President Cabrera, Parking Services use Twitter to connect with students

In a world increasingly interconnected by social media, President Ángel Cabrera and Director of Parking and Transportation Josh Cantor utilize Twitter as a means to connect with and inform students.

President Cabrera joined Twitter in 2010, realizing that the website’s increasing popularity could be harnessed as a valuable student outreach tool.

“I don’t know how I would connect with students otherwise,” Cabrera said. “I hear about student trends, what’s going well and what’s not going well. I just don’t have any other channel to do that. We manage surveys and polls, but normally that’s imperfect information and too late.”

Cabrera uses Twitter frequently throughout the day, posting his thoughts on Mason life, higher education and international affairs. Since joining Twitter, Cabrera has garnered over 9,900 followers, many of them Mason students.

A defining characteristic of his account is the level of interactivity he has with his followers. Cabrera often re-tweets and replies to student tweets, taking what they say into account.

In one recent exchange on Twitter, a Mason student tweeted his concern about the state of the inflatable “Welcome to the A10” ball that was floating in Mason Pond. The ball, referencing Mason’s recent induction into in the Atlantic 10 Athletic Conference, was said to be dirty. Cabrera tweeted back that he agreed and the ball was removed from Mason Pond shortly afterwards.

Cabrera’s strong presence and popularity on Twitter has not gone unnoticed beyond the Mason’s community. Education Dive, a website that provides content concerning higher education, recently featured Cabrera in “10 College Presidents on Twitter who are Doing it Right,” a list recognizing college presidents that excel in using Twitter as a tool for student outreach.

Despite this positive feedback, Cabrera is occasionally questioned about his frequent Twitter use.

“Other presidents sometimes ask me, ‘How in the world do you find time for Twitter?’ What I normally tell them is, ‘you are a leader. What do you have to do with your time that is more important than understanding the needs of the people that you lead and letting them know what you think about things?’” Cabrera said. “There are not many things more important than that: understanding the community that you lead and having them also understand you.”

Cantor approaches Twitter in the same spirit of understanding and information exchange.

In 2009, Cantor created the Twitter account George Mason Parking as a way to provide quick, real time updates on parking, transportation and traffic issues to students.

“We’re able to provide pertinent information [on Twitter] in smaller chunks than we can in an email that often has a lot of information,” Cantor said.

Due to the rapidly changing nature of parking and transportation issues, Cantor believes that having these smaller chucks of information in real time is an advantage not found in other forms of information distribution.

Cantor also highlights the viral nature of re-tweeting as a benefit of Twitter.

“Twitter allows an organization to be more active in directing its message, as well as tap into a larger network with student media and others being able to re-tweet messages,” Cantor said.

George Mason Parking has gained more than 3,700 followers since its inception, due to popular features such as the updates it provides on the number of parking spots available in different parking lots across campus. Its Twitter feed also provides updates on construction affecting travel, regional traffic patterns and alternative transportation options available to Mason students.

Far from being simply an effective information feed, Cantor regards Twitter as an optimal avenue for students with questions and feedback to voice their concerns.

“We [Parking Services] find that many people are more comfortable using Twitter, especially for a quick question, than they are by email or phone,” Cantor said, “It is two-way communication so just like email, if you write, you will get a response.”

Cantor encourages student feedback on George Mason Parking, seeing it as a tool for improvement.

“Even when people make complaints, we’re able to take that feedback if it’s constructive and see if we can make changes or correct something,” Cantor said.

You can follow President Cabrera on Twitter @CabreraAngel and George Mason Parking @MasonParking