twitter – Page 71 – Andy writes!

Second sick day in a row. Bleh. But lucky for you, dear reader, for I’m blogging like a feverish, cranky, congested, Sudafed-popping, Vicks Vap-o-Rub-slathered mad man.

(Okay, maybe that Vap-o-Rub reference was TMI for y’all. Let’s move on.)

Karine Joly celebrates three years of writing for University Business with her latest column about how colleges and universities are developing Facebook applications to better connect with students, alumni, prospective students, etc. On her College Web Editor blog, Karine is compiling a list of higher ed FB apps. If you’ve got one to add to the mix, get in touch with her.
Twitterpacks is a cool way to meet fellow ~~twits~~ tweeters based on interest, communities of practice, or geography. It’s a wiki and simple to join. Discovered via Karine’s Friday list-o-links. Karine found it via Seth Meranda‘s post. If you tweet, you should sign up and run with the pack(s) of your choosing. (I always assumed Twitter users would be in flocks, but that would make too much sense.)
DW offers a refreshing reminder that sometimes we learn the most from the students we work with. Thanks for that.
10 social media presentations — all posted on Slideshare and yours for the viewing. Looks like a good resource for social networking data. Via .edu Guru‘s Links of the Week (from last Friday).
Phoenix rising. The University of Phoenix doesn’t even have a football team — or any sports team. But it does own the name on the football stadium where the New England Patriots and New York Giants will square off on Sunday for Super Bowl XLII. U of P spent $154 million in 2006 for the naming rights to the stadium. They hope to cash in on Sunday with a bevy of inquiries and the kind of national media exposure that ~~money can’t buy~~ only $154 million (plus a couple of Super Bowl ad spots) can buy. A drop in the bucket for the university’s owner, Apollo Group Inc., which generates annual revenues of nearly $3 billion. (Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education. A Chronicle staffer actually pitched this idea to me and suggested that “other colleges without athletics programs can apply the same strategy of advertising at major sports events to their advantage.” Somehow I doubt that many colleges without athletics programs invest as much in branding as Phoenix. But the story’s still worth a link.)

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Now playing: Spoon – You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
via FoxyTunes

Judy Gombita of PR Conversations tried to leave a comment on my recent post about the (apparently exaggerated) decline of Facebook, but her comment was rejected due to its plethora of links. So, she emailed the comment to me, and I thought it was worthy of its very own post. Here it is. (As a caution to commenters, the WordPress comment function on this blog isn’t very link-friendly, so please keep that in mind when posting. Just post the URL instead of trying to insert html code, and you should be fine.)

Hey Andrew, I agree with you that the kool-aid crowd has moved on to Twitter, but whether it will ever reach the critical mass/numbers (worldwide) of Facebook, I’m highly doubtful.

The bright shiny new toys crowd (BSNTC) tend to be very loud and adamant at the front end about how useful and necessary is the tool/platform/channel, but they are also the first to be fickle and move on. Twelve to 18 months ago everyone was telling me that I *had* to be exploring Second Life, because my organization would *have* to have a presence in there or risk being left behind by the competition.

I held fast.

For the last six to 12 months I’ve been rejecting “be my FB friend” requests. The BSNTC is always amazed that I haven’t sent up a profile in FB. Of course they are now yawning in boredom about how “so 2007” it is and complaining about FB’s numerous applications (you know, the ones they happily installed), the Beacon fiasco, etc.

Yep, the main problem with FB is that it *isn’t* as fast and easy and valuable and fun as Twitter! (At least for the next two to three months…after that they will move on to the next BSNT….)

I haven’t rejected the concept of micro-blogging wholesale (although I doubt the current iteration of Twitter will prove to be the killer app). It just hasn’t proven itself for (my) business direction/needs as yet. (And I have a real office water cooler, so don’t feel the need of an online one.)

FYI, I keep my eye out for relevant articles (and not always negative ones!) and send them on to my University of Georgia “blogging prof” and unabashd Twitter champion pal, Karen Miller. See how she is incorporating Twitter into her class assignments and building up a nice little list of resources for her students. FYI, I sent her these two:

How Individuals Use Twitter, Peter Kim

17 Ways to Use Twitter

(When I sent this second one, I actually put in the Subject line: OK, this makes sense)

On a side note, I think there would be a greater acceptance and use for Twitter if the BSNTC didn’t try so hard (and often) to be “clever” on Twitter. Or so obviously cliquey. Not to mention the excruciating amount of details about their food intake and travel plans and the “good mornings” and “good nights Twitterati.” It’s that kind of behaviour that earns the phrase “overactive tweets.” (Credit to Jenn Mattern for that one.)

My Twitter and Facebook activity has been pretty light lately. Likewise with this blog. A combination of work craziness and some under-the-weatherness has contributed to my malaise. Maybe next week I’ll get back into the social networking groove.

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Now playing: Angelique Kidjo – Salala ft. Peter Gabriel
via FoxyTunes