Pitt connects to students, community with social media

In the span of three weeks, Cory Rodgers made the 7,500-mile journey between Tanzania and… As social media sites like Twitter and Facebook become more popular, many departments at Pitt have begun “tweeting” and soliciting “likes.”

Some of Pitt’s academic departments and administrative offices have launched social media devices, for purposes ranging from publicizing events to answering prospective students’ questions. The departments use different means of staffing and funding to try and better connect students and the University community.

Pitt’s Writing Program logged onto Twitter for the first time last month, after giving log-in information to tenured faculty and graduate students who are able to post and remove content from the site.

Josh Patton, a junior writing major and student employee with the Department of English, also contributes to the @PittWriters Twitter page, which seeks to create an online writing community.

“One of the things that we talked about in the meetings, and one of the reasons I came to Pitt, is that it’s a community of writers,” Patton said. “We want some kind of engaging contact to take learning outside the classroom.

The writing program’s Twitter features tweets about department events and links to alumni’s publications. Thus far, @PittWriters checks in at 88 total tweets and more than 100 followers.

Pitt’s women’s studies program also seeks to create a virtual community. In 2009, the program received a $20,000 grant from the Office of the Provost to start its Internet programs.

Rebecca Roadman, program assistant for women’s studies, said the program largely used the funding to have Pitt’s University Marketing Communications write the code for the women’s studies’ wiki and blog. The money also went to other implementation and set-up expenses. The department’s wiki, blog and Twitter became fully functional in the spring.

Jean Ferguson Carr, the director of the woman’s studies program and an associate professor of English, said that social media connects many users and draws attention to the women’s studies program and the University as a whole.

“I think it’s crucial for educational institutions to be open to the public about what they’re doing,” she said.

Students in the Introduction to Women’s Studies classes post on the blog, writing about gender issues and course-related topics.

“The students in the Intro to Women’s Studies class have begun to show more pride in their work,” Roadman said, adding that students’ awareness of the wider audience seems to improve the quality of their writing.

The College of Business Administration’s Career Services uses its Twitter account to alert students to employment and internship opportunities. It also posts links for events and articles related to career development and breaking news in the business field.

J.P. Matychak, the director of CBA’s Career Services, said that while Career Services has used media sites and video conferencing for about three years, he has seen traffic and posting on the site increase this year, with their Twitter’s follower count nearing 300 and with the office tweeting more than 200 times.

While the academic departments use social media to help current and former students, the University also uses social media to reach out to prospective students.

Pitt spokeswoman Audrey Marks said that she logs onto Pitt’s Twitter, @PittTweet, at least once a day to check out who has tweeted about Pitt and to connect with prospective Pitt students. She often tweets at them, providing advice or offering answers to their questions about Pitt.

The department also tweets about events happening around campus to its close to 4,500 followers.

Marks, who chooses what to post on the University’s official Twitter and Facebook page, works for Pitt’s news and magazine department. She said the Office of Public Affairs watches which media outlets are most effective and puts those to use, especially since sites are constantly changing.

“If two years ago we had taken a million dollars and said, ‘Let’s invest this in Myspace,’ that’s laughable,” Marks said. “Social media is fluid. It changes.”