social networking – Page 10

So now that the baseball postseason is over and the St. Louis Cardinals are World Series champs for the 11th time in their history (#gocards, #11in11), I can’t use that as an excuse for not blogging anymore. So I thought I’d ease back into the higher ed blogging scene with a Friday Five recapping some of the things that have made higher ed news while I was distracted.

1. HighEdWeb 2011 happened in Austin, one of the coolest cities in the universe. This is old news for all of you, I’m sure. In fact, you were probably there, right? It seems like most of the higher ed marketing community was there, judging from my Twitter stream. But if you missed it, you can catch the highlights from many of the sessions via Link: The Journal of Higher Ed Web Professionals, which recruited a phalanx of bloggers to cover the conference. Some really good stuff there. If you’re looking for additional context, check MeetContent‘s summary of content-related takeaways from the conference, or read what Tim Nekritz, the Geddy Lee of the higher ed marketing world, has to say about what a Johnny Cash cover band can teach us about project management.

2. Meet the Innovator, a new video interview series from Higher Ed Live, will make its debut next week. Unlike HEL creator Seth Odell’s (mostly) weekly live broadcast, Meet the Innovator will consist of a series of pre-recorded interviews “that will highlight education innovators and spotlight the impact their work is having on our industry. From start ups rethinking the digital delivery of educational content to classroom instructors and higher ed administrators making transformational changes in their fields, this series will introduce the industry to thought leaders and influencers who are making a difference and fueling the change our industry so desperately needs.” I’m looking forward to this one.

3. Why the fuck should I choose Oberlin? came down the pike and captured a lot of attention. At first, my inner 15-year-old said, “Fucking brilliant.” Then my 51-year-old kicked in and shook his jaded head. The site is obviously unofficial and based on other popular sites that drop the F-bomb into their titles. Georgy Cohen first brought this site to my attention earlier this week with her post A dash of WTF FTW, and with her followup post, Georgy dissects the site in the context of “the real Internet.”

When I see WTFSICO, I see a reflection of any number of popular single-serving sites that come down the pike, go viral (like, legitimately viral) and spark a huge amount of sharing, conversation and attention. In short, what I see is the real internet. I don’t see a time-delayed facsimile that has been vetted by committees and upheld by established best practices, and in the process had all the life, authenticity and relevance wrung right out of it. I see a real-time cultural echo.

In higher ed, we far too often call that a risk.

Well stated, Georgy. Darn well stated, even.

4. Social media success, Aggie-style. A story from Texas A&M’s news site discussing the university’s success with social media.

5. Overcoming “insecurity work” — good stuff from FastCompany about how our data-driven, report-driven work creates insecurity and can harm productivity, via @johntlawlor.

At the university where I work, we’ve been involved in the social media channels of Facebook and Twitter since 2007. But it wasn’t until this past weekend, as freshmen were moving into their rooms and Greek housing, that the level of engagement with our audiences on social media started to reach a point that I would consider critical mass in the sociodynamic sense.

OK, that may be a bit hyperbolic. Maybe “critical mass” is the wrong term. But the levels and quality of social media activity between our university and our audiences seems to be increasing.

Maybe it’s just that normal activity has resumed on social networks following a summer lull. But when I look at the data, I see indicators of increased engagement.

Facebook interactions and activity has been on the rise in terms of daily, weekly and monthly active users, likes and interactions (comments).

Twitter activity has also been on the uptick, with significant growth over the past three months (see chart below) and more interaction with followers, including retweets.

MissouriSandT Twitter Counter

I’m not sure what this means — yet. It could be that students, alumni and other target audiences are becoming more comfortable with the main social media tools as a means for interacting with colleges and universities. This rise in acceptance and activity would be consistent with the findings of the Pew Internet and American Life Project and others. (See Pew’s findings on social networking sites and our lives.)

It could also mean that the steady, persistent use of social media by campuses is starting to pay off. This would lend credibility to the argument that social media is not a quick fix, and that colleges and universities should not expect instant results from their efforts. This also suggests that consistent and persistent engagement in social media by an organization — university, business, non-profit, individual — will yield dividends over the long haul.

Whatever it means, it’s an exciting time to be involved in social media marketing/communication in higher ed.

As a new school year begins, what are you seeing with your social media efforts?