Drexel uses Twitter to notify accepted students, build community

If you went to college, it is likely you know what it’s like to anxiously check the mailbox everyday, waiting for your college acceptance letter.
However the rite of passage is about to be added to the list of things Twitter could change forever.
At Drexel, the school has begun using the microblogging tool to not only follow up on students who have shown interest in the university, but @DrexelAdmission will even notify them of their acceptance (Disclaimer: as you can see in the tweet, my brother was the inspiration for this post.)

“I wouldn’t actually tell anyone what their admission decision is via Twitter,” says Regan Buker a Web Communications Project Manager at the University and the brains behind the account. “We only inform students of their admission decision through the online applicant portal and by mail.”
To be sure, the college makes sure that the letter has been mailed and the online portal updated, so only if a student neglects to check those media would Twitter be the means they discovered they were accepted.
Regan Buker said she was motivated by Frank Eliason’s@comcastcares account that many people have pointed to as a textbook example of how to use Twitter for customer service. In this case, Buker is selling Drexel and doing whatever she can to help overwhelmed potential students.
In an email to Technically Philly, Buker said that she follows any tweet mentioning the word “Drexel” and will take note of student who tweet that they have applied.
“That’s how I try to promote the account, so applicants know we’re available on Twitter to help them,” she said. “I also hope that it helps newly accepted students make connections to each other.”