Students at American Univesity in Washington, DC, will be using Twitter in a pioneering campaign that aims to describe the campus through their perspective -- in 140 characters.

“Hashtag AU,” a unique two-week contest hosted by student organization AU-SMCEDU, will award students that tweet the most about locations on campus that have designated hashtags, the information-filtering convention created by Twitter users.

Hashtags are keywords that are included in a tweet and are denoted with a ‘#’ sign. They provide context and searchability to the swarm of tweets sent every day, a powerful way to hone in on tweets relevant to a particular subject.

Popular AU campus locations (such as the Bender Arena and Davenport Coffee Lounge) have been given their own hashtags. Students, by including these location hashtags, can tweet their reviews, news, and other updates, providing a real-time, contextualized student pulse of the campus.

AU-SMCEDU president and founder, Alex Priest, sees the campaign as an opportunity to engage new social media users:

“We hope this campaign will not only introduce more people to the work we're doing with the
Social Media Club, but also encourage them to check out some of these social media tools
themselves, tweeting and checking in to participate in the contest throughout the first two weeks
of February."

The campaign will run from January 31 - February 13, with daily winners and a grand prize for most tweets.

If you’re interested in following the event, check out the “Hashtag the Campus” Facebook event beginning January 31, or follow along on Twitter with the #SMCEDU hashtag. 

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