Campus Security

Arizona State Adds Facebook and Twitter for Emergency Alerts

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/12/10

Arizona State University in Tempe has added Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds to its emergency messaging system. E2Campus, the university's emergency messaging provider, recently integrated the social networking functionality into its subscriber profiles. Previously, the university relied on e-mail and text messaging to communicate with the campus community during emergency situations.

"ASU is able to reach the broad university community through emergency e-mail notifications," said Morgan R. Olsen, executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer. "We would like to emphasize that students, faculty, and staff should still sign up for the ASU Alert text messaging service. It's important to utilize multiple communication options during emergencies, especially when so many of today's students communicate primarily through text messaging."

According to recent coverage in State Press, a student newspaper, the alert system has about 23,500 subscribers.

ASU Alert messages are distributed through the ASU Alert Twitter feed, ASU Facebook page, ASU RSS feeds, and through e-mails. The new services went through a test in early February.