Ohio University Twitter savants and their less social-media-savvy cohorts can find common ground on their “following” list.
With many of OU’s faculty members taking their business to Twitter, students can utilize a more mainstream method of communicating with the university’s higher-ups.
One on-campus entity using the site is Campus Care, OU’s student health center, which recently set up an account, @CampusCare1, to help mitigate its lengthy wait times — a well-known trouble spot for the center.
John Kemerer, the center’s medical director, said he plans to utilize Twitter as a method for updating students on the current wait time. He hopes this will alert ill students to postpone their visit until a shorter wait time is available.
“Once it’s flu season and it’s a tProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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-hour wait, I’d like to have that tweeted to the students so they know to maybe come tomorrow or schedule an appointment,” he said.
Additionally, Kemerer said he will be personally updating the account regularly with other health-related information, with an emphasis on dispelling misconceptions students have about illness and treatment.
“One thing is people are sick with colds or viral infections, and they come in wanting an antibiotic when an antibiotic isn’t appropriate,” Kemerer said, adding this educational approach may also speed up wait times by equipping the student body with better knowledge.
OU’s interim vice president for Student Affairs, Ryan Lombardi, is one of OU’s administrators who use the microblogging site to respond to student inquiries as well as to host universitywide scavenger hunts and promote competitions such as last year’s university blood drive.
“I can just look at my feed at any given time of the day and tell you if students are stressed out right now,” Lombardi said of how he applies the social medium to his position as vice president. “All that stuff always comes through there, so it makes me better in terms of advocating for the student body.”
Lombardi, whose handle is @OHIOVP, added that he initially signed on to Twitter to become more transparent to the student body; however, the vice president said there are some topics he never poses for his followers.
“I don’t get much into political rants or anything,” he said. “I try to stay away from stuff that’s going to be too polarizing one way or the other, because I represent all students.”
Jenny Hall-Jones, interim dean of students, said she takes to Twitter to connect with others who work in a student affairs division, adding that she often participates in #SAchat, a regular student affairs Twitter conversation.
Hall-Jones, whose Twitter handle is @JennyHallJones, also said she is an advocate of tweeting during Student Affairs meetings to keep her followers updated.
“It’s manageable, it’s quick, it’s just something I’ve taken to,” Hall-Jones said.
“It’s my social media thing of choice.”
sg409809@ohiou.edu
