The University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus is the latest carrier of a Twitter torch for the UW System.
Nate Moll, a fifth-year senior, is participating in a cross-university Twitter campaign designed to exemplify the Wisconsin experience at all System campuses.
The Twitter account, @UWpowersMe, is part of Knowledge Powers Wisconsin, a much larger UW System marketing strategy with the goal to energize and empower individual students, alumni, staff and faculty about the Wisconsin experience, according to UW System spokesperson David Giroux.
Moll said the account is just one facet of the entire initiative. He said it serves a purpose of relaying how different system schools are impacting the state.
Giroux said this Twitter account allows for the opportunity to show different perspectives from within the UW System. They will choose a different student, alumni, staff or faculty from a different UW System school every week, he added.
“It’s not a corporate voice, it’s a real, authentic, organic first-person account,” Giroux said. “I get the sense that [Moll]8 is a passionate ambassador for UW-Madison [and] that pride comes out loud and clear in everything he tweets.”
Moll said he manages the Twitter accounts for UW’s Visitor and Information Programs and Wisconsin Union Directorate, and helps with different social channels for University Communications. He said he has been involved with official social media outlets on the Madison campus for two years now.
On being selected as this week’s curator for the @UWpowersMe Twitter account, Moll said he feels excited and humbled that he was chosen. He said he finds the task intimidating, however, because he is given the responsibility of representing a school of 42,000 different students.
Moll also said he finds it exciting there are so many cool things happening on campus every day. So, he added, he knows there will be a lot of content to share.
On having the Twitter account for a week, Moll said he feels he is able to give a holistic overview of what life is like on campus. He said he finds it a great opportunity.
“I am just one of many here, and I want to share what my experience is here, but I’m not the only story,” Moll said. “There is so many other people here, and I want to try to make their voices heard.”
Giroux said the UW System is trying to change the conversation about higher education with the Twitter account. He said they hope to change the way people think about the university and build a greater public understanding and support for higher education in general.
Interactions through Twitter are especially important for higher education, according to Giroux, because of the strong impact that social media has on a student body in the ways students use it to interact.
“If we weren’t doing this, I would feel like we were missing the boat,” Giroux said.
This initiative is directly linked with the Wisconsin Idea, according to Moll. He said he hopes the Twitter account will be used to identify some of the great things that are happening on different campuses and for the betterment of the state.
It will be hard and overwhelming to compact everything that happens on campus into a week, Moll said.
“Really, I’m just letting life happen and sharing that,” Moll said. “I want it to be as organic of an experience as possible.”
