UA Departments Tweet All About It

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UA Departments Tweet All About It

Some campus departments are turning to Twitter to get information out.

From parking restrictions to upcoming events, Twitter contains a wealth of information related to the UA.

By Alexis Blue, University Communications January 6, 2010

Want to hear about the University of Arizona's latest scientific achievements? Learn about campus safety alerts? Watch a video of Wilbur the Wildcat on ice skates?

You can do that and much more thanks to a growing number of groups across campus that operate their own Twitter pages, including UANews.org, the UA Police Department and Arizona Athletics.

As more and more individuals turn to their laptops and smart phones for information, the number of departments and individuals on campus using Twitter is on the rise, says Stuart Glogoff, senior consultant for University Information Technology Services.

While other social networking Web sites, like Facebook and MySpace, offer a variety of features and allow for lengthy interactive conversations, Twitter keeps things simple. It asks users to share information by submitting short posts, or "tweets," that answer the basic question of "what's happening?" The concept is often referred to as "microblogging."

Anyone can create a Twitter account to share information with friends, family, co-workers and others. Users can then subscribe as followers of other Twitter accounts and receive updates on their own Twitter home page or Web-enabled phone.

Tweets are limited to a maximum of 140 characters and may include links to photos, videos, longer articles or Web sites with more information.The sentence "This is a tweet." has 16 characters, counting the letters, spaces and the period at the end.

UA entities are tweeting about everything from campus job openings to upcoming art exhibits.

Parking and Transportation Services began using Twitter last summer to communicate information about road closures, construction and issues in parking lots and garages, as well as to promote PTS programs, such as bike-sharing and car-sharing programs launched last year.

"Times are changing so quickly. A year ago or two years ago I probably never would have used this as a tool but now it's vital to our marketing effort," said Bill Davidson, PTS marketing manager.

Originally started in 2006, Twitter gained major momentum in 2009, with a number of major news organizations embracing it as a vehicle for pushing out timely news updates, said Glogoff, who has a Twitter page of his own and led a campus workshop on using Twitter last semester.

Glogoff has authored a Twitter How-To guide, offering information to the University community on everything from how to create an account to tips for how Twitter can be used. For example, he outlines possible instructional uses for Twitter, suggesting professors can use it to facilitate classroom discussions or as a classroom response system, in which students are asked to respond to questions via their laptops or phones.

Often, Twitter can be more effective than e-mail in communicating short bursts of information quickly, Glogoff said.

"People hate e-mail at this point. Everybody's e-mail in-baskets are cluttered with spam," he said.

The UA Police Department has a Twitter account to communicate campus alerts. While the UA has an in-house UAlert text messaging system to communicate emergency information to campus community members, Twitter allows UAPD to share that information with a broader audience, said Sgt. Juan Alvarez, UAPD spokesman. That might include out-of-state parents seeking updates on campus safety. UAlert, on the other hand, is limited to UA students and employees and one additional person, such as an out-of-state parent, of their choosing.

Some UA groups update their Twitter pages more frequently than others. Arizona Athletics, which has more than 1,500 Twitter followers, tries to tweet about three times a day, said Alixe Holcomb, assistant director of marketing and licensing.

Holcomb said the department tries to post items UA sports fans can't get from the main Arizona Athletics Web site, such as links to photos from practices.

"We try to keep it kind of light," Holcomb said. "It's a unique way to stay in touch with fans."

As more campus users jump on the Twitter bandwagon, new ways for using the site are constantly emerging.

University Libraries, which launched a pilot Twitter page last year, is planning to ramp up efforts and create targeted Twitter accounts, one geared toward a student audience and one for the general public, to communicate information on activities like student-focused events, Special Collections exhibits and lecture series.

"The University Libraries are dedicated to providing our users with anytime, anywhere access to information," said Gabrielle Sykes-Casavant, UA Libraries director of marketing and public relations. "I see Twitter as an extension of our commitment to reach our users – students, faculty, staff and the local community – wherever they are and in a format they prefer."

Human Resources recently launched an effort that takes advantage of Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds to let people know about job openings at the UA.

Through "UA Careers Now," users can sign up to receive information on job postings in specific categories (Faculty, I.T., Admin/Professional, Research, Health & Medical, Post-doc, Part-time/Temporary or General) via Twitter, Facebook or an RSS feed.

The option broadens UA recruiting efforts and makes life easier for job seekers, said Chris Foree, Human Resources applications systems analyst.

"We are moving toward an era of syndicated Web content," Foree said. "With syndicated content, information comes to you in the form you choose and according to your schedule. You don't have to go to a Web site to check for news and updates."

While there is no all-inclusive list of UA entities and individuals using Twitter, Glogoff has gathered the names of some of those who are tweeting on campus. Check out the following to find out "what's happening" in various areas of campus and to get ideas for your own Twitter page. Click on the department name below or type its Twitter name after the prefix twitter.com/.

Institutional

Office of Admissions UofArizona

Alumni Association UAAA

Arizona Athletics AZATHLETICS

Arizona Cancer Center AZCancerCenter

Arizona Public Media azpublicmedia

BIO5 Institute bio5

Center for English as a Second Language UofA_CESL

College of Education UACOE

College of Pharmacy UAPharmacy

Department of Geology UAgeology

High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment HiRISE