Ep. 20: Fear, Tribalism, and Chaos; Reflections on Higher Ed Social Media 2023-2024

Jenny talks with Matt Griffin from the University of Pennsylvania and Melissa Lesica from Harvard University about the tumultuous and challenging landscape of higher education social media over the past academic year. They explore the impact of significant global events, bot attacks, and the increasing vitriol directed at higher ed institutions. They also delve into how their teams managed these crises and the lessons learned to prepare for future challenges.Guest Names:Matt Griffin, Dir. of New Media Communications at University PennsylvaniaMelissa Lesica, Senior Dir. of Content strategy at Harvard UniversityGuest Social Handles:Matt: LinkedInMelissa: LinkedInGuest Bios: Matt Griffin is Director, New Media Communications, in the Office of University Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, with 20+ years of experience in digital marketing and communications for publishing companies, business journals and educational institutions. Matt joined Penn in 2012 as part of a then-new push to consolidate social media strategy at the University, and has since grown the University’s social footprint, expanded access to social media tools across Penn, and worked to build a cross-departmental collaborative working group of more than 300 communications professionals across campus.Melissa Lesica is the Senior Director of Content Strategy at Harvard University. She manages a team that produces, manages and measures Harvard’s flagship digital properties, including Harvard.edu, the Harvard Gazette news website, the @Harvard social media channels and a variety of email newsletters. Melissa has worked in higher education for 17 years, advocating for digital transformation, innovation and accessibility. - - - -Connect With Our Host:Jenny Li Fowlerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylifowler/https://twitter.com/TheJennyLiAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:Confessions of a Higher Ed Social Media Manager is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too! Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.