Evans on UWPowersMe experience

Editor's note: UW-Parkside graduate and current colleague Julie Evans recently served as the chief Twitter operator of the entire Knowledge Powers campaign. During the week of March 4, Julie became the voice of the UW System for 144 characters at a time. Here's what she saw.   

By Julie Evans, HLC-Marketing Project Associate

It was fun to be a part of the UW-System's Knowledge Powers campaign. I was @uwpowersme for one week and it went by so fast!

Fortunately, I was not the first one to take over the @uwpowersme account. Three students went before me from different UW campuses. Each brought unique experiences to the campaign, which inspired some ideas for my tweeting as @uwpowersme. I was the first staff member to tweet, but because I'm a recent graduate I still had somewhat of a student perspective to share.

I had two goals: to engage my followers and showcase UW-Parkside to the best of my ability. I tried to think "what would I want to know about UW-Parkside?" So, every morning I greeted my followers and pumped them up some tunes. Every day at lunch I shared a "food for thought" which was some type of silly but critical thinking question. Again, at the end of every work day I shared another song from my commute home. Every night, I said goodnight from Ranger Bear.  

Each day of the week had a "theme." Monday was "Welcome to UW-Parkside." I shared with my followers who I am and what my role is on campus, then general facts about the university. I wanted those that had never seen or heard of UW-Parkside before to get a visual. Tuesday was "My journey at UW-Parkside." I shared my undergraduate story with them. Wednesday was "Work, work, work." I included them in my work day, so I shared things like my projects, meetings, assignments, what I was learning, opportunities for improvement, etc. Thursday was "Throw back." I shared some history and lots of pictures from archives (thanks, UW-Parkside LibraryJ). Friday was "Parkside Pride." I shared stories about why others chose to pursue UW-Parkside and what they love(d) about their time here.

Throughout the week, I retweeted several other UW-Parkside departments. I wanted the @uwpowersme followers to get a feel for UW-Parkside's personality--not just mine. I kept them updated on events, athletics, news, etc., as I saw fit. Per UW-System guidelines, I was supposed to tweet a minimum of 3-5 times a day but I found myself tweeting 3 times an hour! There was just so much to share and so much I wanted to say.

I'm a proud #uwparkside alum and am grateful for this opportunity to promote UW-Parkside. Thanks to all those who followed me!

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ABOUT THIS STORY:

Story Status: Archived
Publish date: 3/14/2013

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