The Student Affairs Blog

Facebook Page or Facebook Group?

What's the best way to represent your student club/organization or school department on Facebook?

Due to the number of questions received about this topic, I was about to write up my own analysis, but figured I should check with my blogging pals first. Sure enough Leigh Householder of Advergirl put together a nice post for businesses that is easily translated to Student Affairs. Here is a full repost:

There are a lot of choices – groups, pages, causes, fans, friends. And, none of the which and the why seems terribly clear.

To make it simple: There is one main choice. And, then a few other important options.

First pick: Page or group or both

Page
Who can create it: An official representative of the real public figure, artist, brand or organization that the page is for

Why page?

•     First up, pages are indexed on Google. A nice little add to your integrated social SEO strategy
•     Allows you to connect with an unlimited number of fans (personal profiles & groups support up to 5000 friends)
•     You can send messages to all your fans
•     You can use rich media and leverage Facebook apps (super customizable)

Why not page?

•     Little of the new content or activity you post is actually fed to your profile new feeds (the most visible? New fans. New photos or video uploaded by fans)
•     Messages to fans don’t go into their inbox; rather, they’re delivered as an “update,” which fewer people see.
•     Unlike being an administrator of some non-FB communities (like blogs or wikis),there’s no automated way to moderate activity. You have to manually check for new links, videos, etc.

Group:
Who can create it: Anyone (on any topic)

Why groups?

•     Most importantly, you can message all members and the notice shows up right in their inbox for maximum attention
•     All activities are picked up in the feed – posts, discussion, photos, etc., which provides a lot more visibility
•     Tend to be more informal, which can, in itself, feel more social
•     Lots of control over who to involve. There are three different types of groups: Open (anyone can join); Closed (the group owner/admins have to approve all members); Secret (only the members and invitees know the group even exists).

Why not groups:

•     There’s a 5000 fan limit for messaging. More people can choose to be fans of your group, but you won’t be able to directly contact them
•     You can’t add apps directly to a group
•     Customization is limited
•     Unlike being an administrator of some non-FB communities (like blogs or wikis),there’s no automated way to moderate activity. You have to manually check for new links, videos, etc.
•     Word is, these groups are also very tricky to delete (Editor Comment - Only way to delete a group is to ask everyone to leave the group, then it just closes. There is no delete button)
  

Then add:

•     Fan: both these pages allow administrators to turn on a fan function. Allowing fans lets your organization rack up contacts (just like a personal profile allows you to add friends)
•     Cause: Want to raise money, enable supporters to raise money, win volunteers, etc? Facebook’s new action-based app is Causes. It’s a good add for a group or page strategy. But, because it requires users to add an application, it’s definitely not a standalone.

Quick update in response to an offline discussion:

Q: What's the difference between a profile and a page?
A: Short answer: a profile is for people; a page is for non-people (or super people, i.e. celebs). Profiles are the basic building blocks of FB. They represent its millions of members. In a longer answer, I'd also tell you that pages allow a lot more customization and flexibility ... but, I think this whole person vs. nonperson thing gives you the talking point most people need.

How to Successfully Create a Digital Web Ambassador for Your College

As discussed many times on this blog and countless other blogs around the web, colleges need to be more active on social networking sites to engage new, current and former students. Not just the college as a whole, but individual departments within the college can benefit by having a web presence.

Often times the first question is whether to operate an account with a personal name so it looks more real, or use a school/department name so it looks more official?

Experimenting is happening both ways with various results. Here are two examples I’ve followed that might help your school/department develop a web presence.


The Personal Account:

Art Esposito is an academic advisor at VCU and has a personal Facebook account that he uses to engage his advisees. A quick browse through his profile and you can see him mixing personal and business contexts in an effective way.

He does state upfront his intentions with using Facebook for advising. It may not be needed down the road as advising on Facebook becomes the norm, but for now it’s good so students feel more comfortable engaging you with some predefined intentions that can dispel any worries they have in befriending you.

Remember to mix in personal information from time to time so it is not just business all the time. Otherwise it makes you seem stale and robotic. Use your best judgement as to what personal information to share. A rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t share it in the classroom with close students, don’t share it online.

Art currently has 855 followers on Facebook and through his use of posting videos, blogs, and links among many other tools he is effectively utilizing his personal account to be a better advisor.

The challenge with a personal account is what if Art leaves his job, switches positions, or gets a spot on Oprah’s show and becomes world famous as Art the Advisor? What happens to everything he’s built up on his account?


The School/Department Account:

Schools are not so good at creating a digital web presence that feels natural to both the school and the student, but it can be done. To find a good example, I had to turn to the corporate world.

The Chicago Tribune created a digital web presence called ColonelTribune. The first reaction of many, myself included, was that this was going to be lame. But CT fought back and through an amazing mix of persona building and valuable content, CT has become an effective PR tool.

I follow CT on twitter and am impressed at the Tribs ability to give a voice and personality to their fictitious character. Most of CT’s updates are links to articles on the Trib’s website, but ask CT a question and he’ll respond, challenge his thinking and he’ll respond. All of it builds up to a persona that is real enough to not dismiss as fake and valuable enough to want to follow.

The challenge with a fake persona is...well...it's still fake. Though I enjoy CT, I don’t feel as connected to him as I do Art and relationships go a long way in education.

If you aren’t already doing so, I think every school/department should experiment, like Art and CT, with using social media to engage new, current and former students.

What other examples are there of schools/departments effectively using a digital web ambassador?

Should I have a Facebook Account for my Class?

 

Once upon a time, Facebook used to be a student only playground as it was a closed system. But ever since Facebook opened up to allow anyone and their cat to have an account, well maybe not their cat as it's hard to be a fake person with a fake name on Facebook, many academic professionals have been signing up and experimenting with using Facebook as an academic tool.

 

   

Recently I read an article about how a teacher from the University of Maryland uses Facebook to get in touch with her students. She explained that with everyone on Facebook it was much easier to remember names and faces. Since Facebook is not a school controlled site it kind of sets an atmosphere of neutral grounds, allowing the students to experience a more casual interaction with teachers, enabling them to be more open with their communication. Due to the fluidity of personal information shared back and forth on Facebook, a certain level of familiarity is developed quicker than could be during precious classroom time.    

 

Not everyone is in agreement. There are many teachers that do not see a benefit in using Facebook for their class, some say there’s no classroom value in it and that it might even be an avenue for accessing inappropriate material, others suggest that it only adds to the many distractions in class. Many school districts agree and block these sites from school computers. Some unfortunate byproducts occur from this however; faculty computers are also blocked, students discover proxy sites, IT hires more personnel to block proxy sites, students access the sites from their cell phones. 

 

 

The article concludes with saying, Facebook can be an excellent virtual medium for building and maintaining real world social connections within a class, but only when it’s used informally and everyone understands its purpose and limits. 

 

 

Where do you stand on the issue? Do you use Facebook in your job formally or informally? Are you worried about TMI with your students? Do you separate your personal and professional online profiles?

 

 

Social Network Identity 101: Lesson Plan

Updating a presentation on social networks for my first-year seminar is my focus this week.  In past years, Facebook has been the primary topic and I have posted about it here. This year I will add a top-10 list of online identity considerations from technology/online media guru Chris Pirillo.

1.   It goes on your permanent record. Forever.
2.   Be mindful of your privacy.
3.   Don't trust implicitly.
4.   Own what you do.
5.   Engage. Leave comments.
6.   Be respectful, be respectable, and be respected.
7.   Be yourself.
8.   Watch out for flame wars and name calling.
9.   Learn how to communicate.
10. Remember that your future employer, spouse, and neighbors are all watching.

Do you discuss Social Network Identity with your students?

ChaCha.com and the New Age of Digital Cheating in the Classroom

Classroom cheating has taken a new digital turn. An article about a free cellphone service called ChaCha caught my eye last week. Text any question to 242242 and ChaCha promises to provide the answer to virtually any question within minutes, be it math, science, politics and even directions to the nearest café, they have the answer.  Go ahead try it now!

 

ChaCha has a hired network of 25,000 “friends” to help anyone with any question. Imagine the possibilities, imagine the benefits…imagine the repercussions.  A lot of academics are a bit alarmed that some students might use this new service for cheating in the classroom. ChaCha claims that when they created the service cheating was the last thing on their mind.

It doesn’t really matter what the service is for, I’m pretty sure they only had good intentions, the thing is it can be used for cheating, “digital cheating” that is. So what can be done?  Banning cellphones seems to be out of the question. Most schools have no restriction regarding cellphone use so it’s up to the professors to lay down the law.  A professor at Rowan thinks it’s no big deal, if a student wants to cheat, ChaCha is not the only way, there are what you call conventional cheating methods i.e. cheat sheets, copying from neighbors and the like. But does that mean we’ll let these students use the ChaCha service in class?  Ed Burns a professor from Delaware says otherwise, if the student’s cellphone goes off inside the classroom the student is asked to leave and marked absent for the day.

 

Digital cheating or conventional cheating?  Can you believe this? Students now have a choice!  I agree with the idea that we should not focus on the source of cheating materials, or trying to put a stop in the advancement of technology, but instead make our students learn about classroom integrity, the value of NOT CHEATING. It will be much easier to teach your students not to cheat rather than to employ ways and means of protecting them from cheating temptations.  We should not be alarmed that the number of students who admitted cheating digitally increased some 15%, we should be alarmed that these students had the gall to admit that they cheated.

Digital cheating is not so cool anyway, testing the ChaCha service showed that out of 6 questions it only got 3 correct answers, that’s a 50% accuracy rate.  If I were you and you have racked your brain but still can’t remember the answer, take a guess, guessing it will probably give you a 50% chance that you’ll get the answer right.  What’s cool is you didn’t cheat :)

Statistical Data on the Growth of the 'Class of 2012' Facebook Groups

The idea that new students are orienting themselves on Facebook without institutional guidance is a reality as discussed previously on the Student Affairs blog. Search Facebook for "Class of 2012" and you can see with your own eyes the trend. But we are lacking the hard data such as what percentage of new students join these groups or how influential are these groups. It's an opportunity for interested academic researchers to investigate as I suspect this is not a short term trend.

Through a very simple study, Brad J. Ward from SquaredPeg has been tracking the activity of the Butler Class of 2012 Facebook Group. His three metrics are the # of Members, Wall Posts, and Discussion Posts.

This is only the current screen shot of Brad's data, but you can follow his latest by visiting his Google Spread Sheet.

I would love to see a series of data points like this one for a big enough sampling of 2012 groups so academia can get a better idea of when new students start engaging in these groups.

Can someone start this now or are we too late and needed to start back in January? I suspect the window of opportunity to track the activity is almost closed for this upcoming school year.

It would also be interesting to see when these groups were created. The group page doesn't say the creation date, but one way to get a rough idea of the creation date is to look at when the first comment was made. The first comment on the Butler group was Jan 4th 2008.

Other open questions I have:

1. Should an official of the institution (probably someone within student affairs / admission) create groups for 2013, 14, 15?
2. Will students use the group if it is school sponsored?
3. Are the students who create the groups student leaders in high school? What is their motivation?
4. Are these students willing to work with (or even be hired by) the institution to manage the group?
5. Are institutions willing to give up the control and outsource the work to an incoming freshman?

List of Education Blogs - Alltop.com

Education bloggers are sprinkled like fairy dust throughout the web and often times are not easy to find without clicking on several links leading you through a series of digital twists and turns. Two great resources I use to find the latest education news and to network are Education Alltop and Support Blogging Wikispace. Each site includes blogs written by teachers, staff, students, and administration among others, so I am sure you'll find what you're looking for. Enjoy!

Making Collaborative Work More Efficient

Do you feel there are not enough hours in a day? Working on a committee that's in need of goal reminders? Are you and your grad assistant really on the same page? Is your desk covered in post-it notes of all your "to-dos"?

If so, you're not alone.

Feeling overwhelmed with the quantity of post-it notes that were slowly overtaking my workspace, and recognizing that I needed a clearer way to communicate with my office assistant, I searched for a way to organize daily projects while keeping long-term goals in sight. I knew that I needed something that was easy to access and was incredibly user friendly. Of course, I looked digitally - thanks to advice from Swift Kick.

What did I find? Basecamp.

A free* online tool that makes collaborative work more efficient.

This flexible tool allows for sharing of ideas between users, a calendar of upcoming events or "milestones", a to-do list that allows for items to be checked off (giving a great sense of accomplishment), and so much more! Even when I'm out of the office, I can keep up-to-date with events and track deadlines.

(This tool is free* if you're only using 1 project. With multiple projects, there are different fees associated.)

Here's the current project my assistant and I are sharing: Spring 2008 Activities...a broad reaching topic with many possibilities.

For this project, we use "Milestones" as a calendar of registered events on our campus.

(A great visual to aid in determining when the "busy days" are.)

Beside each event, we list who's responsible as the office contact or who will be attending the event to represent the institution.

Event specifics can also be listed - aiding in risk management and year-end reporting.

With the goal of getting rid of post-it notes (GO GREEN!), all of our to-dos are posted with who is responsible for the task.

When at my computer, I keep the tool open so that to-dos can be added as the thoughts come to me.

We even share messages about the tasks we're working on!

This feature is similar to Email, with the fact that you can attach documents...but, more efficient for collaborative projects in my opinion.

In student activities, much of the work we do is a collaborative effort to provide educational experiences for our students outside of the classroom. Toward this end, it's important that we manage internal projects and "to-dos" of our offices, while coordinating campus-wide initiatives, and communicating upcoming event information to the campus community. Why not find a tool that makes this goal or task easier?

 

This tool is useful within clubs or committees, too! One of our student organizations is setting up a project in Basecamp to plan and implement Relay for Life. All members of the club are signing up as users and will share details about tasks. The organization's use of the tool is in its infancy; however, the time they are saving on meetings has already grown exponentially.

Think of the possibilities of what you could accomplish if you only had more time.

There are never enough hours in a day, and since I haven't quite figured out how to clone myself, this tool provides an organized way to keep all the projects I'm working on in check.

However, it's not the only tool. What tools have you found or use to make collaborative projects easier and more efficient?

Why College Programming Conferences such as APCA and NACA Matter

After my last post about how Bemidji State University is using Sonicbids to book artists for their coffeehouse acts, Nancy Oeswein of Auburn Moon Agency sent me a detailed email outlining why online booking is no substitute for the value of a face-to-face programming conference.

Nancy is a good friend of mine as well as to many student activity advisors and student leaders across the country. The bottom line is she cares. She cares about the artists she represents, she cares about the programming quality at each school, and she cares about the entire college entertainment market. She cares so much that she participates in several boards to discuss the future of student activities.

Online showcasing and online artist booking are hot issues and the debate will continue well past this post because technology is increasing exponentially. Sonicbids is just the start.

I fall on the side of using technology to increase the effectiveness of face-to-face moments, not to replace it. I think technology can go a long way in improving programming conferences, but as for now, I don't think it can, nor should replace the conferences.

Here are several quotes from Nancy's email:

• Conferences provide networking opportunities among student leaders, people who share their passions, people who might have solutions to their problems, people who might hire them.
• Conferences provide hours of educational sessions targeted at their specific needs in all aspects of programming
• The experiential education of participating in the conference process from ed sessions, networking, showcasing, volunteering, co-op buying, building relationships could not be taught in a year of classroom work
• Personal enrichment...I was a student myself in NACA and I remember my conference experiences now 20+ years later....I probably couldn't describe one class I took in any detail.
• Technology is a pale, pale replacement for face to face contact with Artists & Agents.
  
• Every year I am approached by students who tell me I changed their life...thru a conversation, an example, an ed session; I don't think that has ever happened with one I didn't meet face to face.
• The whole point of showcases is to see how Artist engages students live.  As an agent, I can tell you that maybe 5% of my Artist's videos really capture the magic that they create Live.  It's nearly an impossible feat.  And there isn't a week that goes by that I don't hear a student or advisor complain that they had a bad behavioral or performing experience with someone they found on the internet (without benefit of agency screening or what self-repped Artists learn from participating in APCA or NACA conferences).  The opportunity to engage Artists in conversation teaches you a lot about their appropriateness.  I know we spend hours conducting interviews and reference checks and screen hundreds of Artists every year to pick 1 or 2 new ones.  There is so much that goes in to making a good college act beyond who has a friend with access to great professional video equipment.  If a picture is worth a thousand, a video is worth ten thousand, then a live showcase in front of an audience of your peers is worth a million in what it can tell you about that Artist.
• Showcase selection committees typically have years of experience and spend 4 non-stop days pouring thru and evaluating submission materials, that include a wide variety of background and info.   In addition to all the other enrichment of the conference, the students get to see live the fruits of those labors...so much more time effective than spending days pouring over EPKs that haven't been screened by any agency or committee.
  
• Ultimately the fact that this is so much LESS cost effective for Artists will eventually drive up costs significantly to schools or bankrupt most Agencies & artists.
• CO-OP BUYING saves schools thousands every year. It's never been done effectively on-line.
• My company has done 15,000+ shows on college campuses in 14 years, plus everyone here was a student and/or advisor in NACA/APCA before becoming an agent....we have screened and referenced checked and spend hundreds of hours preparing and educating our Artists about the road, and how to be both appropriate and to ensure that they are engaging on college campuses...our Artists are more accountable for their actions with the power of an agency that is providing their livelihood....etc. etc.....I don't think anyone could possibly question that we have something to teach students every day about selecting, promoting and producing shows.  The relationships students develop with experienced professionals committed to teaching them could not be replaced by a sonic community.
  

Bemidji State University Programming Board uses Sonicbids to find Coffeehouse Acts

The normal way of finding new artists to book is to attend a programming conference, watch several showcases, block book with other schools, and be done.

The programming board at Bemidji State University is trying a new method, well at least new to me. They are using Sonicbids, a sort of online showcase place for talent, to post an open casting call for artists to fill their coffeehouse performances.

Bemidji State University is currently accepting submissions for performances during the Fall 2008 semester. Located in Bemidji, MN and enrolling over 4,500 students, they typically book 2-3 artists for Coffeehouse performances each semester.

Performances will take place in the Lower Union on campus during lunch hours. Local, regional, and touring acoustic acts are welcome to submit for consideration. Specifically, the school in interested in smaller, acoustic alternative rock, indie, folk, R&B and pop acts.

Artists will be compensated for their performances with a negotiable amount ranging from $500-$800, all inclusive. The school will provide a PA system. Past performers include Julie Moffitt, Tyler James, Shevy Smith, and others.

I think this does several things for the artist booking process:

1. Saves the school money and time of going to the conferences.
2. Allows the school to set their budget and have the artist submit interest, instead of the artist setting their fee and the school submitting interest.
3. Better organization and environmentally sound as it is all done electronically.
4. More artists are given a shot at being booked as it is very cheap to use Sonicbids.

I'll contact the Bemidji programming board and ask them to comment on this post to let us know how the process is going. Has anyone else used Sonicbids to book acts?