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  • Campus Auxiliary Services and Social Media: The Ohio State University - Ohio Union

    By Eric Stoller August 12, 2010 8:00 pm EDT

    The Ohio State University (OSU) had been without a formal campus union since 2006. In 2010, the Ohio Union opened with much fanfare. More than 16,000 people attended the opening of the LEED certified union this past March. According to Kurt Foriska, Associate Director of the Union, social media was an integral part of the marketing of the new union. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were used as communications platforms to create buzz about the new union.

    YouTube was used as a way to introduce the union to the OSU community. This video shows the union about 4 months prior to its opening:

    Perhaps the most widely viewed YouTube video in the history of OSU has been the viral hit, "Flash Mob at the Ohio Union." Featuring a customized version of "Don't Stop Believin'" from the popular television show, Glee, the flash mob video has had more than 1.5 million views on YouTube. Jordan Davis, a senior in Political Science, came up with the idea for a flash mob after watching a popular YouTube video of a flash mob that took place at a train station in Belgium. 7 cameras and more than 30 hours of rehearsal were needed to pull off the production. Luc Nutter, a student employee of the union, was in charge of the videography and editing of the video. The union has a truly impressive multimedia production office that provided almost all of the equipment for filming.

    The social media hub of the Ohio Union is the union website. Social media links are prominently featured and a Twitter feed will soon be placed on the homepage.The union's social media efforts are largely run by a cadre of student interns.

    • Ohio Union Facebook page
    • Ohio Union on Twitter
    • Ohio Union YouTube Channel

    Note: This is the first of what I hope will be a series of posts about campus auxiliary units that are using social media.

    Do you tweet? Follow me on Twitter.

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Comments on Campus Auxiliary Services and Social Media: The Ohio State University - Ohio Union

  • Another OSU needs to step it up
  • Posted by Mike Shingle , University Housing & Dining Services at Oregon State University on August 13, 2010 at 5:30pm EDT

  • I've noticed more and more college unions with social media hubs, but not very many who manage it well. I'll use my very own Oregon State University as a prime example.

    OSU's Memorial Union has a twitter account (http://twitter.com/MUatOSU) - but as you can see, only one tweet was ever made in June 2009. There also isn't a very large following on its facebook fan page (121 fans). Its website is decent, and I give them credit for updating it with content frequently, but there's no social media integration or even links to its facebook/Twitter. I can go on, but you get the point. There are some definite opportunities that are being missed here. The same holds true for most college/university union web pages I've seen recently.

    I do want to give credit to a campus tech-blitz that produced a yes vote for the Student Experience Center (SEC). The campus tech-blitz included a facebook fan page, an official blog (http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/studentexperiencecenter/), and use of QR codes on collateral. This campaign was coordinated and ran by students.

    It put a smile on my face when I read that Ohio State is utilizing a "cadre of student interns" to organize their social media presence. Why can't more college/university unions utilize their student interns, or create student intern positions, that can help create and maintain a social media presence? It was successful with the student organized SEC campaign and I'll bet it would be widely successful if this was done at Oregon State University.

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