twitter — Jon-Stephen Stansel Jon-Stephen Stansel

You and your team have been called into a meeting. There’s no agenda. The calendar invite is vague on what the purpose is. But some higher-ups, VPs and the like, are also invited so you figure it’s important. In walks the VP of Making Things Difficult--five minutes late, of course. He sits down at the head of the table and says that they are launching a campaign for some new initiative that you are hearing about for the first time and then says...

“Any ideas on how to promote it? What should we call it? Let’s brainstorm and come up with something.”

What Social Media Managers Need to Know About Parler

You’ve probably seen Facebook posts from your right-wing relatives stating that they are leaving Facebook and going to Parler, the social network that claims to be unbiased and a promoter of free speech but is, in fact, a right-wing echo chamber that grants safe haven to white-supremacists, Qanon conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaccers. It’s been touted as the next big thing by Sean Hannity, Ted Cruz, and of course Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, all of whom are some of the apps top users. It’s been referred to by its critics as “Meinspace,” “Fashbook,” and “Twittler.” I describe it as 4chan for boomers--a place rampant with hate speech, conspiracy theories, and alt-right propaganda.

It would be great to be able to just ignore it, but the app shot to the top of Apple’s App Store in the wake of the 2020 election and while social media managers should steer clear of this toxic network, they do need to be familiar with what it is and the basics of the app.

Here’s what you need to know.

Having a Conversation About Social Media Accessibility

The important task of making your social media accounts accessible for those with disabilities requires mindfulness, thought, and consideration. Sometimes in the rush to post, it can be very easy to forget to add alt-text image description or not caption a video. After all, if you are a team of one like most social media managers in higher education, who is going to hold you accountable? Chances are your supervisors and university administration don’t use screen readers and are unaware of these accessibility issues that you are working to resolve. This is why it is vital to have a conversation with your supervisors and campus stakeholders about the importance of accessibility in social media and the measures you are taking to improve it.

Defending Mr. Peanut

Recently Vice News published an article entitled “I Was Banned From Twitter for Threatening to Kill Mr. Peanut. In it, the author, fledgling Chicago comedian Luke Taylor, details his experience in “systematically harassing the peanut man for about four months.” This harassment included death threats such as “I want a bullet in your brain” and “I will fly anywhere in the world to kill you. Just name the place.” Taylor claims that this was all in the name of online performance art and that he only attacked the “character of Mr. Peanut, never the corporation or the human beings behind the account.”

Connect and Create with Andrew Cassel

When he’s not working behind the scenes for local theatre productions, sampling craft beers, or making GIFs, Andrew Cassel is the social media content strategist behind the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s intensely engaging social media accounts. He approaches his work with an unparalleled enthusiasm that is absolutely contagious. I recently asked him about how he manages his day-to-day work in the world of higher ed social media.

The GIF That Keeps on Giving

GIFs are the lingua franca of Twitter. They can express complex ideas and emotions that can’t fit into a Tweet, create humor and levity, or add a personal touch to a reply. In higher education, we use them constantly to congratulate students when they’ve just been accepted, share the excitement of the school year starting, or wish students luck on final exams.

However, GIFs are not without their problems.

Getting Customer Service on Social Media

Having worked as a social media manager for several years, I have handled my fair share of complaints; some reasonable, some ridiculous. For many, social media has become their go-to method for getting customer service and for good reason—it works. However, there are some tricks to getting your complaint resolved faster and with better results. Social media managers are only human, after all and not all complaints are handled equally. So here’s some advice from a social media manager who’s run accounts for several large organizations on how to get the best customer service on social media.

The Global Reason for the Move to 280 Characters

Like most of us, I was upset by the news that Twitter is expanding the 140 character limit to 280. For years, I’ve enjoyed the brevity and cherished the crafting Tweets to have the maximum impact within the 140 character limit.However, looking at Twitter’s reasoning behind this decision, I think this is a great move. This is a decision based on data showing that Twitter users who Tweet in languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Tweet more than those who Tweet in languages that use Roman characters. Essentially, because of the pictograph character base of the written languages of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, these users can convey more information within the character limit.

"Good Enough for Social Media" Isn't Good Enough

I’ve heard it said a thousand times. “It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough for social.”

This is often said when reviewing sub-par content that has no other place to go. Or maybe it’s said after taking an out of focus photo on the fly at an event before Tweeting it out to thousands of uninterested followers. The sad fact is a lot of people think that there is a low bar for content posted to social media. However, this is far from the truth as social media has matured and the quality of content from brands and media outlets has increased rapidly and dramatically. Blurry cell phone photos and shaky videos no longer cut it.

Social media is the voice of your brand, so why would you settle for anything less than excellent?

Five Tips for New Social Media Managers

Only other social media managers understand the life of a social media manager. You need a like-minded group that you can talk to, ask questions to, and provide support when the trolls get to be overwhelming. Find other social media managers in your field on Twitter and interact with them. Participate in a Twitter chat, ask questions of those you think are doing well, and give back to the community when you can. I also recommend joining a professional organization and attending conferences when you can. A strong community of support is vital.

Social Media "Guru" is Not a Compliment

Listen, I know you mean it as a compliment and are trying to be nice when you call me a social media “guru.” And while I appreciate the gesture, the terms “guru,” “rock star,” “ninja,” etc are hurtful to my profession; a profession I work very hard at and in which I sometimes struggle to be taken seriously.

What Social Media Superhero are You?

Being a social media manager requires a wide array of skills. You must have focus, understand and absorb a constant stream of information, predict future trends, be on call 24/7, handle crisis situations...basically you have to have super powers. As we gear up for the onslaught of superhero movies the summer blockbuster season would bring, I thought it would be fun to ask, "What social media superhero are you?" Here are a few options:

Farewell YikYak: The Devil You Know

I first heard about YikYak from the very social media saavy university police department when I was working at the University of Central Arkansas. Since then, it became a part of my daily tasks to check into YikYak for possible threats and other issues that might occur on campus. I cringed every time I opened it, knowing that I was about to read some pretty vile stuff. So when I heard last week that the anonymous location based social network so popular on college campuses was going away for good, I was surprised to find myself a bit sad to see it go. Despite all that was horrible about it, it did have its advantages.

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