I got some great feedback on my last blog post on Teaching Twitter to Colleagues. So I decided to do a quick video follow up! Assuming that you’ve now got all your colleagues and friends on Twitter, now what?!? How do you manage all the Tweets and filter out the noise? Here is a quick five minute video that shows you how I use Twitter everyday to stay connected:
How do you use/manage Twitter to make it work for you?
Last night’s #sachat on Twitter about connecting with students on Twitter was RECORD BREAKING to say the least. The one hour conversation produced 590 comments from 67 student affairs professionals! That is more than double our previous record breaking #sachat. WooT! WooT!
In case you missed it, below is a quick recap. If you haven’t yet participated in an #sachat, learn more here.
Last Night’s Full Transcript
View as webpage
Download as PDF
Last Night’s Top Contributers
@edcabellon
@reyjunco
@ARL275
@cindykane
@debrasanborn
@inigral
@tomkrieglstein
@brockter
@danielwmurphy
@willistj
Here’s to another successful #sachat. See you all next week when we launch our DAYTIME #sachat!
A common theme I read in last night’s #SAchat was that the resistance that some college staff, administrators, and faculty have in using Twitter. While those on the chat tonight wouldn’t need a “Higher Tweducation“, I thought I would share some thoughts on to how to get those “curious” to give it a try. My hope is that you will share this with people who are on the fence about using Twitter to push them to give it a try!
Overall, Twitter can feel like a strange new landscape when you first jump in. It is not always clear what its professional uses are, or what to post in 140 characters or less. But when you start to think of Twitter as a micro-blog (and not just a forum for the personal minutiae of people’s daily lives), you will find that Twitter is the most powerful professional development tool out there (and it’s free!)
Twitter Basics / Definitions: (You will see examples of these in the sample tweets that follow)
@username: creates a link to that user in your post.
RT: Retweet, to copy someone else’s post in a new update. It is like “forwarding an email” to someone else. Give them credit by adding their @username.
#: hashtag, helps to organize your tweets into categories for easier searching.
DM: Direct message, send someone in Twitter a private message instead of Tweet that all can read.
Initial Steps:
1. Create your Twitter account and fill in all the information, including uploading a picture of yourself, a referencing website (like a department webpage or maybe your Facebook page) and a quick bio about what you do and why you’re on Twitter! Without this, it is hard to trust whether you are a real person or just a Twitter robot!
2. Click on the Find People link and begin following people whom you know in real life or want to add to your Twitter stream (celebrities like @Alyssa_Milano and brands like @DunkinDonuts and @SouthwestAir are some great examples). Remember, when you read your Twitter stream, you’re only seeing Tweets from the people you follow.
3. In the search bar, type words or phrases that are interesting to you and see who is “tweeting” about those very things, follow them, and introduce yourself!
What Should I Tweet About?
This is all about personality. You might be a “reader” for a the first few weeks as you glance over Tweets and follow interesting links, or you might decide you want to contribute to the online conversation. Here are 15 quick ideas on what you could tweet about (think beyond the Facebook “Status Update!”)
1) Ask for recommended books, program/event ideas, or management tools.
Example tweet: Can anyone share a successful Emerging Leaders schedule of events? or Does anyone have a Student Employee evaluation that they could share?
2) Thanking the people who respond to you (include their @username)
Example tweet: Thanks @tomkrieglstein @the_sa_blog @DebraSanborn for another great #sachat
(For new Twitter users, the above tweet is read “Thanks Tom, The SA Blog, and Debra for another great SAChat!”)
3) Ask for help or advice about a professional question.
Example tweet: Which professional association should I join?
4) Tweet about a useful web resource, a particular blog post, video, website, book, product or service that you find useful
Example tweet: If you are interested in the most inspirational and educational talks online, visit www.ted.com!
5) Share new studies of interest
Example tweet: ReyJunco: We still need to run some more analyses; however Twitter use = increased student engagement and higher GPA’s. Are you surprised? #sachat
6) Tweet about your school’s website, blog and/or podcast.
Example tweet: Check out our new blog focused on Commuter Students http://ow.ly/WHba
7) Invite people to an event (online or offline). Events can include open-house programs, extracurricular activities, meetings, book clubs, webchat… really anything!
Example tweet: Join us for #SAChat tonight 6-7p CST!
8 ) Link to photos of projects, places, etc. of things you want to share.
Example tweet: Photos from last night’s Graduate Commencement are found on our Flickr stream!
9) On Fridays, recommend other tweeters that your followers should check out.
Example tweet: I recommend following @CindyKane for all your leadership and Student Activities goodness! #FollowFriday
10) Answer someone else’s general question, and reply to those who ask you a direct question.
Example tweet: ATECadvise: @slhealy @edcabellon our Engineering school shares their twitter & FB account amongst advisors. #sachat
11) Schedule to meet fellow Higher Ed folks at a conference, or organize a professional tweet-up in your area.
Example tweet: Anyone interested in a #sachat #tweetup at #acpa in Boston?
12) Ask others for favorites / recommendations… for anything.
Example tweet: What are your favorite IPhone or BB Twitter app?
13) Post requests for people to come and speak at your events.
Example tweet: Searching for an Ethics Speaker for our Emerging Leaders Conference. Recommendations?
14) Post and/or search employment postings. If you see someone else looking for a job, retweet their request.
Example tweet: Any students looking for summer work? Visit the bridgew.edu/studentemployment
15) Ask for something free. If you serve on the planning committee for any type of conference or event and need donations or gifts-in-kind, ask Twitter!
Example tweet: Looking for sponsors for our ACUI Region 1 Fall Conference. @ me if you are interested!
These are just some of many ideas to get you started. What would you tell Higher Education staff, faculty, and administrators who are not giving Twitter a try?
(This is a cross post with the Student Affairs Blog)
With all of the nostalgic and informational “list” posts on Twitter the last two weeks, I figured, why not jump in the fun?
2009 was a transformational year for me, where I had a lot of “Oh Wow! and “Oh Really?” moments. After some reflection, here are 7 moments that my good friend, Tony D’Angelo (@tonydangelo), would classify as my professional (and personal) 2009 “Quantum Leaps”:
1. Using Twitter (Oh Really?)
- While I created my Twitter account on January 28th, I really didn’t begin “using” it until June. Since then, it has opened up an entire new world of connections, learning, and big picture thinking. Twitter reminds me every day that connecting with many different people will ultimately make me a more well-rounded professional, and person. I learn WAY more here than I do on Facebook 
2. My Blog (Oh Really?)
- I struggled with the idea of creating a blog. I always had wanted to do one, but never really had the motivation to follow through. Thanks to Twitter, I connected with many bloggers who were doing amazing things and created such wonderful content and connections, that it inspired me to take action. I owe many thanks to folks like Shannon Albert (@shannonalbert), Karen Hill (@dreaminthelife), Kate Klingensmith (@kate__k), Sydney Owen (@sydneyowen) and Tara Hunt (@missrogue), whose blogs I still follow religiously. In 2010, I will have a better plan for my blog!
3. The Whuffie Factor and Whuffaoke (Oh WOW!)
Speaking of Tara Hunt (@missrogue), her book, “The Whuffie Factor”, was a huge catalyst for me in developing my social media skills and developing best practices for my work in Higher Education. My belief in social media grew when I offered to help Tara with her amazing Whuffaoke tour this past summer, and I got to plan the Boston area tweetup, with the help of the fantastic Liza Sperling (@lizasperling). Here I got to meet amazing people like Karen Hartline (@KHartline), Phillip Zannini (@PhillyMac), Laura Fitton, (@pistachio), and Todd VanHoosear (@vanhoosear). [Tara, I still think a "Whuffaoke II - The College Tour" still needs to happen!]
4. Mashable’s Social Good Conference in NYC (Both!)
In late August, I traveled with my two Marketing Assistants (for LTE Consulting), Sarah Campbell and Ashley Lenz (@nonprofitista) to NYC for Mashable’s Social Good Conference. Here I learned some great Social Media tips from notables like Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook; Shira Lazar (@shiralazar); and Pete Cashmore (@mashable)! The day long event showed me how powerful social media could be for Social Good, when used collaboratively.
5. The Student Affairs Blog (and #SAchat Community) (Both)
This was, by far, the greatest connection I made this year. I stumbled upon it after meeting Debra Sanborn (@debrasanborn) on Twitter. This opened the door to connect with so many Student Affairs practitioners and gave me a place to blog about Student Affairs type topics (like connecting with students over Twitter, which got mentioned on another blog!) Each Thursday, thanks to Tom Krieglstein (@tomkrieglstein) and Debra and my new friends at Swift Kick, I have the opportunity to connect with these folks on an #SAchat over Twitter. I’ve learned just as much in these online chats, as I have at any SA conference I’ve ever attended. I look forward to meeting many of these folks in person at annual spring events!
6. Guest Blogging (Oh Really?)
I was shocked when I was offered a guest blogging opportunities this fall on Optimalresume.com. Kelly Giles (@optimalresume) was great to work with and her site is great for those looking for career services in and out of Higher Education. I was also honored to be interviewed for Jeff Lail’s (@jefflail) blog, which has great content and someone who I will be working with on a new book project in 2010 (very excited)!
7. Videos on Ted.com (Both)
I must have been hiding under a web 1.0 blanket, but thanks to Twitter, I was introduced to some amazing video content on Ted. Now whenever I need some motivation, ideas, or just bored, I visit Ted.com to learn from some of the best speakers in the world. Some of my favorites, that I stumbled upon this year, include: “Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet”; “How Social Media Can Make History”; “Schools Kill Creativity”; and “The Pursuit of Happiness … Through Spaghetti Sauce”.
I’m sure there were more people, events, and connections from 2009, but these are what stood out to me. How about you? What happened in 2009 that helped you say “Oh WOW!” and/or “Oh Really?”
I look forward to a prosperous 2010 and wish you and yours the same!
Here’s a quick overview of how the #SACHAT works:
The purpose of hosting a weekly #sachat is to give our community of knowledgeable professionals an opportunity to strengthen their personal learning networks within Student Affairs. Share some knowledge. Gain some knowledge. Make our entire profession better!
Since my last blog post about connecting with students over Twitter, I've had some wonderful responses and conversations. Jeff Lail and I have been having a great on-going conversation regarding practical uses and examples of Twitter in Student Affairs and I thought, why not share it them with all of you?
1. Use Twitter Search to Find Students Who are On Twitter
Every day I do "Twitter Searches" for "Bridgewater
State" and "BSC" in them and try to reach out to students who "tweet"
about anything regarding the school. It's like a living "Customer
Service" line that I want to answer and follow up on. I also follow those users for future tweets and if they follow back, then I send them a Direct Message thanking them and seeing how they are doing at school.
2. Create Opportunities for Conversation
On Facebook, our Campus Center fan page
tries to engage our fans by asking questions and looking for
responses. For example, last Friday, Sept. 11th, we asked "Where were you 8 years ago" and we had 10, very honest and real responses. Remember, while sharing information is important, Social Media is about the conversation.
3. Ask for Opinions
We also will post polls to our followers to gather information and opinions. Our latest poll asked our fans and followers
what our Campus Center "Tag Line/Slogan" should be and it linked them
our online poll, which brought users to our website. The response has been
great so far!
4. Connecting with Faculty
I also reach out to classes using Twitter. For example,
the latest class I found was a Communication class being taught by professor Nancy VanLeuven that is using the hashtag #BSCPR and I try to connect with those students and Nancy. She is a great resource who is using Twitter very well. It reminds me of another great example from the University of Texas at Dallas from professor Monica Rankin. I wish all professors would at least consider doing this!
How are you using Twitter in Student Affairs? I hope this list is helpful, and keep Tweeting!
I officially love Twitter. Over the summer, I dove into the Twittersphere and have fully adopted it into my professional life. Even though I've been fortunate to gain a small following on my @edcabellon Twitter account, I've really wanted to grow our Campus Center Twitter account as well. I still believe that students are out there on Twitter, I just needed to find them. Well last night, I did just that.
I signed onto my "@BSCCampusCenter" Twitter account, knowing that First Year students had moved in and many returning students were about to make their trek back to campus. I went through "http://search.twitter.com" and typed in "BSC". As the search completed, many of the results turned in the tweets about the "Hertha BSC" German Football team, but a few turned back some Bridgewater State College commentary. One student's tweets though, stood out:
So I started following her on Twitter, read a few more lines of her Twitter feed, and then started reading her Blog that was linked from her Twitter bio. She had a video blog post up and some very insightful, and well written blog posts. Within about 15 minutes, she started following our @BSCCampusCenter account and then Tweeted:
Well, that got my attention 
So I read more of her Twitter feed and noticed some BSC references, but nothing too out of the ordinary, so I decided to send her a Direct Message (DM), which is a private message through Twitter that only she would be able to see:
Thinking nothing of it, I went along and continued my search for more BSC students. Within minutes though, I got a DM back, that just blew me away…..
At that moment, it dawned on me. That simple act of connecting and communicating from a BSC office made her feel more a part of the community. Then, in her Twitter feed, I noticed that she had tweeted to everyone:
I was beyond excited! Twitter had given us the opportunity to connect in such a unique way. We hadn't even met in person, yet she felt more engaged with the college. Her view of BSC changed in that one Tweet, at least enough to accept my invitation to come in and meet me and our staff to further our conversation. Her reply?
I will continue to use Twitter to connect with more students in this way and encourage you to do the same! Share this story with your colleagues who still may be weary about using Twitter to connect with students, because it can work!
Best wishes on a great opening for you all!
Emerging social media is dominating the internet and users and jumping on board in record numbers. We all know that Facebook leads all, but what about others? I've
realized that many of my colleagues who work in Student Affairs offices, are just now starting to hop
onto social media giant, Twitter, and its many possibilities. As
community builders on our campuses, we need to tap into Twitter and connect with our students. Here's what I tell all new
"Tweeple" on Twitter:
1. Ask Yourself (and your Staff) Why You Want to Use Twitter
While many of you are now starting to use Facebook and Twitter for personal
reasons, why do you and your staff want to use it for your office?
Does your College's "Institutional Communication" office use it for
official communication? Do other departments around you use it?
Gather information and find out if using it falls in line with your
office's mission. Don't just use Twitter because other people are, use
it because it fits your staff!
What most
folks in Higher Education are finding is that college students don't
use Twitter as much as Facebook; at least not yet. If you think about how
Facebook started in the college market, once it opened itself up to the
public, the rest of the world caught up. With Twitter, it seems that a
certain segment of Web 2.0 users got on it and now college students are
trying to catch up and see if they like it enough to continue using
it. I recommend using it creatively in conjunction with Facebook, and
you may be able to get your students on board!
2. Find one or two "Social Media Managers"
If you are new to using Twitter, it would help to find a current
staff member or student familiar with it to help you navigate the
Twitterverse While it is easy to sign up, using it is much
different than other social networking sites, like Facebook and
MySpace. Whether you have anyone or not that can help you get started,
I would recommend the following sites:
a. "Twitter in Plain English" – A great, short video about what Twitter is!
b. Get familiar with "Mashable" – Mashable
is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social
Media news. Founded by Pete Cashmore, this site is simply awesome and
chock full of information. His top five tips for new Twitter users can be found here
c. Need more newbie Twitter Information? Visit Michael Hyatt's Blog on "The Beginners Guide to Twitter". It's a fantastic, comprehensive guide to using Twitter.
Once you
feel comfortable understanding Twitter, just use it as much as possible
and add it to your list of advertising strategies for events or
announcements. Use your Media Manager(s) to help implement this form
of communication and networking.
3. Offer Incentives and Contests to Gather More Followers
Some Tweeple use incentives and contests to increase their
followers. Applications in Higher Education could include: Student
Activities Offices giving away "free stuff" like t-shirts, tickets to
big on-campus events; Residence Life giving away a better lottery
number for their respective housing lottery; Parking Offices giving
away premium parking spots on campus; Campus Centers giving out meal
vouchers at their dining halls; etc. all for following and/or
retweeting and selecting a "follower" at random for the prize. Have
you ever done this to increase followers? If so, what have you done?
4. Follow Other Department's Tweets (On and at Other Campuses)
There are many Student Affairs offices using Twitter now and its
important to connect with those folks to see how they use it! To find
and connect with all these great Tweeple, use a service like "WeFollow" and you can easily search them and even add your Twitter account to the list!
5. Use Hashtags As Assessment Tools!
While you can use Twitter's search tool to find specific people,
companies, and their messages ("tweets") on the service, Hashtags allow
users to sort topics into useful categories to revisit later. If
you've spent any time on Twitter, you've probably seen a hashtag
before. A "#" symbol sets off a hashtag. For instance, if you wrote a
tweet about the Red Sox, it might look like this:
Utilize
Hashtags to organize information that you contribute and consume on
Twitter. As the tweets pile up, the extra time you take to thoughtfully
categorize your tweets with a hashtag will help the greater Twitter
community (and you individually) make the most of the service. An
example of this might be: A student activities office tweets that
their programming board is holding their annual concert and wants to
know from its followers who they should bring. An example tweet could
be: "BCStudentEvents is planning its Spring Fest Concert. Who would you like to see them bring? #BCSpringFestBand"
I'm hoping
more of my colleagues in Higher Education will think about more
creative ways to use Twitter because it is a fantastic community
building tool that could benefit those who work
at Colleges and Universities if they gave it a shot. What do you
think? Does it have a place in Higher Ed?
