Illinois State University opened its Social Media Analytics Command Center last fall. (Photo courtesy www.ilstu.edu)
By Eric Stock
NORMAL – Illinois State University students will be offering their feedback on the President's State of the Unions Speech next week – 140 characters at a time.
The live tweet watch party is through the American Democracy Project.
"It's a nice way to blend technology with politics and hopefully get the students engaged more so when its not election season," ISU assistant politics and government professor Carl Palmer said.
Palmer told WJBC's Scott Laughlin, ISU will be using its new Social Media Analytics Command Center to measure all the feedback from the speech to better understand how social media plays a part in the political process.
"We are taking advantage of this fantastic new technology that the communications department has brought to campus that lets them monitor social media, Palmer said, adding students used the technology on election night last November.
The watch party will be held at Schroeder Hall from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday. The hashtag to follow for the state of the union conversation is #iSOTU.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen's interview with Palmer on WJBC.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
