For some perhaps a simple introduction to these topics is the first step in embracing these technologies, and perhaps they may start utilizing these technologies on your college campus.

Twitter is the hottest new tool in the web 2.0 spectrum right now, but how does it work? and why would I ever want to use it??

I think Jon Stewart asks this question best in a recent episode of the daily show

The Network page can be a very powerful tool, but the Facebook interface does not allow the Network page to reach it’s full potential.  The reason?  The only way to access your network is by clicking the network link at the top of the page.


It doesn’t really jump out at you.   I think it would be a lot more effective if the News Feed dedicated a portion of the page to list Network Activity.

So what does the Network Page do?

• The Networks page lists
• Shows all the upcoming events in your network.
• Shows all the recently posted items in your network.
• Shows all the recently active groups among members of your network.
• Shows all the items in your networks marketplace
• Shows network statistics such as top music, movies, and Interests, TV shows, Books, and also displays percentages such as sex, political views, and relationship status
  .
• Shows nearby Networks
• Provides a discussion board and a wall.

So what can I do with all this?

Let’s start with the groups. 

While searching through the active groups in your network you may stumble upon one titled Fall 2007 Freshmen, or something of the sort.  This is a great place to promote, and Recruit.  Tom recently posted a blog discussing this The Strange Power of the Go Getter Freshmen.

There may be other great active groups in your network you can promote with.  Take a look, just don’t over advertise, because nobody likes spam, and overuse of these groups will begin to look like spam.

Let’s move on to the people in your network. 

Near the top of the Network page six random members of your network will be displayed.  Above these six members will display how many people are in your network, and a couple links to search or browse within your network.  I don’t see much use with the browse feature, as it only displays ten random people in your network.

Click the search link, and then continue on and click the advanced link.  I’m sure you have seen the advanced page before, but have you ever used it for student affairs networking?  The advanced search page allows you to search within every portion of a Facebook profile.  From the basic info to contact info, personal info, education info, and work info.  If you are looking for any particular characteristic to promote, or recruit  from you can easily search it from here.

Have you ever wondered which staff and faculty members have signed up for Facebook?  Well it’s fairly easy to find out.  Scroll down till you see education info, and in the school status drop down menu you will see staff, and faculty.  select whichever one you would like to search, and click the advanced search button at the bottom of the page

What do your students like to do? what are their interests?  Sounds like you need to put out another survey.  No not at all, Facebook already did the Assessment for you!!  Check the Network Statistics page and you may find what you are looking for.  The best part is you can click each particular interest and get a list of the people who have added that interest to their profile.

How can you use this?  Look at each category, is there something that jumps out at you that you can create an event about?  perhaps if there is a particular type of music that is popular you can have a dance focusing on that type of music.  Maybe under interests you see a sport such as ultimate frisbee, why not host a tournament.  Look under the movies category, why not play one of the top movies for your students?  Be creative, and you can put together a great event.

Does anyone else have any networking, promotional or recruiting tips or tricks that they use with Facebook?

Since the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, many schools are trying to get an emergency contact system in place.  What better method than text messaging.  Individuals usually carry their cell phones around with them, and a text message can deliver an immediate detailed message.

Many companies offer features that allow organizations, and clubs on a college campus to sent out updates, announce meetings, or advertise upcoming events.

This comparison analysis will compare and contrast some of the top text messaging services.

The Services

E2Campus

Costs $1 per user per year, is a good deal for smaller
campuses, but can get pricey with a large population.

Offers unlimited groups. Which can include emergencies, events, sports teams, and can even
include different campuses of a college.

Allows for unlimited group admins

Access to the E2Campus application is available from your
PC, mobile phone, or a PDA

 
Informz

Has a one time setup fee of $300

Annual Licensing fee is $2,000

Text messages can be purchased in blocks, and range between
6 and 8 cents depending on how many blocks you purchase.

With all the setup fees this product can get pricey, It may
be efficient for a larger campus to afford this, but may be way out of the
budget of a smaller school.

Gives you the option to purchase a dedicated short code for
$14,000 a year, which means you will get your own 5 digit number to be
texted.

For $1200 a month you can purchase a custom vanity code, which
allows you to chose a short code so it is easier to remember.

Mobile Campus

Offers a free service, but will spam you with text message
advertisements which will burn out the medium very quickly, and may result in
negative effect on text message alerts from your students.

Jyngle

Offers two services.  The Standard "Free" service is designed for smaller groups.  The standard service does have a banner at the bottom of the text which says"Powered by Jyngle".  This banner is designed to spread the word of the service, but a representative
at Jyngle informs me that it may be used for ad space in the future.  Still for being free I would not complain about the tiny ad at the bottom of the message.

The second service Jyngle offers is the Enterprise service.  This is a pay per message service, and does not contain the banner at the bottom of the message.  The rates for this service are $0.03 per voice message and $0.06 per SMS.  Jyngle offers the Enterprise Service to schools for free for emergency use.

Pricing Comparison

This chart compares pricing of the four services.

This chart compares each service prices based on the size of a student population.  Note Informz block pricing is based upon 10 texts per student.

There are other services available which I was unable to acquire the pricing for.  Some of these include

Rave

clearTXT

PromoTXT

If you have any experiences dealing with any of the vendors mentioned, or any vendor not listed above please share them.

I know what it is like attending a small school in a small town.  In a small town you can have large turnouts to multiple events each week.  No you don’t have to reread that, I said we would get large turnouts and we would put on at least 2 events weekly.

Of course not all of our events turn out to be a hit, but you can’t let that get you down.  In a small campus environment with a minimal budget you have to learn to accept that some events aren’t going to draw the attendance you hoped for.

Now you might ask, how can I pack my schedule full of quality events without spending the entire clubs budget in the first month? 

Creativity and “homegrown” events have been the backbone of our activities board at SUNY Cobleskill.  Creating your own events such as game shows, and theme nights is a very affordable way to pack your schedule.  Put a lot of thought into your homegrown events, they won’t work if you throw them together at the last minute.

SUNY Cobleskill won a national award at the 2007 APCA Nationals in Atlanta Georgia for a homegrown event called “Big Man On Campus”.  This event was modeled after “The Apprentice”, and took many hours of just sitting down and talking out the details with other students, and our advisor.  I would say it was worth the time we put into it, we put on a quality event which won a national award, all for a fairly cheap price.

I would have to say one of our biggest budget saviors would have to be APCA, The Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities.  We get Most if not all of our stage shows from APCA.  For those of you who do not already know what APCA is, it is an organization that promotes quality yet affordable programming for campuses.

Don’t expect your numbers to jump up instantly, your activities board needs to build a reputation among your students.  Cheap promotion is another hurdle you may have to overcome before you have a successful calendar of events. 

With your budget you can’t exactly have sky writers promote your campuses events, so you have to come up with creative ways to get your name out there.  There are plenty of blogs out there that you can get cheap promotion ideas from

http://swiftkick.typepad.com/activities_affairs/marketing/index.html

It is not impossible to pack your house with whatever budget you have, you may just have to be a little more creative with the way you plan your events.