There are a lot of brands on our blue planet that use blue as a signature color. There are probably good reasons for that. For one thing, blue evokes trust and reliability, attributes that many brands want to be associated with. That’s probably the reason why GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler all use blue as a primary brand color.
If Twitter is my go-to learning network (see previous post), then Slideshare is my research library. What I love about both platforms is that they make so much great information accessible, so easily. Slideshare gives me quick and easy access to conference presentations by many of the great higher ed, marketing, PR and leadership experts I follow there. And when I can’t experience a conference presentation in person, I have Slideshare as a tool for viewing some great slide decks, at my convenience. It’s the next best thing to being there.
Earlier this week, a lot of higher ed web marketing folks gathered for #psuweb12, the annual web conference held at Penn State. Many of the presenters used Slideshare to kindly share their slide decks with the online world. Here are five that I found worth clicking through.
1. Producing a Mobile Online Presence: Timeline: Yesterday, by Nick Denardis
Terrific overview of where mobile is heading, and why you should get on board. Plus, imperial stormtroopers.
2. We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: Web Communication Before, During and After a Crisis, by Tonya Oaks Smith
Doot-doot. Doot-doot. Doot-doot. Doot-doot. What potential crises lurk beneath the surface?
3. These Kids Today: Usability Testing With Current and Prospective Students, by Lori Packer
Tips for quick testing of your website.
4. Game On: How Games Are Changing Life, the Web and Everything, by Colleen Brennan-Barry
We are all gamers. (Words With Friends, anyone?)
5. Editorial Style: Your Guide to Clear Communication on the Web, by Rick Allen
Words matter. Even on the web.
The Buzz Bin has an interesting post about web design that is worth talking about, or at least blogging about. In Tear Down the Web Site, Geoff Livingston makes a strong case for putting social media front and center in our organizations’ online presence.
The brochure approach doesn’t work. We know that. So blogs, podcasts and new social content has been added to the conventional web site, but the conversation is usually buried on sites as a simple link. Why bother? Why not reverse things and make brochure content a simple link, and the social content the heart of the web page?
Many campuses are using social media for student recruitment, solidifying relationships, or promoting special events. Some are also putting their news content into a blog format. Yet too often, these sites are hidden. That’s largely the case at Missouri S&T, even though we do link to one blog from our gateway currently.
Why is it that we hide our social media behind brochureware? Discuss.
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Now playing: The Mountain Goats – Lovecraft In Brooklyn
via FoxyTunes
I’ve been fighting an upper respiratory infection all week long, and today I’m staying home in hopes of sending this bug to its death.
But I can’t seem to sleep, daytime TV is too dull for words (except for a showing of A Mighty Wind on Comedy Central this morning), and I’ve got several neglected RSS feeds in need of a severe pruning.
Plus, it’s been a long time been a long time been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely time since I blogged. (For the previous sentence, blame the Sudafed. And too much Led Zeppelin during my formative years.) Anyway, it all adds up to lots of contextless links for your point-and-click pleasure:
A del.icio.us list of iconic icons for web design, courtesy of Seth Meranda.
I Can Has Cheeseburger!. In a can, even. Yes, it’s true. Just what the world’s been waiting for, right? Right? Via Snark Hunting.
Wired‘s interactive life cycle of a blog post will just warm the cockles of any bloggeek’s heart. Via (dis)information architecture.
$100 for a link on Digg’s front page? A new low in online marketing?
Meet the new web influentials. They’re not necessarily the most people-connected, but rather the “people who influence the network by leveraging the most powerful force on the web — the link. So says Publishing 2.0. (Note to self: More contextless links in the future.)
Hidden mysteries of marketing revealed! Anita Campbell, editor of Small Business Marketing Trends, asked a bunch of A-list marketing gurus to share their best-kept marketing secrets, and they obliged. A bunch of lesser lights also shared their tips in the comments. Lots of good ideas here. Link via Chris Brown’s Branding and Marketing.
While we’re on the subject of marketing gurus…no aspiring marketer should be without the Seth Godin Action Figure. Now with built-in BrandOMatic © and PurplePower ©. Via the man himself.
Use Hey!Spread to upload several videos at once.
Digital Perspective asks: What kind of tech user are you? And then links to ways to find out. Say hello to an omnivore (according to this Pew Internet quiz).
The rise of open-source mega-universities. “The world’s top universities have come late to the world of online education, but they’re arriving at last, creating an all-you-can eat online buffet of information. And mostly, they are giving it away.”
All the presidents’ blogs. Bob Johnson updates his list of college and university presidents who blog. There are 32 in all.
OK, folks. Sudafed’s wearing off. Time to go.
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Now playing: Cat Power – Lord, Help The Poor & Needy
via FoxyTunes
Rice University‘s website has a new look as of Dec. 1.
According to the official announcement, the new look is “designed to improve usability, highlight key news items and more closely align with the university’s identity guidelines.” The new look doesn’t differ much from Rice’s old site. It’s more evolutionary than revolutionary. But that’s not a bad thing. They’ve kept some of the features from the old site in the updated version and they’ve made it cleaner and easier to navigate. Nice job.
Via Karine Joly/collegewebeditor.com.
