The LSU Athletic Department informed volleyball coach Fran Flory that she had people following her, but not enough.Flory, entering her 13th season as head coach at LSU, was asked during the summer to be a part of a promotion to encourage fans to follow Flory on Twitter.Her role in the stunt would be to move into an RV camper parked in the west parking lot of Tiger Stadium. She would not be allowed to leave until the LSU volleyball Twitter account gained 500 new members.”I think our new promotions person, Daniel Nunes, looked around the head coaches and said, ‘What crazy fool would do this?'” Flory said. “And I came to mind.”When Flory entered the trailer on Aug. 2, the account had 319 followers. By the time Flory’s trailer seclusion ended on Aug. 6, the account was up to 924 followers.  Nunes, who holds the official title of marketing coordinator, said he chose to pitch the idea to Flory in favor of other coaches to boost the popularity of the volleyball team’s Twitter account.”We wanted to do something that was definitely going to grow our social media following,” Nunes said. “And volleyball is one that has struggled in the past — of all of the sports — to really gain that following.”Nunes said Flory was taken aback a bit when first approached about camping out, but she soon warmed to the idea.”She, from the beginning, was a little skeptical,” Nunes said. “When I talked to my boss about it, he was also skeptical, but then he said, ‘Let’s do it. This is a great idea.'”Flory’s living conditions, while not ideal, were far from barbaric. Her 38-foot RV had air conditioning, satellite television and wireless Internet.Many local and LSU celebrities came to visit Flory in the trailer, including football coach Les Miles, baseball coach Paul Mainieri, softball coach Yvette Girouard and Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden.Miles brought Flory lunch one afternoon, and Holden declared Aug. 4 to be “LSU Volleyball Day.”Senior outside hitter Angela Bensend joked she envied Flory’s opportunity to spend a week in the camper.”It’s something I think would be a lot of fun to live in for a little while,” Bensend said. “I wouldn’t want to be there permanently, but for a weekend it would be fun.”Junior libero Lauren Waclawczyk said the importance of social networking sites is not something to be taken for granted, especially by the smaller sports.”It seems like it’s becoming a main focus, especially for LSU volleyball,” Waclawczyk said. “Facebook and Twitter are helping get our name out there, and it’s cool to see that we have so many Twitter followers now.”Nunes said he plans to run more promotions for LSU sports, such as ticket giveaways and other prizes that will only be eligible to people who follow the team’s Twitter.Flory said she is glad to be out of the RV but enjoyed the time she spent in the west stadium parking lot.”I have to tell you, being stuck in an RV is an experience,” Flory said. “But it was a wonderful experience, because not only did it bring great publicity to our program and Twitter followers, but it also showed me what great people we have and that I work with in this program.”—Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]