Popularity is rising for the virtual Sooner experience following OU’s launch of a social media site in October.
OU’s YouTube channel gives students the chance to show OU through their eyes.
Since its creation, the channel has grown to include 71 videos and 191 subscribers. The numbers go up daily, said Kam Stocks, OU web content manager.
The YouTube channel began as a way to spotlight OU for prospective students, said Cassie Ketrick, OU web media coordinator.
It shows a less formal side of OU that prospective students might not see on a campus tour or a recruitment page, said Virginia Duke, film and video studies sophomore.
The channel was a result of the OU web communications office wanting to move onto social media sites that are popular among students like YouTube and Facebook, Stocks said.
Ketrick said OU wanted to reveal its lesser-known aspects.
“We are always looking for new things happening on campus — things that are going on that don’t have a lot of publicity,” Ketrick said.
To keep content student-driven, a large portion of the videos comes from REEL students, a group of students selected to shoot footage for the channel, Stocks said.
Jessica Walker, current REEL student and English senior, said students are given the freedom to choose which parts of campus to film.
Stocks said OU’s channel gives REEL students an outlet to display their film work. The students are allowed to keep the Flip cameras after they contribute five videos.
As a film and video studies student, Duke said being a REEL student has given her an outlet to express her creativity.
Walker said the channel has given her an excuse to talk to people outside of her circle of friends.
OU hopes to recruit more student contributors and provide them with the opportunity to express themselves. Students are selected by Stocks and Ketrick based on recommendations.
“We are open to new ideas for our videos and making the YouTube channel bigger and better,” Ketrick said.
Log on to http://www.youtube.com/universityofoklahoma to access the channel.
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