It was a contest like no other: Create a fib, it was suggested to UConn Today Facebook fans, that would give people a fun incentive to take a look at the site, participate in the contest, and connect using social media. The fans themselves would vote on who had the best joke.<\/p>\n
The contest was based on a campaign University Communications had been running for several months. During that time, staff have been advertising UConn Today Facebook around campus, using a tongue-in-cheek “not true” campaign. The fibs, appearing on the face of a cell phone, were displayed in dining halls, on campus shuttle buses, and elsewhere. The jokes included such beauties as \u201cUConn cows produce strawberry milk,\u201d or \u201c300 pound alligator found in Mirror Lake.\u201d Each entry was followed with the phrase \u201cNot true. But if it were you\u2019d hear it here first,\u201d a reference to the speed with which University News and Information staff could post, well, University news and information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re constantly striving to grow recognition of our products, and give people exposure to UConn Today as a resource for news and information on UConn,\u201d says David Martel, director of media communications. \u201cAs an outgrowth of UConn Today, our web-based news site, we have the tools to inform the community, inside and outside the walls of Storrs, about what our faculty and students are doing that is truly wonderful. We also post articles from newspapers across the country, information regarding the accomplishments of our student athletes, various events, and the occasional, frivolous, fun post, all tied to the University.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contest, similar to a regular UConn Today Facebook feature, Tuesday Trivia, drew more than 50 responses. Dozens more Facebook friends voted on their favorites.<\/p>\n
In the end, a winner was selected: Jenny Jaekle posted the note \u201cKemba Walker and Maya Moore engaged to be married. \u2026 Not true, but if it were you\u2019d hear it here first.\u201d The runner up was Caitlin Kelly\u2019s shot at fame: \u201cJonathan the Husky wins Westminster Dog Show. … Not True, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Many others were also excellent. There appeared to be a bent toward athletics, class cancellations, or Spring Weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents arrested for walking and texting \u2026\u201d
\n\u201cHomer Babbidge Library changes name to Homer Simpson Library \u2026\u201d
\n\u201cUConn becomes first public institution to join the Ivy League \u2026\u201d and
\n\u201cVacant site of Kathy John\u2019s re-opening as a Five Guys Burgers & Fries \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody had fun with the contest,\u201d says Martel. \u201cAnd it bumped up our numbers a little bit, to the verge of 12,000. Now we just need a push from our friends out there, sharing our Facebook page with their friends and other UConn alumni, to get to 15,000. We\u2019ll keep on moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UConn Today Facebook users compete to offer funny \u2013 but untrue \u2013 headlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[37],"class_list":["post-33525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 11:53:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33525"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33728,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33525\/revisions\/33728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33525"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=33525"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}