Residence halls beginning to use Twitter over Facebook
Some students are using social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr over Facebook to not only communicate with their friends, but residence assistants.
Braden Riis, a residence assistant in Carey Hall, said he made a Facebook group for his floor but also made a Twitter account when many of his residents said they prefer Short Messaging Services, or texts.
“I was setting up the group floor Facebook and they said they didn't use it,” said Riis, an Iron Mountain sophomore. “So I set up a Twitter account for my floor instead.”
He uses the social media platforms to send out messages regarding hall and floor-related events, such as floor meet-ups and social events, he said.
“Floor dinners are this day, or asking how their day went,” he said. “Like when the State game was happening, I asked people what their plans were.”
He said having a Twitter account for his floor helped him get to know his floor's residents, something he wouldn't have been able to do solely through Facebook.
“The first couple weeks I was trying to get to know people and they preferred using a Twitter account,” he said. “I had 10 or 20 people say to make a Twitter account.”
Pinckney freshman Alex Hall said he likes getting Twitter messages from his RA and they help him get to know his floor-mates.
“He sends out floor meeting messages,” he said. “Last Friday we had a floor dinner and we ate as a floor.”
Hall said having Twitter is fast and easy to use, especially on campus.
“There's a lot of people who have smartphones,” he said. “I have an iPod with Internet access that I use on campus. It's convenient.”
Having both a Facebook page and Twitter feed for his floor is a good thing, he said.
“A lot of the messages are pretty short and sweet,” he said. “It wouldn't hurt to have both. More people would see it.”
Detroit freshman Ashley Powell said using Twitter is straightforward and can help people learn to shorten their messages.
“Twitter is daily updates,” she said. “You can get more thoughts out even though it's a 140 character limit. You learn how to shorten words.”
She said it helps create a community, even if they're not talking face-to-face.
“If something happens in the hall, people will comment laugh or joke about it,” she said. “It brings people together.”
