In December of 2022, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, as well as other state governors, stated the app TikTok and other Chinese apps will not be accessible on state devices and state-run wireless networks. Although announced at the end of last year, the ban didn’t start until July 1, 2023.
State government devices and wireless networks include Virginia’s public universities, such as Longwood. This has left many students, faculty, and staff wondering how this ban will affect the student organizations, social media courses and the marketing strategy of Longwood.
Dr. Mary Jo Stockton, senior director for digital marketing at Longwood said the ban hasn’t affected their strategy much. She said, “We are still creating the same kind of content just focusing on putting on reels instead of TikTok.”
According to Stockton, Longwood’s TikTok account is still up and isn’t going anywhere. She said, “[Longwood’s account] is still sitting there right now. I think that's pretty standard for the rest of the state as well, if you look at the other schools all of their accounts are still sitting there.”
While Longwood’s Office of Marketing hasn’t had to make many changes to its strategy and content, the same cannot be said with how social media and public relations courses are taught.
Alec Hosterman, associate professor of communication studies at Longwood said the TikTok ban has created challenges in teaching public relations and social media marketing.
He said, “One of the things we try to teach our students is how to develop that content...it makes it really difficult because I can’t pull up and show and have students interact with a piece on TikTok that does work well versus something on Instagram.”
He added, “I don’t think [the ban] will be a big detriment per se, because the skills that we use could be applied to Instagram Reels or YouTube…they are probably going to be a bit behind the curve because they have to adapt what they learned.”
Although some professors may have to adapt their teaching strategies, student organizations won’t have to worry about their TikTok usage.
At first, Longwood student organization members weren’t sure if this ban meant they would not be allowed to use TikTok at all, regardless of what network or Wi-Fi they were using. In an SGA meeting on September 19, 2023, student organization members sought to clarify whether or not they could use TikTok to reach other students.
Cheryl Steele, Longwood’s associate vice president for student engagement and initiatives, said, “I heard about it first at the SGA meeting, so I checked with Cam Patterson, the vice president of student affairs, to confirm my understanding, groups can still do TikTok, they just can’t use it on Longwood’s Wi-Fi.”
This was confirmed with Longwood’s Assistant Dean and Director of the University Center and Student Activities Susan Sullivan. She said, “Originally that’s what I thought, because it's a student organization associated with the university, then, therefore, they couldn’t have it, but I was wrong.”
While student organizations are allowed to use TikTok to promote their organization and spread information, they may be discouraged from using Longwood’s name.
Steele said, “We discourage students from using Longwood’s name with it just because I think there's a line there.” She added, “It’s kind of hard to separate the two, Longwood becomes apparent, I guess just making sure it’s not an official Longwood account, it’s a student organization.”
Regardless of Virginia's plan to enforce the ban, so far, Longwood's office and organizations have not had to adapt their marketing and engagement, but remains to be seen the long-term impacts of this regulation.
