Institutional Twitter Usage among U.S. Geography Departments

Twitter provides short messaging updates for fast dissemination along with retweeting and directed-following functionalities for user interaction, which makes it a popular tool for institutional outreach activities. This study analyzed U.S. geography departmental Twitter accounts and tweet histories through spatial–temporal analysis, frequency analysis, text mining, and network analysis. Although the tweeting frequencies; numbers of friends, followers, and mutual friends; and percentages of retweets and tweets with at-mentions or hashtags varied among departmental Twitter accounts, the account quantities, temporal tweeting patterns, and connection patterns among departments were generally reasonable. To improve outreach performance through Twitter, a geography department can (1) tweet more frequently; (2) actively discover, follow, and listen to its target audience consistently; (3) use at-mentions more frequently to interact with other accounts, especially professional organizations (e.g., the American Association of Geographers), geography departments, university programs, and active Twitter users; (4) tweet with suggested hashtags, including popular geographical research topics, popular events, organizations, and conference hashtags; (5) include community buzzwords when drafting tweets; (6) search, like, and retweet popular topics in the community; (7) follow and become mutual friends with more peer institutions; and (8) hire or designate a social media coordinator to implement these suggestions consistently and strategically. Key Words: data mining, geography departments, institutional Twitter usage, outreach, social media.