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Whew. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.

Now that we’re back from spring break and settling into this new normal, we wanted to take a moment to check in and share how social media came into play during the transition to remote learning.

As the university’s social media team, we’re in a unique position. Not only do we have the chance to interact with our Kent State community directly on a daily basis, but we also see such a high volume of posts that we are able to get an overall sense of how our audiences are feeling. Social media really does offer the pulse of what’s happening.

And as the university – and let’s face it, society in general – has moved to rely heavily on our online environment, social media has become instrumental in this transition.

Since announcing that all classes would move to an online format on March 10 and reducing on-campus operations, the university has used social media for communicating important updates along with helpful information to students, faculty, staff and the community. (All of this information, from FAQs to emails to university news can be found at www.kent.edu/coronavirus, by the way.)

Here are just a few examples:

We’ve also used our social channels to stay connected.

We launched a series of Facebook Lives where university leaders answer questions. Various departments, campuses, faculty and staff have shared words of encouragement. During this time, the Golden Flashes family has proved that Kent State is more than just a university – it’s a family.

As we gear up to complete the semester, we wanted to end this post by sharing an insightful tweet from Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance.

We will get through this difficult time together. And Flashes will continue to take care of Flashes.

Stay social (or should we say, safe and socially distant)!

The Social Team