University of Michigan the 13th-most buzzed about university and college on the Internet

The University of Michigan is quite the attention-grabber on the Internet.

In a recent study, U-M ranked No. 13 in the list of most buzzed-about colleges and universities on the Internet, according to this Mashable article.

U-M ranked ahead of such schools Princeton, Duke, Georgia Tech, and (most importantly) Ohio State University. It ranked below schools like Harvard, Yale, Cornell, UCLA and the No. 1 most-buzzed about school, MIT (??).

What was the measuring stick? The Global Language Monitor used several ways of gauging the buzz around U-M, including blog and social media posts and several thousand media outlets.

Here's betting we can pin a lot of buzz on the Wolverines' football team making a splash into the BCS last year, as well as the buzz around Brady Hoke.

Hey President Obama, that's not how you attract Michigan voters

I saw this tweet today from @OhioState (it was retweeted by the White House) and thought "He's shooting himself in the foot with voters up here."

We’re excited to welcome President #Obama to campus today! He’s a Buckeye at heart—here’s the proof. #ObamaOSU twitpic.com/8zqyd4

— OhioState (@OhioState) March 22, 2012

That's not the type of thing Michigan voters will want to see come November, President Obama.

If/when the president returns, can we please get some wi-fi?

With President Barack Obama coming to Ann Arbor, it's expected that dozens of journalists will descend onto campus and report on the speech.

It's also expected that they'll use the most modern tools they have available to help send the message out, and that is the Internet.

So, why hold a presidential speech in a place where journalists can't access the Internet?

Our live coverage Friday, which mostly consisted of a live tweet stream from Al Glick Field House, saw several delays in posting, partially due to lacking 3G internet speeds (our netbooks have 3G built in them, allowing us to access the web anywhere we have a 3G signal, which should include Ann Arbor). But being on a college campus that I would assume has WiFi access, why not allow journalists to access it?

While we could have brought a MiFi hotspot, I'm not so sure it would have helped. Using our 3G access, my colleagues could barely send a text file for filing, and photos took even longer, even though they were compressed.

The best summarization of how many reporters there must have felt came from a tweet from Chris Gautz, a reporter with Gongwer:

No wi-fi at UM for President Obama's speech. Unacceptable.

— Chris Gautz (@ChrisGautz) January 27, 2012

There must be a way for the University to give guest access to those requiring the internet to properly do their job on a public university's campus. It hurt our live coverage, and I'm sure it hurt others' as well.

Looking for a way to celebrate MLK Day? Speech from NPR personality happening at U-M Monday

Here's one way to learn more and observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday. 


The University of Michigan will host NPR personality Michele Norris, as she serves as the keynote speaker for the day's MLK events. A panel discussion will follow her speech, which will take place after her speech. The discussion, entitled "It's Going on in the Hood" and will "address the perception that Detroit significantly lacks community involvement in its neighborhoods."

The keynote speech will take place at 10 a.m. at the Hill Auditorium. The panel discussion will take place at 1 p.m., after a one-hour lunch break.

In addition, the speech will also be simulcasted at U-M's Detroit Center on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, in case you're not in Ann Arbor that day.