A blog for social media communicators at MIT

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Building a Following on Snapchat

By Kellen Manning April 28, 2016

Due to Snapchat not providing definitive total audience numbers, this is not a definitive case study. It’s more or less, me trying something with my channel and providing conclusions. What do I know for sure? As of May 2015, the Division of Student Life’s Snapchat account (MIT Student Life) amassed over 1000...

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Periscope: What We've Learned So Far

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman, By Emer Garland July 30, 2015

We recently launched MIT on Periscope, which is a new social network for live video streaming. We have done a few scopes (shorthand for a Periscope video), so let us share our learnings with those of you who are also just getting started.  1. Periscope is super new, so experimentation with the platform is expected. ...

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Google+ for Higher Ed

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman September 17, 2013

MIT has a large Google+ following, to its main page as well as its many departments, e.g.,: Alumni Association, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Center for Civic Media, MIT Energy Initiative, and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Earlier this month, those of us who manage Google+...

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Blended RSS Feeds

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman April 29, 2013

"RSS" is published online content shown a standardized web feed format. An RSS feed syndicates content in such a way that it is readable by "RSS readers," such as Google Reader (which will be discontinued in July, so get your Feedly now). Let's say you have a lot of RSS feeds for your department. For example, the...

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Personal vs. Department Identity in Social Media

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman January 15, 2013

A few days ago I received an email from a colleague who manages social media for an MIT program. She wrote, "One thing that really confuses me is how to brand myself in relationship to [the program]. People reach me more than others via [the program's] social media accounts. Sometimes people ask 'Who is behind this...

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Avoid Getting Hacked on Twitter

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman August 20, 2012

Updated July 16, 2014 The difference between spam and hacking when it comes to Twitter is that spam usually comes from a stranger (or from friends who use social media in annoying ways, but that's another issue). Attempts at hacking your account, however, can come from someone you trust, not because that trusted...

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LinkedIn Groups: Should Mine Be Closed or Open?

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman May 31, 2012

When you join a group on LinkedIn, you will notice that you have the option to display the logo for that group on your LinkedIn profile. This public display of groups differs from Facebook, which displays your groups just for you on your home page and all likes under one tab on the profile. LinkedIn, however, displays...

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Storify

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman May 2, 2012

Storify is a cool way to archive posts from different platforms into one 'digital newspaper', especially if you want to gather everything people have been posting about a particular subject and use it to tell a story. Here's how to make your own: 1. Sign up for an account on Storify.com. 2. Click on 'Create Story'. 3...

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Direct Marketing and Nanotargeting

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman May 1, 2012

Today I noticed books at discount prices placed outside the MIT Press. One title caught my eye. It is Niche Envy: Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age by Joseph Turow. There are some relevant learnings I am gaining from this book. It was written in 2006; to give you a sense of how old that is in social media...

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Twitter 101

By Stephanie Hatch Leishman April 10, 2012

How to start a Twitter account for your department   You will need: An email account (your Twitter account will be tied to this) A username (search on Twitter to make sure the username you want is not taken). This should be as short as possible and should contain 'MIT' if possible. For example, the Department of...

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