NAME:
Booshaka

URL:
http://www.booshaka.com

WHAT IT DOES:
Attaches a point-scoring system to the activity of your Facebook Fans to help you discover your Top Fans through an engagement dashboard.

MY TAKE:
Long time readers will know that I’m a fan of the 90-9-1 rule when it comes to community engagement, so to have a tool that really brings this rule to life is a big deal and something I’ve been waiting for. It’s not perfect yet as it seems to only track month-to-month, but I’m sure in due time, they’ll have a full data dashboard.

The actionable outcomes of having a visualization of your Fan’s engagement will be huge. You’ll be able to identify your trending leaders. You’ll be able to reward the top engaged users every month. You’ll build a game layer ontop of engagement. You’ll be able to…what else? How do you see this being valuable to your work?

SCREEN SHOTS:

Okay, I made up that word, but before our etymologist readers split for the hills, hear me out as to what it means.

When it comes to social media, I’m a data person and every month I run an analytics report to measure what’s working, what’s not working, and the overall growth of a couple Facebook Pages I help manage.

One particular Page has over 20,000 “Likes” on Facebook. A poll or link generates a ton of responses on their Page. If I post that same link on another Page that is 1/10th the size, the response rate is extremely low.

Without “perspectivizing” the data, the smaller Page would probably feel unhappy about the online engagement in comparison to the larger Page. But if we calculate the average level of online engagement per Fan (ALE), we find a different story.

The 20k Fan Page generates a .096 ALE whereas the 2k Fan Page generates a .153 ALE.

Applying an ALE score helps both big and small players really see what’s going on with their accounts.

Here’s how to calculate the ALE of your account…

1. Log into your Facebook Page Insights.
2. Change the date to the date you want to calculate.
3. On the “Overview” page scroll down to “Post Feedback” and record that number.
4. Click on the “Users” page and scroll down to “New Likes.”
5. Toggle “New Likes” to “Total” and hover over the end of the time period and record that number.
6. Divide the “Post Feedback” number by the “Total New Likes” number to determine your Page’s ALE number.

Once you’ve calculated your ALE, please share it in the comments below so we can see a community norm.

With both the DAYTIME #sachat and EVENING #sachat in full swing yesterday, it’s safe to declare Thursday as #sachat day! The topic yesterday was Connecting with Students on Facebook, and once again we set new records for conversing and learning. The conversation produced 581 comments from 87 student affairs professionals!

In case you missed it, below is a quick recap. If you haven’t yet participated in an #sachat, learn more here.

Full Transcripts
DAYTIME:
View as webpage
Download as PDF
EVENING:
*There was a tech error with the EVENING transcript. We’re working on getting the transcript.

Last Night’s Top Contributers
@edcabellon
@cindykane
@reyjunco
@debrasanborn
@pereirap80
@thestacyface
@brockter
@lvanlysal
@gballingerjr
@ediemccracken

Here’s to another successful #sachat. See you all next week! In the meantime, make sure to join our Facebook Page.

Facebook Insights is an application available to all page
administrators.  It measures
exposure, actions, and behavior related to your page.  Insights gives you almost instant data––it is updated 12
hours after the end of each day. 
Available data includes: geographic and demographic information about
your fan base, a record of interactions (comments, wall posts, photo/video
views, “likes”), and the growth of your fan base over time.  All of this information is displayed in
the Fan Dashboard, and most of it can also be downloaded into a spreadsheet so
you can use the data in any way you see fit.

In Practice: How UW–Milwaukee University Housing Uses
Our Facebook Page

I created our Facebook Page
in July 2009.  After the first week of school, we were hovering under 100
fans.  Next, I harnessed the
influence of the Neighborhood Housing Office, who at that time had over 200
fans of their Facebook Page. 
Within two days of suggesting our page to all of their fans, we had over
200 fans as well.  By this point I
felt that our page had enough content and fan support/interaction to go
public.  So, when we launched our
new website on September 10, I included a prominent link to our Facebook Page
on the homepage.  Since then, our
fan base has grown at a modest pace of 3 pans per day, which should put us over
400 fans by the end of this semester. 
Facebook Insights gives me the tools to track this data easily,
especially if I take note of the dates when actions with potential impact on
our fan base occur (other page suggestions, new advertising strategy).

By downloading the Fan Demographic data from Insights, I can
see that 75% of our fans are between the age of 18-24 and 5% are 13-17 years
old.  So, it’s likely that 80% of
our fans are current or prospective students.  The remaining fans are likely staff members and
parents/family members –– yes, we have had a parent become an active fan of our
page!

Knowing who our fans are is not enough; to truly assess our
Facebook activities, I need to know if students are interacting with our
content.  From the Fan Interaction
data set, I can report on the number of total interactions with our content
(74), average number of interactions per post (1), total photo views (1711),
video plays (170), and comments on our content (30).  Astonishingly, our Facebook Page has had 3,875 page views
from 1,234 visitors since its creation. Soon, Insights will also allow page
administrators to see the Click Through Rate and Engagement Rate, which will
provide a clearer picture of how many fans are responding to your content.

Do you use Facebook Insights for assessment or reporting?  How have you used the data?

This summer I created our department's Facebook Page and Twitter account.
Since then, other offices on campus have asked me for advice on Page
creation, gaining departmental buy-in, and increasing student
interaction. Although I can talk for hours about the intricacies and
possibilities of social networking, a beginner really only needs to
learn three simple steps. If you're unaware of the difference between
Pages and groups, learn more here.

Three Keys to a Successful Facebook Page:

1. Keep administration in the loop. At the very least, make
   sure your direct supervisor knows you're creating the page. If you need
   data to justify Facebook participation, check out this presentation by Dr. Rey Junco about Facebook and student engagement. If you face resistance to social networking, try these 7 Creative Ways to Introduce Social Media to Your Team. Also, many of the bloggers on this site can offer anecdotal information about Facebook use on their campus
2. Be intentional when choosing Page administrators. If
   you're in the position to have access to more than one potential
   administrator, make sure you have a mix of people that (1) have
   knowledge about your department, (2) understand the how-to's of
   Facebook, and (3) have lots of Facebook friends on your campus (or in
   your target audience).
3. Add content, THEN advertise. Too often staff/students get
   very excited about a new social networking opportunity and want to
   advertise it to the public right away. I would recommend taking a few
   weeks or months to build content (complete your profile information,
   add photos and videos, post status updates, etc). If you followed Step 2 and used your well-connect administrators to suggest fans of your
   page, word-of-mouth should already have garnered some fan interactions.
   Only when your page looks like something that would entice student to
   come back should you consider advertising it in official publications.
   When you make the decision to do this, take any opportunity you can to
   make your social networking presence legitimate. For example, we
   provide links to our Facebook Page and twitter account on our
   department's homepage.

These three steps should get you started. From here, your
interactions should lead you to develop your Page in the manner that
best serves your population.

I had the pleasure of joining our “Facebook and Orientation” Webinar with Jennifer Sherry of Virginia Commonwealth and Beth Oakley with University of Windsor. While my colleagues shared how Facebook can be utilized at the university and department level to communicate and engage students, I shared the use of Facebook in a first-year seminar for community building and networking within a specific program. 

Much of my campus time is spent coordinating a scholarship program that enrolls 100 new students each year (I should be reading applications right now). These students have long been Facebook users, as I shared here. Inspired by Tania Dudina over at our Student Leader Blog, I took advantage of that Facebook comfort and created a social networking assignment for the course last fall.

To introduce the topic, I shared my own social networks and links for our program Facebook accounts, a group and a profile. This video explanation of social networks was helpful and moved the emphasis beyond Facebook privacy settings to the actual functions of a social network.

Social Networking Assignment
1. Identify and join a new social network. Try Facebook, if not already a member (98% were Facebook users).

• A list of networks is available here.
• Upon creating your new social network profile, identify 5 new friends or links. Make a screenshot of your new network homepage, save as a jpg, attach, and submit via email.

2. Now that you are on Facebook, locate an alumni/ae of the program with whom to link.

• Interview your new alumni link regarding their advice for first-year students, favorite memories, motivational quotes or career choices.
• Create a PowerPoint slide of your alumni interview highlights. Submit it as an email attachment.

Response to this assignment was favorable and students researched a variety of creative networks. Many of our alumni are new Facebook users and enjoyed the opportunity to link back with the program. Next fall we will include the alumni assignment and may introduce blogging and wikis. We’ll see where it takes us.

If there was anything else that I mentioned during the webinar that I have forgotten here, just let me know. Glad that you could join us for the conversation!

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.

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?

 

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?

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?