Students and faculty may have heard more than just robins tweeting about campus. With its growing popularity and effectiveness, Twitter has become a favored publicity tool for organizations and departments at Phillips Academy.
The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy Crew Team and Student Activities Board all maintain Twitter accounts on campus and update them regularly.
The Student Activities Board Twitter account is one of the newer accounts on campus.
Kiki Somers, Co-Vice President of the Student Activities Board, said, “The SAB Twitter account was created last week after we recognized how popular Twitter now is among the Andover community.”
“The account was created because a large portion of the student population is on Twitter and we thought it would be a great way to publicize weekend events held by SAB. It is a very convenient source of information for the many people who check their Twitter accounts hourly,” she continued.
The Student Activities Board Twitter account currently has 16 followers and three Tweets.
Phillips Academy also has an account on Twitter representing the school as a whole.
“For the most part, we use Twitter as a general purpose news feed that’s meant to push out information to anyone who wants to follow PA news that way,” said Stephen Porter, Director of Public Information and Web Publishing.
According to Porter, Twitter was one of the first means of social media implemented by the Phillips Academy administration because it is easy to create and convenient to use on a regular basis. The Phillips Academy Twitter Account was first created in the summer of 2009.
“Every time we post a news item in our website newsroom, the headline of that news item gets pushed out as a tweet. That happens about one to three times a week,” said Porter.
Phillips Academy currently has 1004 followers on Twitter and over 230 Tweets.
Created in early 2009, the Addison Gallery Twitter account has recently been revitalized by the Gallery’s Matter Communication Department, which now controls the account.
Ariane Doud, a member of Matter Communications, said, “When the museum was open, our goal was to Tweet daily and post on Facebook twice weekly; now that the museum is closed for roof repair for a few months, we’re posting on both accounts a bit less frequently but still keeping them vital.”
“Our goal is to reach – and we have seen success in reaching – arts writers for regional, national and online media outlet, the immediate Addison community including current and past PA students, board members and staff, and the Andover community and the general museum-going public,” she continued.
The Addison Gallery also maintains an online blog for the gallery.
“We do think the Twitter account is an effective means of communication, particularly regarding ‘actionable’ items such as events and exhibitions. We’ve received some terrific feedback from the community via Twitter and Facebook and hope to increase those interactions,” said Doud.
The Addison Gallery Twitter account currently has 113 followers and 198 Tweets.
Phillips Academy Crew and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library also regularly update their accounts regarding upcoming events, recent achievements and general news.
Sam Darby, one of the coaches of Andover’s crew team, said, “The original and primary reason for the Twitter account was to broadcast race results on race day for remote parents and rowers back at school. We also use it to send out news and reminders to the rowers.”
The Phillips Academy Crew Twitter account has 71 followers and 243 Tweets. The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Twitter account has 46 followers and 506 Tweets.
Other organizations on campus have also implemented a variety of other social communication means, including Facebook and blogging.
