The University of Wisconsin is introducing the “Bucky Challenge,” which aims to raise money for students as well as increase connectivity with the university through the use of social media sites.

Through Oct. 3, whenever anyone “likes” or “follows” UW or the Wisconsin Alumni Association on Facebook or Twitter, UW alumnus Will Hsu, his wife Jenny and his parents, Paul and Sharon, will donate $1 to the Great People Scholarship, according to a UW statement.

The scholarship from the Hsu family has a limit of $50,000.

The statement also said the Great People Scholarship campaign provides need-based financial aid to UW students through the Office of Student Financial Aid. Donations such as the Hsus’ make the campaign possible.

Hsu said when he and his family decided to donate to UW this year, they wanted to further a goal of connectedness in a unique way.

He added the use of social media allowed more people to be impacted than if he made a flat donation instead.

“Even though it doesn’t cost you anything to sign on or click, the act in order to raise funds makes it meaningful because hopefully it leads to future connections between you and the university,” Hsu said.

WAA spokesperson Kate Dixon agreed the use of social media in the Bucky Challenge extends the impact of the Hsus’ contribution and fosters strong university connections.

“It’s an easy way for people who are fans and followers of UW to give back to the university,” she said. “It’s also a really great way to combine one couple’s philanthropy for UW with our great social media outreach.”

Dixon also said social media use has expanded throughout departments and programs at the university in the past year and that the Bucky Challenge reflects this growth.

She said the WAA gained 2,000 new social media followers in the Wednesday alone.

“This speaks to how social media provides an easy way for people to make a difference and that [donating to this scholarship is] something people are interested in,” Dixon said.

According to UW spokesperson John Lucas, the Bucky Challenge highlights the priority of utilizing social media to communicate and foster conversation between university programs and students.

“Eventually we want to get to a place where we do really cool projects where we combine social media with institutional goals,” Lucas said.

He added the way students now interact and acquire information has made using new tools to connect a primary goal for UW.

Social media has made gaining information a two-way street, he said, and UW aims to utilize this venue.

“We’re a forward-looking university, and we want to be at the forefront of people using new tools to engage,” he said.

In addition to participating in the Bucky Challenge, he encourages students to like or follow other pages and accounts related to the university and said there’s a page for just about every program or department.

Regardless, the Bucky Challenge marks a new use of social media aimed at fostering university connections and furthering philanthropic aims that will only be successful through participation by friends of the university.

The original article stated the scholarship had a limit of $50,000, when it should have stated the Hsu family was going to cap the scholarship at that amount. We regret the error.