KU Today: Stay on top of Jayhawk news with these must-follow Twitter accounts

So, you’ve moved into your residence hall, toured the campus, located where your classes will be, gotten a parking permit and thoroughly read ALL the brochures you’ve received from Kansas University (wink, wink).

Now it’s time to get oriented with the KU Twitter-sphere.

Twitter is a great place to spot breaking KU news, trending conversations and helpful hints about navigating life as a Jayhawk — but the social media scene is a noisy, crowded place.

You’ll discover plenty of your own favorite handles to follow, but here are our top recommendations for your baseline.

@LJW_KU

Followers: 4,714

All the Journal-World’s KU news coverage is broadcast through this handle. Scoops on construction projects, policy changes affecting sexual assault investigations, KU professors doing mind-blowing research, students winning big awards, Heard on the Hill blog posts, how many millions of dollars KU spends to keep its private jet in the air — if we write it, you’ll spot links here. (Plus notable retweets, such as when the basketball team does something major like, oh, wins a world championship.)

@saramarieshep

Followers: 1,590

The actual human behind the @LJW_KU handle, yours truly, Journal-World KU and higher education reporter, Sara Shepherd. I tweet my own KU stories, other KU stories, pictures and bytes from campus, live updates from Kansas Board of Regents Meetings, higher ed news stories I find interesting plus occasional wonky journalism, crime news and art history stuff.

@KUNews

Followers: 50.3K

This is KU’s official Twitter account. It tweets everything from basketball to research on Malaysian biodiversity research to upcoming arts events — often with polished photos and videos from the KU marketing team.

The staff members who manage the account love their hashtags, photos and audience interaction. But it’s certainly not the only Twitter word from the university. Search for your own residence hall, department or organization’s handle, and you will almost certainly find it.

@KUInfo

Followers: 4,410

Go ahead, ask anything. This is the tweeting arm of KU’s long-running information service, KU Info. Its Twitter feed is full of fun and must-know facts about what’s going on at KU (i.e., how to make sure you’re walking down the correct side of the hill for graduation or the deadline for dropping a class and getting a refund). You can call, email, text or tweet your questions to the service.

@KansanNews

Followers: 12.4K

For student-oriented news at KU, check out the Twitter feed of The University Daily Kansan, KU’s student newspaper. Follow it for breaking campus news, multimedia, sports and reporting on KU and Lawrence.

@KUSenate / @KUPresident

Followers: 1,775/1,814

The official accounts of KU’s Student Senate and student body president, who is Jessie Pringle for 2015-2016. Both are sources for news about what KU’s student government is up to and a venue to engage with Student Senate.

@suaevents

Followers: 3,336

Student Union Activities has planned events at KU for 75 years. The student-run board brings in hundreds of cultural, fine arts, music and other sorts of activities every year. Its feed gives you a heads-up about what’s coming.