Northern Illinois University tragedy

This being the final day of 2008, I suppose I should do what many bloggers do at this time of year and reflect, or resolve, or predict, or puff on my Meerschaum pipe, stroke my chin thoughtfully and opine about the state of higher education, marketing, PR, the media, Twitter, Facebook, indie music or some other topic I frequently touch on here.

Or maybe I should hike my khakis up a la Matt Foley (video) and toss some motivational bromides your way — tell you to hire good people and get out of their way, or to quit micromanaging, or to be proactive, learn to do more with less, tighten your belts, or lose weight and stop smoking the doobies.

But who am I to dispense advice? Look, I’m a blogger. Even worse, I’m on Twitter. I tweet dozens of times a day. Sometimes I even tweet from my couch while watching a football game. It’s obvious I don’t get out much. I’m the last person you should seek out for advice, or take advice from.

No. I’ll leave the Dear Abby duties to some other blogger. The best I can muster on this final day of the year — and really, isn’t it just a random date? sure, we get the day off tomorrow, and lots of football, but does that much really change after midnight? — the best I can muster is a quick click-through of some things that were on my mind and on this blog in 2008. That, and to wish you a Happy New Year and the best for 2009.

Higher ed marketing’s year in review

January — Predictions that Facebook was on the wane may have been slightly exaggerated, especially considering that I now have more Facebook “friends” from my high school graduating class than I had actual friends in high school. I blame that on the 30-year reunion that took place last summer. Later that month, Judy Gombita of PR Conversations took me to task for bashing Facebook and for being such a Twitterphile. Anyway, if you needed proof that I suck at making predictions, there you have it. The mighty Facebook lives, and I’ve got the high school connections to prove it.

February — A tragic month for higher ed. The Northern Illinois University shooting was front and center for many of us. I posted the news as soon as I found out about it, and that post led to a follow-up about the role higher ed (and other bloggers) play in writing about such tragedies (Blogging about campus tragedy: public service or exploitation?). That same month, a pioneer in crisis communications, Christopher Simpson, lost his battle to cancer at age 52. I also asked, Should universities Tweet?, a question that seems mildly irrelevant today, and I belatedly wished Karine Joly’s blog, College Web Editor, a belated happy third birthday. And early in February, BlogHighEd.org was born.

March — Twitter had its busiest day ever at the height of SXSW Interactive, and as March Madness descended, Drivl.com unveiled the worst Division I mascots ever (h/t The Old College Try). March was the month my reading preferences were validated by Seth Godin, my social networking addiction was clarified, and my long-awaited but brief, superficial review of University Marketing Mistakes elicited this response, among others:

andrew, since it is taking you too long to have the review, may i have a suggestion? Pls make a running review of the book and post it on this blog.

It may seem your patrons may look for other bloggers that can provide it.

You have attracted my attention with your promised review of the book. I guess the best way is for me to buy one.

I guess so.

April — I spoke at and blogged from the CASE Communication, Marketing and Technology Conference in San Diego, where I met a couple of folks who have since gone on to create great higher ed blogs of their own: Paul Redfern of Gettysburg College, who blogs at Higher Ed Web Marketing, and Eduardo Merille of Florida Atlantic University. Caltech’s Liz Allen, who doesn’t blog but should, became my first (and so far only) guest blogger in April with her take on the CASE conference. Also in April, my post about using del.icio.us as a PR measurement tool got some blog buzz, and I got a good fortune cookie at the Chinese buffet.

May — Addict-o-matic and the LOLinator were highlights of the month. Blog fatigue was setting in. But I did manage one serious post summarizing a weighty study about the state of PR.

June — Karine Joly discovered the secret to my amazing YouTube popularity, I co-presented at a PR conference in Baltimore, and went on and on about pitching to bloggers and on Twitter. Tim Russert died, I posted insight from Newsweek science writer Sharon Begley, and rallied higher ed bloggers to represent in the Ad Age Power 150. Well, tried to rally, anyway. Best post of the month: the informafore’s dilemma.

July — Right before Independence Day, I posted mini-reviews of three books marketing and PR types ought to read, shared five videos of a great summertime song, introduced a blog our department created for a big solar car race, and celebrated a Twitter milestone.

August — Posted reflections on Barack Obama’s visit to campus (which happened in July), more crap about Twitter, and Intern Mike’s five takeaways from his summer job in our office.

September — Posted about rebooting my workflow for fall but that’s all I did: read about it. I didn’t do it. Maybe I should try again. New Year’s resolution? More importantly: I blogged about Talk Like a Pirate Day and gave you more cowbell.

October — Took part in Blog Action Day; wrote about beating the recession blues; jumped on the Is blogging past its prime? bandwagon; posted something that I thought was pretty insightful, only to later realize that it was just more blather borrowing from other ideas floating around the blogosphere-twittersphere collective semi-consciousness.

November — Dipped my toe into the analytics waters again with a post attempting to analyze our campus’s spacebook PR campaign and another post looking at Google analytics info for this blog from November 2007-November 2008. Ate turkey for Thanksgiving.

December — Coined the term Facebookgate™, exploiting all of Brad J. Ward‘s investigative work for my own glory. What better or more fitting way to end the year?

I have to tip my hat to Kevin Guidry of Mistaken Goal for prompting this post. In his comment on Friday’s post about the Northern Illinois University shooting, Kevin brought up some good points about these kinds of blog entries.

There seems to be a difference between “covering major news event in my area of expertise” and “using a tragedy as a means to establish how hip and up-to-date I am, please bookmark my blog and heighten my reader count!” I’m not always sure on which side of that line many blogs fall and the very idea of exploiting an event like this is quite sickening. I’m not pointing any fingers or naming any names as I’m not thinking of anyone in particular but it’s something that should be acknowledged and discussed in the open.

I agree, Kevin. So let’s discuss it.

But first, a bit of perspective on my decision to post about this incident.

When I first got word about the shooting on Thursday afternoon, I was putting the finishing touches on a snarky, self-serving entry about this site’s status as a top referrer to a recently launched blog aggregator. I was taking a Stephen Colbert “I made you!” tone in this particular post. It isn’t a tone I often assume, but on Thursday I was feeling playful, cocky about my status as a top referrer, and anxious to gloat.

Then I was told about the shooting, and I knew that my original plan for the Thursday blog post would have to be set aside. How could I in good conscience post my Colbertesque entry when such a tragedy had just occurred?

So I decided instead to post a link to the CNN story and a screen shot of the NIU website as it looked at that moment. I did so because:

I wanted to appear relevant

in light of this breaking news event. This isn’t a news blog by any stretch, but if news breaks that pertains to the subject of higher ed marketing and communication — and campus shootings qualify, in my view — and I happen to be in a position to post links to the news source or any other useful information, I will do so. I was educated to become a journalist, and I spent enough time in the news business that it’s “in my blood,” as they say. And I am at heart a writer. I love to write, and to report.

But tied to this notion of relevancy is the “cool blog” factor that Kevin Guidry alludes to. One of the reasons I blog at all is because I want to be read, recognized, noticed and, yes, linked to. I think every writer (and blogger) shares that same need. One of the things I loved most about my journalism and writing career was to see my byline, or my name on the cover of a book. I still get a rush out of seeing my name on a byline in our alumni magazine. I even like seeing my name linked from other blogs. I’m egotistical. I probably need help.

But I don’t think I’m alone. I’m reminded of a William Faulkner quote that I take to heart:

Since man is mortal, the only immortality possible for him is to leave something behind him that is immortal… This is the artist’s way of scribbling “Kilroy was here” on the wall of the final and irrevocable oblivion through which he must someday pass.

So, yes, I have the kind of ego that desires recognition. Guilty as charged. But does that mean I have exploited a tragedy for my own personal gratification? Before you judge, please, read on.

I wanted to capture the moment.

Just as traditional journalism is described as the first draft of history, so blogging or journalism might be considered. I still have old paper journals in which I jotted down my thoughts of historical events — the L.A. riots after the Rodney King trial, for instance — that capture what I was thinking at that moment in time. Those journals remain private (for now) but one day they may contribute to or form the basis for my memoirs. Who can tell? The difference between blogging in public and writing in private journals is just that: one is public, the other private. Often, however, we bloggers tend to project our personalities, our personal thoughts and our personal biases into our posts. Few bloggers take on the role of objective, just-the-facts-Ma’am reporters. We want to offer our opinions and thoughts about events, to show that we are part of a larger story, a bigger picture, a metanarrative that is unfolding. We are storytellers as well as actors in this story. All the world’s a stage and all that. And we want to capture events, present our perspectives on them, as they occur. Again, is this self-aggrandizing or exploitative? Maybe so. I mean, any blogger who publicly refers to his future memoirs probably harbors some delusions of grandeur.

I wanted to show the screenshot

to illustrate how the campus immediately handled its online communications. Many readers of this blog deal with crisis communications issues, and I thought it might be useful to them. Again, am I providing a public service? Or am I trying to portray myself as an expert in crisis communications analysis? Maybe a little bit of both. Am I capitalizing on tragedy in order to try to build my own reputation in the blogosphere? The cynic would say, Of course.

So, those are some of my thoughts about why I first posted about the NIU shooting. The reasons for my second post are similar. As for why Karine Joly or Brad Ward or Deanna Woolf or any other higher ed blogger posted about the tragedy, I cannot say. Nor can I say why other higher ed bloggers chose not to post about the tragedy. Maybe some of them will comment here to let us know. Or maybe they’ll post on their own blogs.

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