Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Advertisements
Advertisements

UW battling it out for campus Klout

The growing prominence of Facebook, Twitter and other platforms of social media use at University of Wisconsin have led the Badgers to the final four universities in an ongoing national contest to find which school wields the most influence.

UW has reached the final four of Klout’s “Influencer Insanity” contest. Klout measures each individual, or in this case university’s, online influence through connections to social media sites.

UW spokesperson John Lucas said the formula Klout uses to calculate an individual’s influence takes into account their followers and how much the user’s content engages others through interactions within their social network.

Advertisements

The contest uses a bracket system inspired by college basketball’s NCAA tournament to create a tournament between universities who rank highly in social media use. Social media users vote for the university of their choice to give them “Klout points” to win their match up and advance to the next round, Lucas, who is also UW’s social media coordinator, said.

Faculty Associate Don Stanley said the contest serves to show how involved social media is in university life.

“I think it’s a really cool concept,” Stanley said. “It kind of demonstrates how social media is becoming more ingrained and should be becoming more ingrained, at all types of academic institutions.”

Lucas said UW has frequently ranked in the top five in Klout’s most influential universities. He added while the contest is all in fun, the university can be proud of the bragging rights gained from beating out other universities with larger followings.

Stanley said UW’s position in Influencer Insanity is reflective of the efforts made to ground UW as a leading university in social media use, especially in light of the growing national trend of social media use at universities.

“[Social media] is a tremendous platform for us to share things that are happening here with our parents, alumni and donors,” Lucas said. “It just really provides a tremendous way for us to connect with people in a whole new way, whether you’re here on campus or whether you were somebody who was here years ago.”

Lucas said with this in mind, UW is working to grow and branch out social media use by implementing an initiative called #UWSocial. He said the initiative’s purpose is to get people interested in social media together to collaborate and learn about how to use different platforms of social media effectively.

Lucas said an example the group’s work includes The Bucky Challenge social media contest last semester. Students, alumni and Badger supporters were urged to follow UW and the Wisconsin Alumni Association on Facebook and Twitter to raise $1 per follow, ultimately reaching about $20,000 in donations for the Great People Scholarship, he said.

On March 21, Lucas said #UWSocial will be hosting the Social Media Breakfast of Madison, where business owners and social media users will learn about how to use social media.

#UWSocial also invites alumni involved in social media careers back to campus to encourage social media use, Lucas said.

Stanley added social media is an important tool for students to utilize and in order to promote businesses to hire them after graduation. Social media is effective in building connections and networking, he said.

Lucas said students can access the Influencer Insanity site online to sign into Klout and help advance UW’s team up until 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Advertisements
Leave a Comment
Donate to The Badger Herald

Your donation will support the student journalists of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Badger Herald

Comments (0)

All The Badger Herald Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *