Commencement coverage spans the globe

Monday, May 22, 2017

Thousands of graduates, their families and University faculty and staff celebrated the culmination of the Class of 2017’s educational journey at Commencement. And even more people joined in the festivities through live stream and social media.

At nearly 4,000 unique visitor locations across the world, viewers tuned into one or more of the three commencement ceremonies. Web analytics tracked unique visitors from 61 countries that watched – the highest number of viewers from outside the United States were in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Italy.

Via UNC Charlotte’s official Facebook page, which also live streamed Commencement, nearly 42,000 people watched some part of one of the ceremonies.

The Office of University Communications also utilized Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote Commencement, including the media pitch about Crystal Cruz (published in the University’s monthly e-newsletter), the fifth of seven daughters from one family to graduate from UNC Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer story on Cruz and her family appeared in the print edition on Saturday, was posted online and appeared in the Miami Herald, too.  

Brandon Kirkley, social media manager in University Communications, included a link to the story on Facebook. At press time, nearly 200 Facebook followers had shared the link and it had garnered more than 1,000 likes.

One photo from Commencement, “A World of Possibilities” also generated lots of buzz. Shared across multiple social media channels, the post reached more than 105,000 people. UNC Charlotte social media posts covering Commencement 2017 reached in excess of 1.2 million people.

"It is very satisfying to be able use our strong communications channels to engage such of large portion of our extended University community in Commencement," said University Communications Executive Director Stephen Ward. "The inspiration of the Cruz family story underscores the power of opportunity that UNC Charlotte offers, and it's great to see that story embraced in news coverage and social media that tend to be so divisive and negative these days."