Savannah Sperry
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Twitter has a new kid on the block: Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong.
Joining Twitter is the first step in Armstrong’s overall plan to become more involved with social media for branding purposes and to improve communication with Cal Poly alumni.
“We’re going to focus on Twitter,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to make sure we have our tweeting down, and then we’ll take it one step at a time. That’s important that we do it right.”
Armstrong recognized the importance of using the social media site to communicate with today’s students and alumni.
“It’s not about me, it’s about Cal Poly,” Armstrong said. “And it’s good for Cal Poly. And if we’re going to communicate to our students and we’re going to communicate to our relatively new alumni, we have to get with it with social media, because that’s how you communicate.”
Armstrong has plans to use Twitter for more than just mere communication with students and alumni.
“We also want to use Twitter as a way to get messages out and to talk about serious subjects,” he said. “You’ll see us doing more and more of that in the future. So if (something) comes out in the media that’s maybe national or statewide that could impact Cal Poly, well, I’m going to comment on that.”
But Armstrong won’t have to tweet alone. University advancement will help out.
“University advancement provides some support because I could never do Twitter completely on my own and keep up and be responsive, so I want to be very transparent,” Armstrong said. “I do have a Twitter helper.”
Armstrong said maintaining a positive social media presence is integral to building and maintaining the university’s brand.
“So it’s not just something fun,” Armstrong said, “It’s part of an overall strategy to be the best that we can be for the students.”