Two new initiatives are being launched this month to provide up-to-date news and insight for students at the University.
Student News is a website which has been developed by the University to provide coordinated access to information including student successes, events and activities. The new platform aims to improve communications and encourage students to join the conversation by sharing their views and comments.
It will host useful ‘in brief’ stories and more detailed news articles as well as student contributed articles and feedback stories previously hosted by the Voice website.
Other features include:
“¢ Opportunity of the week – featuring news about jobs, volunteering, tickets etc.
“¢ Links to and previews of University social media channels.
“¢ Latest student announcements.
“¢ Filter by category, month, most commented or most popular.
“¢ Links to other resources such as the Liverpool Guild of Students website.
“¢ Link to subscribe to the student news round-up email (due to launch in 2014).
“¢ Article rating and sharing system.
“¢ Moderated comments function.
“¢ Poll function for gathering feedback and insight.
Student News is an important communications tool for campaign promotion, the first of which will also launch in December to help students understand the potential impact social media use can have on employability prospects.
Raising awareness
Graduate employers are increasingly monitoring and using social media during the selection process, some even as part of the decision-making process supporting the screening of applications. The campaign will aim to help students use social media effectively and raise awareness of the kind of activity which may reflect negatively on a student with employers.
Head of Careers and Employability at the University of Liverpool, Dr Paul Redmond, said: “Social media presents a real opportunity if it is used effectively. Students and graduates have more platforms and tools now than ever before to show what they can bring to an employer. Social media can equip students with useful and highly transferable skills, which can really make them stand out from the crowd in a competitive jobs market.
“However, students also need to avoid getting involved in online activity which could reflect negatively on them, and impact employment or further education goals.”
Social media sessions
A series of news stories, opinion articles and case studies alongside a visual campaign will be used to highlight the positives and pitfalls of social media, and encourage students to get involved in social media sessions being run by the Careers and Employability Service.
For further information about Student News or the social media campaign, please contact Jo Brown in Corporate Communications on Joanna.brown@liverpool.ac.uk. The Student News site can be viewed at http://student-news.liverpool.ac.uk/.
