The hashtag “BC360” campaign recently initiated by the University addresses several past critiques of Boston College’s social media presence. Launched by the Office of News and Public Affairs, the new program seeks to invert the perspective of the BC’s many social media outlets, bringing together nine undergraduate social media fellows to create and curate content for these pages. A group of filmmakers, photographers, and writers representing all class years and various majors are charged with providing feedback on the University’s social media activities, as well as supplementing them with content curated under the “BC360” hashtag. The group has already been responsible for the launch of the “We Are BC” Tumblr page, which serves as an information forum for prospective students, as well as a BC Snapchat account—which has slightly less clear functionality.
Making use of the feedback and content contributions of these fellows is a welcome development from the Office of News and Public Affairs, which has seen a very strong response to its social media efforts over the last few years. BC is among the leading universities for followers on outlets such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, speaking to the administration’s success in connecting with current students, alumni, parents, and prospective students. The #BC360 campaign will hopefully mark the beginning of broader use of this massive network of followers.
While nine undergraduates cannot perfectly represent the diversity of interests and backgrounds within the student population, they can start to shift the paradigm of BC’s social media conglomeration to more accurately represent the day-to-day activities of student body. They can help maintain the relevance of BC’s many online accounts, and work to prevent missteps along the way. In semesters to come, the University should consider even more actively crowdsourcing content for its pages to ensure that #BC360 covers all angles.
Featured Image courtesy of the Office of News and Public Affairs
