Yan Xiao has a routine. Every morning, the 21-year-old clinical medicine major at Hubei University of Medicine checks a number of micro blogs and makes a note of all the interesting information she comes across.
21岁的闫晓（音译）是湖北医药学院临床医学专业的大学生，她有个习惯，就是每天早上起来刷微博，然后记下她看到的各路趣闻。

It’s not because she’s addicted to micro blogs. Yan is collecting material to generate content for her department’s official micro blog account.
闫晓可没对微博上瘾，她这么做其实是为了给她所在的院系官微账号搜集素材，准备内容。

As more and more universities and departments are opening their own official micro blog accounts, students are playing an important role in generating their content.
如今越来越多的高校和院系都开通了自己的官方微博，大学生也开始在校方微博的运营上扮演起越来越重要的角色。

Students take control
学生主导

After Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University launched their official Sina Weibo accounts in late 2009, a large number of universities created official accounts in 2010 and 2011. By 2012, more than 90 percent of “211” and “985” project universities in China had launched their own micro blog accounts, according to Mei Jingsong, chief editor of Sina Education.
2009年年末，华中科技大学和武汉大学率先开通了新浪官方微博。随后，在2010年到2011年间，很多大学都陆续创立了各自的官微。新浪教育主编梅静松（音译）说，截止到2012年，国内超过九成的“211”和“985”高校都已开通了官微。

Yan’s department also created its account in 2011, but back then the account was operated by tutors. “They didn’t know how to interact with students on the micro blog, so we paid little attention to its content. All that changed when students were brought in to operate the account in 2012,” says Yan.
闫晓所在的院系也于2011年开通了微博，但那时的微博主要是由老师们经营。闫晓说：“老师们并不知道怎么在微博上和学生互动，所以我们也很少关注官微发布的消息。自从2012年学生参与账号管理后，一切都不一样了。”

It’s a similar story at Wang Yubin’s university. Together with two of his peers, the 21-year-old software engineering major at Chongqing University has been running his university’s student affairs micro blog for one year.
重庆大学软件工程专业的王余斌（音译）也有着类似的经历。这位21岁的小伙儿和另外两个同学一起，已经为重庆大学打理了一年的学生事务微博。

“We use micro blog jargon and emoticons to make our content more relatable to followers,” Wang says. “For example, we refer to ourselves as diaos and to followers as buddies.”
王余斌说：“我们使用微博上的热门语言和表情符号来拉近官微和粉丝们的距离，比如，我们自称‘屌丝’，互称‘小伙伴。’”

His university has been recruiting students to operate the student affairs micro blog since 2011. Their work, however, is supervised by tutors, who offer guidance to the student operators.
王余斌所在的大学从2011年起就开始招募学生来管理学生事务微博，只不过学生们的工作依然受到老师的监督指导。

One man show
独挑大梁

In contrast, Hang Ronggan runs his university’s innovation society micro blog without the help of a tutor. Even so, he has attracted a large number of followers and the micro blog is now the second most popular campus account on Sina Weibo.
与之不同的是，黄荣甘（音译）独自管理着学校创新协会的微博账号。虽然没有老师的帮助，但他已经成功吸引了大量粉丝，该账号也成为了所有校园微博中人气第二的账号。

The 23-year-old telecommunication engineering major at Xidian University in Xi’an says the key is to offer followers the information they want.
这位在西安电子科技大学学习通信工程的23岁学生表示，（赢得粉丝的）关键就是发布他们想看到的内容。

“We act like an information board for our followers,” he says. “By interviewing university officials, we spread the latest school policies.”
他说：“我们就像是粉丝们的信息公告栏，通过采访校方领导，我们可以传播最新的学校政策。”

The account’s most popular tweet, which was reposted more than 1,000 times in one month, was about the university’s career center staff and introduced policies that support start-up business.
目前，他们学校官微中人气最高、单月转发量超过一千条的微博，正是关于该校就业指导中心老师讲解鼓励创业政策的。