So, are you tweeting? The Crimson White is, but 58 percent of UA students probably aren’t. And 50 percent of those non-tweeters really enjoy making fun of their friends who tweet: “You makin’ a sandwich bro? Make sure to update your followers.” The first statistic is from a real study; the other I just made up.

Whether you tweet or just make fun of those who do, social media sites and networks most likely play a huge role in your daily life. The boundaries between online and offline interactions and what defines “real” friends are blurring.

The reason why is because it’s all about me.

Not me, but you. As Gen-Y’ers, we have certain expectations of our Internet experience. We want a personalized experience, we want to interact, and we want it to be all about me — think iPod, YouTube, MySpace.

And for some reason we want to share our innermost thoughts and secrets with the world: Text From Last Night (832): “I sat alone in Buffalo Wild Wings eating chocolate cake on Country Western karaoke night. The waiter asked me if I was ok. Twice.”

That’s where The Crimson White’s brand new Community Engagement team comes into your life. Our job is to make the CW more approachable and a more interactive experience. Don’t believe me? Send a tweet to @CWNewsline. We’ll tweet you back. For real. You can holler at us on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheCrimsonWhite) or check out our YouTube channel.

So we’re reaching out to you, University of Alabama. We want to be your friend. We want you to “Like” us. Online and IRL too. But how can we be friends if we don’t introduce ourselves first?

We wear many hats. We monitor CW social media accounts and engage with our fans and followers online. We do general outreach with student groups, campus organizations and the UA community at large. What does that mean?

You tell us. That’s what we are here for: to improve your CW experience and make you, the reader, feel more involved. After all, this is YOUR newspaper. We are “Your Source, Your News.”

During dead week last semester and over the summer we conducted a Crimson White Readers Survey. We had more than 300 responses. And we read them.

We had a spectrum of responses, ranging from “THE CW IS A RIGHT-WING FASCIST GAY HATING GREEK CONTROLLED PROPAGANDA MACHINE” to “Your liberal slant is disgusting” to “The CW is soooo anti-greek it’s not even funny anymore.”

These types of answers were by far the minority. Most feedback was honest and insightful. The Community Engagement team analyzed the responses, and we’re working with the editorial staff to implement the changes you want to see. They were already doing a lot of things to make those changes. They know what students want—they’re all students, too.

The members of the Community Engagement team get to play a unique role within the paper. We’re going to remain unbiased and uphold a certain degree of professionalism in our online voice, but we do get to have some fun. For example, if you follow us on Twitter, you may have seen some of our exchanges with @TheUAMachine. Not sure who maintains and updates that account, but whoever it is, we appreciate the witty tweets. Keep them coming.

So that’s us in a nutshell. Now let’s hear from you. We’re around campus and online. Let us know what’s on your mind and what you are talking about.

Honest, even brutal, criticism is a good thing, so long as it’s constructive. All we want to do is help make The University of Alabama’s student newspaper, your newspaper, better.

We have a lot of ideas about how we can better connect with you. And it doesn’t always have to be serious and uptight; we’re always down for some good laughs. Every Thursday, The Crimson White will have a “Meet the CW” table set up in the Ferguson Center near the info desk from 11-2p.m. It’s going to be a semester-long deal, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to stop by and tell us what’s on your mind. Or ask a question. Just don’t forget to check in on FourSquare and update your Twitter status.

Josh Hedrick is the assistant manager of the community engagement team. The team can be reached at [email protected].