Case study of a UK University successfully using Twitter [kwiqq]

Posted on | July 14, 2009 | View Comments

Twitter alongside the recession are the two biggest things which officially arrived in the UK at the start of 2009. Some find it hard to quantify Twitter’s value add whilst companies like Dell shouted from roof tops about the success they had with Twitter.

The success of Twitter is not limited to corporations, consultants and start-ups. It has spread across the board and is making headway with universities. Some universities already using Twitter:

	LondonU (University of London) – London, but also everywhere
	UniofBath (University of Bath) – Bath, England
	unibirmingham (Uni. of Birmingham) – Birmingham, UK
	SalfordUni – Salford, Greater Manchester
	warwickuni (Warwick University) – United Kingdom
	newportuni (Newport University) – Newport, South Wales
	KeeleUniversity (Keele University) – Keele, Staffordshire, UK
	edgehill (Edge Hill University) – Ormskirk, Lancashire, UK
	ManMetUni – Manchester
	CoventryUni – Coventry
	AstonUniversity (Aston University) – Birmingham
	durhamuni (Durham University) – Durham,UK
	QMUL (Queen Mary, UoL) – London, UK

Sussex University

Sussex University is one of the leading users of Twitter for communication with it’s students, staff, alumni, departments and press. The whole process is elegantly done with constant commentary on what is happening around them in various departments.

First the university has a central twitter account @SussexUni. The account is dedicated to Sussex University related news around the web, they often RT (Re-broadcast) news from other sources like departments, alumni, students etc. In essence this works as a more sofisticated PR machine, sending news about the university far and wide. Unlike in the past news can be delievered in real time and cheaper. Cheaper as university can now inform their audience about Sussex related news without printing a newsletter and posting it. It’s greener and great value for money!

Career Development Centre (@sussexcdec) i.e. university job centre: If you were a student looking for a part time job, you would realise that before you could contact a potential employer several other students would have done so and perhaps got the job. As a result many of the jobs on the board are actually not available. By posting the jobs on Twitter the department is not only saving money on additional website development but also staff who constantly review content on physical job boards for expiry. Just a Content Managed Website alongside twitter feed is enough for students to get quick access to a stream of new vacancies.

Academic department: If you were in the research field you would realise that getting new projects from various public/commercial bodies is very important for the department. A lot of university academics aren’t good at communicating their successes, unlike the Physics department at Sussex (@PhysicsAtSussex) for instance. As a department they contantly showcase recent wins by their students or staff. (@SusxInteractLab) another Sussex academic department uses it as a mini blog updating users on events happening in Interact Lab. Again, no expensive paper newsletter or spammy e-newsletters. Just a non interuptive tweet which conveys the news across.

Similarly Twitter is used by the Alumni departments (sussex_alumni) to keep them updated about activites in the university. They release tickets for events, news and opportunities to donate to the university. Twitter with its global reach and inexpensive nature can generate fantastic commercial opportunities.

Other areas like student union (@ussuactivities) and library (@sussexlibrary) are also actively using Twitter to update users on latest activites.

Conclusion

Twitter has clearly saved several departments at university money on communication, generating leads for donation, winning research projects and opening up opportunities for collaboration. Best of all if done correctly it doesn’t cost them a penny!

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