<p>OSU 4th-most ‘media savvy,’ ahead of curve, Gee says</p>
<p>By Brin Kerkhoff</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:kerkhoff.2@osu.edu”>kerkhoff.2@osu.edu</a></p>
<p>Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 00:02</p>
<p>On Feb. 8, President E. Gordon Gee tweeted, “Ohio State was ranked 4th most social media savvy by Student Advisor. Kudos to our ahead-of-the-curve communicators.”</p>
<p>Being media savvy is defined as “mastery of public social media methods, tools and websites,” according to the Student Advisor website.</p>
<p>Studentadvisor.com compares more than 6,000 colleges and universities to find how they rank in terms of integrating social media with their school.</p>
<p>They determine rank by “how active and effective each school is at engaging their audiences on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media tools such as iTunes and podcasts,” according to the Student Advisor website.</p>
<p>OSU uses several different social media platforms, including a page on Facebook, an account on Twitter and a Youtube channel.</p>
<p>“We were in the first group that got fan pages on Facebook, and we have been on Twitter and Youtube for six years,” said Ted Hattemer, senior director of marketing communications at OSU.</p>
<p>Because some people prefer one website over the other, OSU has a presence on both. Many students use these social media websites as resources for news about the university,</p>
<p>“I am involved with USG and use Facebook to stay up to date with what’s new on campus,” said Spencer Dunhan, a second-year in finance.</p>
<p>Although some have not adopted Twitter into their social media lives, many have.</p>
<p>OSU’s twitter account, @OhioState, has 26,224 followers, which is about 46 percent of the autumn enrollment population.</p>
<p>“We interact more with people on Twitter than Facebook,” said Kristen Convery, web editor for marketing communications at OSU. “One student posted about getting accepted and we congratulated them.”</p>
<p>The best way for us to know what people are saying and what they want to see is to direct tweets to @OhioState, and the best way to tweet about OSU is #OhioState, Convery said. She said another widely-used hashtag is #buckeye.</p>
<h1>OSU is commonly used but shows a mix of Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Oregon State tweets, Convery said. She said the next direction for the OSU Twitter account is focusing more on news and events from several different pages on the OSU website.</h1>
<p>“We are proud of the osu.edu content and we are using these channels to make sure people see the best of that,” Convery said.</p>
<p>In addition to Twitter and Facebook, another booming social media use is the O-H-I-O photo gallery.</p>
<p>“Our tipping point with the social media interaction was the O-H-I-O photos, which currently has 10,000 photos,” Hattemer said. “We have also had a huge surge in alumni interaction in the past four years … Length of time matters, it builds up a fan base.”</p>
<p>Among OSU’s dedication to social media, the enthusiastic students, alumni, staff and supporters have helped its media savvy position thrive, as the social media team relies on comments, messages and mentions from users to help determine what they will post next.</p>
<p>“No other university has a fan base that is so participatory,” Hattemer said.</p>
<p>Source: [OSU</a> 4th-most ?media savvy,? ahead of curve, Gee says - Campus - The Lantern - Ohio State University](<a href=“http://www.thelantern.com/campus/osu-4th-most-media-savvy-ahead-of-curve-gee-says-1.2790553]OSU”>http://www.thelantern.com/campus/osu-4th-most-media-savvy-ahead-of-curve-gee-says-1.2790553)</p>
<p>*Official Ranking Site: [Top</a> 100 Social Media Colleges - StudentAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.studentadvisor.com/top-100-social-media-colleges]Top”>http://www.studentadvisor.com/top-100-social-media-colleges)</p>