Campus twitter accounts inform, perplex and amuse students
1. @stedwardsu
The official twitter for St. Edward’s University is exactly what you would expect–upbeat, informative and professional.
The account is run by marketing. Therefore, it is no surprise that the handle serves primarily as a public relations tool tweeting at prospective and incoming students and promoting notable events, alumni and accomplishments of the campus.
It was not always this way, however. @stedwardsu has fallen into the traps of poor internet grammar and typos such as “2nite” posted on Feb. 22, 2010.
In recent years however, @stedwardsu has grown increasingly professional and consistent. @stedwardsu tweets consistently without being overzealous. Tweets are typically informative and enthusiastic without being too pompous or over the top.
That being said, the account avoids controversy at all costs. You will never see @stedwardsu tweet about pressing student issues like rising tuition or the lack of a library. Instead you will read of how an alumni started a small business or how students are doing more community service than ever.
@stedwardsu may not be the most accurate representation of what it means to be a St. Ed’s student, but after browsing a few tweets, you cannot help but feel some topper pride.
Although it provides a multitude of involvement opportunities, the office of Student Life is known primarily for its student organizations–more than 110 according to their website. Their twitter account serves as a stream of information for these organizations as well as the student body at large.
Student Life did not start tweeting until April of 2011. Although fairly new, @StEdsStuLife does an excellent job of informing students what major events are going on within its office.
However, Student Life seems to forget what is going on with the rest of campus.
Student Life represents hundreds of student organizations, dozens of which have twitter accounts of their own (@TransitTheatre, @SEURugby and @PRIDEstedwards to name a few). Out of the 157 tweets sent from the account, only one was a retweet from an organization run out of Student Life.
@StEdsStuLife accomplishes its goal of promoting its own events, but could be a bit more collaborative by promoting, following and retweeting the student organizations it represents.
3. @TOPPERPRIDE
The SEU Athletic Department goes under the twitter pseudonym @TOPPERPRIDE. The handle serves as a herald for any and all athletic information including scores, records, commentary and accomplishments.
This twitter account is a dream for sports junkies. No score goes unreported, no highlight skimmed over and a link accompanies nearly every tweet in case you needed more information.
The most beautiful thing about this account is its honesty. It reports what happened at the games and does not beg followers to attend. It does not boast wins nor shirk from losses. It simply states the facts.
The account is simple, sleek and professional. All self-respecting hilltoppers should follow @TOPPERPRIDE (and maybe even go to a game or two).
Overheard at SEU (@overheardsteds) is sort of a mystery. It began as a Facebook group more than three years ago. The page served as a forum for any and all St. Edward’s students to post the odd quotes, strange conversations and misheard rumors heard around campus.
The Facebook page faded into oblivion, but as of Oct. 2012 a twitter account has come to triumphantly take its place.
The account accepts weird, funny and inappropriate quotes heard on campus and retweets them to its 200 followers.
Recent gems include “Welcome back to St. Ed’s. Now with more students, less parking and the same mildew/beef stew smell in Andre Hall,” and “Taco Bell and my body have become one.”
The account can be terribly vulgar at times. However, there is a truth, beauty and hilarity to quotes heard on campus and posted out of context.
5. @SEUHelpDesk
Have you ever been frustrated because you could not access blackboard? Are you discouraged because email is down again? Chances are @SEUHelpDesk already tweeted to warn you about it; you just were not following them yet.
St. Edward’s Office of Informational Technology aka @SEUHelpDesk exists purely to update students, staff and faculty alike on the many technologies on which this campus so heavily relies.
Even more helpful, @SEUHelpDesk answers questions and concerned tweeted at them and are continually open to suggestions from users.
Their account is a nice mix of information, question-answering and general nerdy IT links. Leave it to the tech guys to have one of the most helpful twitters on campus.
