Tweeter's Block

June 19, 2012

You're posting for your department and you can't think of anything interesting to tweet. In essence, you have Tweeter's block. Remember, your department is bustling with activity - this is MIT! Inventions, research, hacks, socials, conversations, innovations, awards, news. There is a lot going on. Your audience is visiting your feed to know what your department is doing and thinking. Consider the following types of content when you have Tweeter's block:

  • Awards won by faculty
  • A news story in which the department is mentioned
  • Quotation from a professor or dean
  • Retweet MIT news when they tweet about your department
  • Post a photo from an event
  • Link to an interesting page on the department site
  • Post your department's Facebook, Flickr, SoundCloud, or LinkedIn URL
  • Ask a question
  • Post a famous quotation from an expert in your field of study from a century past
  • Post a joke (i.e. the physics department could post a physics joke)
  • Post a riddle or 'guess which professor'
  • Link to a video on MIT OCW or MIT Video directly related to your department
  • Reply to mentions with a link to a page on your site
  • Post an interesting stat (such as how many PhDs were awarded last year)
  • Retweet a post from a program within your department, or from the school's feed
  • Post sound using Qwips or SoundCloud - a snippet from a lecture, perhaps
  • Post an inspiring quotation about education
  • Post alumni, faculty, student, or donor news
  • Link to upcoming events from the MIT events page
  • Create Facebook events for each of your lectures and link to them
  • Hold a Twitter chat (make sure to plan well in advance)
  • Join an already-established Twitter chat directly related to your department's field
  • Celebrate the birthdays of famous inventors in your field
  • Link to your department's fund on the MIT giving site

Hopefully these and many more ideas will keep you going and help others see how fascinating your department really is.

Posted By
Stephanie Hatch Leishman

Stephanie Hatch Leishman

Former MIT Social Media Strategist
 

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