The twitter bus has taken the world by storm and most of the IIMs have recently woken up to how important 140 characters are. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are hardly following anyone on Twitter except for IIM Kozhikode and that account is currently being run by an alumnus. Unless of course, all IIM media cells are using their personal accounts for that purpose; I know that one IIM is definitely doing that! Professors at b-schools have taken to blogging and now, the institutes themselves are looking at getting real about a virtual presence.
You can read about the IIMs in the newspapers and you can also get updates directly from the students. Twitter and blog feeds help provide regular updates and give an idea of what students make of life at the institute. Institutes only have 140 characters for each message and examples of creativity are few. By and large, Twitter is being used for sending out links to news which featured the institute and announcing events. Institutes almost come across as people when one sees an instance of MDI Gurgaon (@MDIGurgaon) greeting all the IIMs on Twitter.
The IIM-C media cell started @IIMC after they kicked off their personal accounts. According to Paul Savio, External Relations Secretary at the institute, the two members who run the account use it the way in which they usually post Twitter messages or tweet. IIM Bangalore and IIM Shillong are the two IIMs which are still to make a mark in the land of 140 characters. IIM Bangalore’s Executive Post Graduate Program in Management (EPGP) batch has booked the IIMBangalore name but is yet to tweet from there.
IIM Bangalore is planning to start a Twitter account very soon. The institute may choose to tweet real time updates at the time of admissions and this could prove to be very useful for students. Twitter can be used to reach a lot of people quickly and Vernon Fernandez , the co-coordinator for the institutes media cell says, Students can be given real time updates for news in which IIM-B has been featured. @IIMKozhikode will be handed over to the current batch in the next few months.
A Twitter feature known as retweet allows you to pass along a Twitter update which you liked to all the people who are following you. This makes certain updates viral and popular updates are usually retweeted. Rohan Desai, Media Cell secretary at IIM Ahmedabad (@IIMAhmedabad) makes an interesting point when he says that its sometimes a bit confusing whether their tweets are meant for on-campus people or for outsiders. He believes that blogs have more of a sense of being for the outside world and provide a peek into institute campus life.
Lets see whether the IIMs get innovative about Twitter and if we see tweets flying during admissions and placements. Fingers crossed!
Other b-schools on Twitter: IIM Lucknow (@IIML) and IIM Indore (@iimi).