Organizations Find (Some) Use For Twitter

In under 140 characters, over 90 Mason organizations are reaching out to students and faculty more than ever, through Twitter, a free social networking site that allows instant communication.   

A number of majors and colleges have their own Twitter accounts to send messages to their students regarding items like internship opportunities, college news, and university happenings. Mason School of Management tweets frequently to their students about available classes, SOM events, and “re-tweets” other Mason SOM student’s SOM-related tweets with the hashtag #SOM allowing for a simple subject search.

Other university administrations, such as Parking Services, use Twitter to send alerts to students about daily happenings; but the tweets like these may go unnoticed.

“I started my Twitter last summer and I also have one for Mason Shuttles,” explained Josh Cantor, director of Parking and Transportation. “It helps some, although it doesn’t have a ton of followers yet. I can post things that get re-tweeted and I have it set up to automatically update our Facebook account too.”

Cantor mainly sends out tweets about traffic information, construction and news alerts, and sees it as another way to outreach to the Mason community.

University publications, including many Student Media groups, use Twitter to publicize stories and upcoming events. The Mason Spirit, a biannually published magazine, uses Twitter to market the publication and reach out to an untapped audience.

“We’re definitely reaching a new audience, specifically Mason students who may not have heard of the Mason Spirit before,” said Leah Kerkman Fogarty, senior writer for Creative Services, who maintains the Mason Spirit Twitter account.

Gaining followers on Twitter can a struggle for many Mason organizations as they may not market themselves widely, sticking to alternative forms of social networking like Facebook.

Andrew Flagel, Dean of Admissions, runs a Twitter account himself but doesn’t find it all too useful in recruiting new students.

“My tweets tend to relate to things I’ve recently blogged about, interesting events that I get to attend here at Mason, or recent news regarding college and university admissions,” said Dean Flagel. “I find Facebook, the MyMason portal and Connect2Mason much more accessible for information about the Mason community.”
   
Patriot Computers marketed their Twitter account at the beginning of the fall semester by holding a contest and awarded an iPod Touch as incentive to one follower.

Reaching out to students is the main aim of many Mason organizations, but many Mason officials are running Twitter accounts themselves in attempts to become more transparent.

“Twitter tends to skew a bit older demographically than our typical target for freshman recruitment, while adult transfer and graduate students don’t tend to use social media as much in the college search,” said Dean Flagel. “It’s possible there are a few prospective student parents following my account, but I wouldn’t say it’s a significant player in recruitment at this point.”

Various organizations use Twitter as a peripheral form of communicating with the Mason community since mostly all other organizations have other forms of communicating. 

“With 630 followers and our magazine going out to more than 100,000 people the magazine itself is still our main method of publicizing,” said Kerkman Fogarty.

While Twitter followings may not be growing by leaps and bounds for some Mason organizations, the consensus from the majority of Mason official Twitterers is that the service is beneficial.

“One of the largest benefits of being on Twitter isn’t necessarily broadcasting our message, but seeing what other people are saying about Mason” explained Kerkman Fogarty. “I follow any Mason organizations I come across, they’re a great source of information on what individual colleges, schools and departments are up to.”