Western’s increasing use of social media continued Monday with a day-long Twitter-based trivia contest celebrating Founder’s Day.

“We’re trying to make it into a big thing,” Mathew Hoy, senior web designer at Western, said of the day celebrating the university’s establishment. “It’s kind of a grassroots initiative, so the more we get people talking or thinking about it the better.”

Hoy said last year’s Founder’s Day was just a blip on the radar, without much promotion. This year’s trivia question campaign had tweets from several fans on Twitter. The status updates were also “liked” several times on Facebook, Hoy noted.

Western’s Facebook and Twitter accounts have grown to more than 6,000 fans in about two years.

This isn’t Western’s only use of social media. By using TweetDeck, a third-party Twitter program, Hoy said the University can follow tweets and conversations mentioning Western.

Hoy said high school students will often announce their acceptance to Western on Twitter. In response, Western will send a tweet of congratulations.

“It lets us engage new people, new students before they get here, and lets us keep in touch with alumni,” Hoy said.

The school also uses a Flickr account, which allows students to post pictures of the Western community and lifestyle.

“I think that if you’re not interested in experimenting in these kinds of things I have a feeling like you’re not going to get anywhere.”

— Stuart A. Thompson