Military Educators A-Twitter
Written by Ted McKenna
MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS AS WELL AS
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE USING
TWITTER TO COMMUNICATE WITH
CURRENT AND FUTURE STUDENTS.
The social media Website Twitter got hot during the last U.S. presidential election, when seemingly every candidate (or their staffs, anyway), every political lobby group and every political pundit “tweeted”—in 140 characters or less, of course—about the latest news on the campaign trail.
Today, all sorts of organizations and institutions have Twitter accounts, including many military units, educational publications and colleges and universities. Signing up for a Twitter account, at www.twitter.com, costs nothing and lets a user follow all sorts of education-related fellow users, who share links to interesting news articles, advice or news about scholarships and selecting schools, and more.
Whereas the use of Twitter, blogs, Facebook and other forms of social media created some initial perturbation within the military—would servicemembers on the battlefield inadvertently reveal information helpful to the enemy, for example?— the Defense Department has generally embraced these tools as a means of communicating with many different audiences, just as many organizations in the civilian world have.
Mark Drapeau, an associate research fellow at National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy, said in a recent audio Webcast on the Pentagon Web Radio that social media software can threaten operational security if not used correctly, but that overall it can help military personnel do their jobs better.
“Social tools … give people platforms to share information with each other in ways that you really can’t do with e-mail or some more traditional forms of communication,” Drapeau said. “Every warfighter wants the right information at the right time, but in many cases it is very hard to know what the ‘relevant’ information is in advance. Social software can facilitate simple sharing of possibly relevant information to supplement traditional methods, yielding better knowledge for better decisionmaking.”
Apart from war fighting issues, though, DoD sees Twitter and similar social media sites as good ways to provide information on educational benefits and other issues to personnel. The 403rd Air Lift Wing of the U.S. Air Force, for example, has a Twitter account (www.twitter.com/403pa) that it updates a couple of times a day with announcements from the commander, news about job openings and education opportunities and reminders about Father’s Day and other local family events.
How are colleges and universities employing Twitter currently? In reaching out to military servicemembers and civilian students alike, a number of colleges and universities view Twitter as a means of keeping their student bodies and local communities aware of what’s happening at their schools, as well as promoting themselves to media outlets and college recruiters. Sometimes their “tweets” are rather self-promotional—rather like press releases, only shorter. For instance, a number of schools on Twitter, including Lewis University (/lewisuniversity), recently tweeted about their participation in the Yellow Ribbon program. Sometimes the tweets are practical, offering information on new programs or classes or on-campus speakers, among other things.
But whatever the content of their Twitter updates, many colleges and universities are now trying to reach out to current and prospective students through the site. Higheredu, a selfproclaimed portal on Twitter for colleges and universities that have Twitter accounts, follows more than 1,500 accounts run by school marketing or public relations representatives, administrators or faculty.
Jason Hughes, PR director for Boca Raton, Fla.-based Lynn University, said that, for the most part, his school’s use of Twitter has been to push information to current students and the local community. But a Twitter update he made about Lynn’s participation in the Yellow Ribbon program led to media coverage by a local newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“Part of what it’s good for is keeping track of what people are up to,” Hughes said. “After seeing a story that we weren’t mentioned in, I updated our Twitter feed to say that we were participating in Yellow Ribbon. In a follow up blog posting [by the publication], we ended up getting included. Without picking up the phone, [Twitter is also] a way of keeping people aware of what we’re doing.”
In addition, Hughes noted that Twitter has helped the school reach at least one recruiter overseas—a person in Brazil who Hughes began following on Twitter who then subsequently recommended Lynn to a student now enrolled at the school. Lynn’s students are not military-related for the most part, Hughes said, but he said the school certainly sees Twitter as one means of reaching out to the advanced military education community to, the school hopes, encourage more veterans to enroll at Lynn. As for Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites, Lynn and other colleges and universities are on those, too, looking for as many means as possible to stay connected with students. A few Twitter accounts of note:
• U.S. Department of Education, at /usedgov, has more than 4,500 followers and offers news and information on its policies and programs.
• The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, at /naicu, tweets on new research reports and interesting news articles.
• Women in Higher Ed, at /womeninhighered, is the Twitter account for a monthly journal on women’s on-campus issues.
• Operation Homefront, at /op_homefront, provides helpful information and services to families with soldiers deployed or back from deployment.
Twitter Crib Sheet
• Character Limit: No more than 140.
• Followers: Anyone may “follow” anyone else’s “tweets.” There is a function for “protecting” updates from being seen by just anyone, without prior permission by the owner of the Twitter account, but that function seems to run counter to the general spirit of Twitter, and is not often turned on by users.
• Direct Message: Users can send messages directly to particular followers that others can’t read.
• Tweet: In using Twitter, one “tweets” (not “twits”).
• Return Tweet: To promote or pass along another person’s Tweet, through copying and pasting the original and including the other Tweeter’s address.
• Hashtag: Included in a Tweet (example: “#terps”) to allow users to search Twitter to find other users interested in a particular topic.
Some Recent Education Tweets
Jake Daniel, Ithaca College office of marketing communications (/jakedaniel):
“Why do newbies who claim to be bored in Ithaca always come from suburbs? How many traffic circles, malls, and cul-de-sacs does one need?”
10:18 a.m. July 7
Webster University (/websteru):
“Webster University president flashes energy, and Twitter updates, on first day #highered http://bit.ly/bKHTn” 8:40 a.m. July 6
North Central College, Naperville, Ill. (/northcentralcol):
“Shall We Dance? Catch ‘King and I’ in July at North Central College in Naperville starting Friday 7/10 http://tinyurl.com/nqjwrn”
8:46 a.m. July 5
University of Rhode Island (/urinews):
“Tomorrow is Dr. Robert L. Carothers’ final day as president of URI. In thanks, we present this tribute: http:// bit.ly/uuBtV”
9:02 a.m. June 29
SallieMae (/sallie_mae):
“Scholarship Application Tip: Send your application packet by registered mail so you know your materials arrived safely.”
8:50 a.m. June 29
Capella University (/capellau):
“Summer quarter at Capella University starts July 6 for MBA learners and July 13 for all other programs. Register in the Student Center today.”
2:34 p.m. June 18
Lewis University, Romeoville, Ill. (/lewisuniversity):
“@LUCareerSvcs ‘Tell me about yourself’. How do you respond to this interview question? One-minute video answer: http://tinyurl.com/m2l3ms”
3:57 p.m. June 9
American Sentinel University (/amersentinel):
“Professors posing as students in their own courses to promote discussions among their students. Is this unethical? http://twurl.cc/10mz”
10:06 a.m. May 27
Midland College, Midland, Texas (/midlandcollege):
“We’ve got it all this weekend! From art to softball, golf tourneys to trebuchets. Check MC’s Events Calendar at http://tinyurl.com/ajlnbw”
10:08 a.m. April 24
College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va. (/vmnews):
“W&M students attempt to break ‘Thriller’ dance record (w/ video): http://is.gd/txSn”
4:49 p.m. April 20