U-M President Mark S. Schlissel

  • Consulted with the University of Michigan’s School of Information and Office of Global Communications to determine U-M President Mark S. Schlissel's social media footprint on Twitter.

  • Teamed with Dr. Cliff Lampe to investigate and determine whether the president was acting as a thought leader among the higher education population on Twitter.

  • Ultimately, made the argument that Twitter was an integral part of the President's dissemination of university-wide initiatives.

Process Details

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Network Analysis

Extracted tweet data via the Twitter API using the software program, NodeXL. Collected all of the connections (followers) from the President's Twitter account, as well as from the 15+ Big 10 university presidents and chancellors. Analyzed the networks that existed amongst the individuals, paying close attention to who followed each other (if so, was it mutual?) and to any engagements (likes, retweets, replies, mentions, etc.) between them.

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Thematic Analysis

Conducted thematic analysis by qualitatively coding each of the President’s tweets by type to determine which topics he discusses most on his Twitter. We found he most often tweets about Athletics, Education, Health, and Social Justice — which makes sense coming from a liberal research university in the Big 10.

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Self-Comparative Analysis

The main areas of focus the President has laid out to tackle during his presidency include Academic Innovation, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Biosciences, Environment and Sustainability, Campus Climate, and Poverty Solutions. Many of the President’s tweets are not specific to what the University of Michigan is actually doing in these areas, and when they are, they tend to be more related to advertising UM’s achievements rather than seeking engagement.