SDSU’s approach for connecting with people and sharing news via Twitter, Facebook and other sites has been featured in a premiere book on social media.
The book, Groundswell, describes how SDSU’s use of social media has helped the university connect with its audiences and, in turn, help them connect with each other.
SDSU’s social media activity has grown dramatically over the last two and a half years. Its success can be attributed in great part to the university’s willingness to embrace the use of new technologies to empower its audiences as ambassadors of the good work being done on campus, a core principle of Groundswell.
The net effect is to energize students and especially alumni.
As the book explains, “The Groundswell is a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”
How it happened
Greg Block, SDSU’s Director of Media Relations and New Media, said he responded via Twitter to a Tweet from one of the authors of the book, Josh Bernoff, looking for examples of how companies use Twitter to drive business.
Bernoff interviewed Block and included SDSU’s Twitter presence, @SDSU_NewsTeam, in the revision of the book that came out last week.
In part, the citation reads:
“Like any university, SDSU’s key communications task is to reinforce ties between the university, its students and its graduates. On the Twitter handle @SDSU_NewsTeam, (the SDSU news team) retweets comments from high school students who are cheering about being accepted and sports highlights about the college’s teams. … the net effect is to energize students and especially alumni.”
More about SDSU social media
SDSU uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and others as vehicles for sharing news and information, and for engaging with and empowering its students, alumni, prospective students and more to feel proud of their university.
“It’s really exciting to be included in a book that is considered the industry standard for social media,” Block said. “I’ve always referred to Groundswell as my guide to how we should approach social media at San Diego State. So to be included in the book is really an honor.”
The @SDSU_NewsTeam Twitter account is one of more than 90 accounts affiliated with the university. There are dozens of Facebook pages, and several other sites and pages being used in a variety of ways. Block encourages people on campus to engage in social media in ways they feel comfortable.
“Not everyone is on Twitter and not everyone is on Facebook. But some of our audiences are on each of these platforms, talking about and sharing information about SDSU,” Block said. “These new technologies have given us more opportunities to reach people in the ways that they prefer. And by talking to them, not just at them, we form relationships we may have never had before.”
The SDSU Alumni Association recently found that there are more than 150,000 people on Facebook who affiliate themselves with SDSU in some way. That’s more than half of SDSU’s living alumni.