Student Affairs Twitter Hashtags
One of the biggest challenges of the early Internet was that it was so vast that it could not be explained or structured. Over time, some clever people got together to invent technology (XML) that allowed people and systems to add data upon data which described the original data. Thus was born metadata; and it serves as the mostly invisible hand of structure on the Internet. News stories, Facebook status’, and this blog’s structure are all based on metadata; very powerful stuff. My favorite way to think about it was recently described by my roommate and colleague:
If the Internet were the Stars Wars universe, then metadata would be “The Force.” – @joebookslevy
Twitter, like the Internet of old, also has the challenge of being vast and its size is compounded by the speed at which new content is added. Metadata again comes to the rescue! This time however, not in the form of a new technology but through a socially constructed organization method called hashtagging.
Hashtags are added by tweeters who would like to alert a sub-community of people who are interested in a particular topic about their tweet. Here’s a list of student affairs hashtags that are out there ripe with insight, tips, and community building. If you don’t see your favorite on the list, join in the metadata sharing fun and add it in the comments section below.
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Tag
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Description
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#acadv
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Academic Advisors share links and anecdotes about their experiences.
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#cuad
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College Union and Student Activities professionals discussing student engagement, staff development, and a variety of other operational and programmatic concepts.
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#edchat
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Academically oriented conversation of trends in higher education.
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#edtech
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Active community of technologists who enjoy sharing links to the next big thing and handy tech tools for education.
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#greekchat
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All things Greek life.
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#highered
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Umbrella tag that encapsulates many international institutions, agencies, and thought leaders.
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#mlearning
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Vibrant discussion about the role of mobile technology in education led by technologists.
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#raproblems
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Fun tag of things overheard and anecdotes about the residential experience.
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#reslife
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Catch-all for conversation about residential life programs, services, and reflections.
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#saass
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Data geeks, like us, hang out and talk shop on this tag along with assessment leaders from around the profession.
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#sachat
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The largest organized Student Affairs chat which spills over into continuous conversation.
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#sadoc
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After long lit reviews, doctoral students use this tag to chat about study strategies and research topics.
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#sagrad
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Graduate students reflecting on their lessons, assistantships, and hopes for the future. If you’re looking for a tech-savvy young professional, look here.
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#sagrow
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A “Choose your own mentor” tag focusing on
professional development and creating an online community of scholars.
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#salead
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References and conversation about the myriads of leadership philosophies and practices used day-to-day around the field.
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#satech
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Tech talk specific to student affairs. Lots of gadgets and apps are linked here.
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#smedu
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Info graphics and blog articles about the impact of social media permeate this tag.
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#stuact
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Student activities pros and vendors trading successes, tips, and lessons.
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#wlsalt
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A growing group of women leaders in SA offering advice and community.
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Of course, just about every association, conference, and off-campus partner (including Campus Labs) has a hashtag that generally follows this formula:
#{acronym/nickname of institution}
Finally, if you like your conversations #IRL (in real life) then check out the directory of higher education tweetups from the folks at InsideHigherEd.
See you on Twitter.
Last year I created a free two page handout that explains and lists various Twitter hashtags that are unique to the student affairs profession and higher education in general. This handout is an excellent resource to use during staff development discussions and meetings related to social media. Please download and feel free to share it with your colleagues and students:
http://www.studentlifeconsultants.com/resources/studentaffairs_hashtag.pdf