University faculty, staff make use of Twitter

Nearly two million tweets are born every day on Twitter — including some from an increasing number of University of Nebraska-Lincoln staff and faculty.

Departments, deans, professors and even the university's chancellor have made accounts on the minimalist social networking site. Dozens of accounts come up in a "UNL" Twitter search, including the law library, Housing and UNL Admissions.

"This is one of a few new social media strategies that the admissions office is employing," said David Burge, associate dean of admissions. In addition to a Twitter account, the admissions office has one on Flickr and a Facebook page. "It's just another channel to connect with prospective students."

The office's Twitter, which is about a week old, coincided with the launch of the application for prospective students entering next fall and is meant to help guide students and their parents during their college search and decision.

"The reality of the situation is that these are legitimate tools for people to find out information," Burge said.

Adam Stahr, admissions's assistant director for special communications, said the concept is not unique to UNL — a number of universities nationwide are "leveraging social media," he said, but it comes down to each school to determine how it uses the outlet.

"It's the responsibility of the admissions office to communicate in ways that prospective students want to be communicated with," Burge said. "So we will continue to explore."
Some of UNL's first staff tweets came from the athletics department, from coaches Doc Sadler and Bo Pelini. Sadler, who aims to connect with fans, students and recruits, said the medium's mobility has been a big advantage, allowing him to update when he's on the road.

"It's given access to fans that they like and don't normally get with traditional media," Sadler said.

During the basketball season, Sadler intends to tweet songs of the week and possibly host contests. Off season, there will likely be fewer updates from Sadler's own account and from the one for the NU Hoops Blog.

Interdepartmentally, UNL staff is maintaining multiple Twitter accounts to serve various purposes.

David Manderscheid, dean of UNL's College of Arts and Sciences, is among those tweeting under multiple names. Followers of the college's account get updates about news in the college and 140-character press releases, while those following Manderscheid will get much of the same news interspersed with personal updates, such as one about the dean's bike ride.

"I want people to not think the dean is some abstract concept," Manderscheid said, "but rather, the dean is a person."

Twitterers can get that same personal touch all the way up to UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman, who keeps his own account, as well.

Among UNL news and updates on the chancellor's meetings, Perlman has tweeted about everything from his son's baseball game to the most recent, "DN just asked about me using Twitter. Why? What do I tweet? Benefits and disadvantages. Not sure I know at this point."

Though one drawback Perlman did mention was remembering to update.

Political science professor Ari Kohen, who started his account about a year ago, has even begun to use the site in his class, Truth and Progress, about contemporary political theory.

"It hadn't seemed like something that would be particularly useful for me, but I discovered that, once you spend some time figuring out all of the things that can be done, there was almost no limit to how useful it might be," Kohen said.

Kohen, who is up to about 400 followers, requires his students to create an account and follow the class account. Students' discussion and relevant tweets then count toward their participation grades.

"I'm really hoping that other students will hear about and follow along as well, as it provides another opportunity to learn and, in particular, to learn what some consider to be a difficult or scary topic in what I think is a very cutting-edge and fun way," Kohen said. "What's more, people who aren't in the class can also follow along and even join in the discussion ... and that's what's happening."

Regardless of the number of followers or frequency of updates, Twitter accounts for departments, professors and even the library — which tweets about services and resources — are becoming more prevalent throughout UNL. Although it may not offer much space, UNL staff is finding ways to tweet for a purpose.

"Limiting yourself to 140 characters, what could you say?" Manderscheid said. "You can actually say a lot."

andreavasquez@dailynebraskan.com