to live without them.
— It’s A Teen Thing! (@ohteenquotes) April 30, 2014
I miss you, but I don’t want to you back.
— It’s A Teen Thing! (@ohteenquotes) April 29, 2014
Once my headphones are on, I’m in a different world.
— It’s A Teen Thing! (@ohteenquotes) April 29, 2014
A person that truly loves you will never let you go, no matter how hard the situation is.
— It’s A Teen Thing! (@ohteenquotes) April 29, 2014
We text 24/7, but when we meet, it’s so awkward.
— It’s A Teen Thing! (@ohteenquotes) April 30, 2014
