The U's social networking link page has launched! University units on all campuses are invited to submit their official social networking site links. Over 30 units responded to our initial invitation and we'd like to add more.

To be considered for inclusion on the link page, your social networking site:

• should be your unit's official page (not a page run by a student), and
• should conform to the social networking guidelines

A set of layered Photoshop files are now available from the Images Library (login required). These files can be customized for use as your profile image on many social networking sites.

Please send your link submissions to University Relations and consider adding a link to the Social Networking page on your Web sites.

Posted by Kathy Jensen at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems that no matter what type of organization you are in, the digital age keeps you on your toes.

I recently read an article in Advertising Age called "Coca-Cola's Biggest Social-Media Push Yet." Coke is sending three brand ambassadors around the world on a 275,000-mile trek. Their journey will be tracked on a Web site and various major social networks.

Why? To drive good public relations for the company into the global economy. True, Coke is about a strong a brand as there is. Right? So, it made me think... If Coke is investing thousands of dollars to mimic the "Amazing Race," shouldn't this be a trigger to those of us who don't have a brand worth $58 billion?

The good news is I believe the University of Minnesota is taking steps in the right direction. How so?

Driven to Discover
The incredible successfulness of this initiative demonstrates the importance of sharing the greatness of the University's research, education, and outreach efforts with local, state, and global communities.

Integrated marketing
Like Coca-Cola, the University has forged many successful partnerships over the years to ensure resources are used wisely, cost efficiencies are gained, and most importantly, the brightest and most brilliant ideas bubble to the top.

Social networking guidelines
The University recently released its social networking guidelines as a starting point for how to best leverage the emerging media.

If you haven't had a chance to read the new social networking guidelines, I strongly urge you to. For the past few months, significant effort was focused on how to best help colleges/departments/units use social networking tools as well deliver curriculum while ensuring students intellectual property is protected.

Developing the guidelines is only the beginning for those of us at the University. Now, we should be asking ourselves the same questions Coke asked:

How does social networking fit into our communication strategies?
Coke assembled a multi-disciplinary team between communications, public relations, and marketing to develop its strategy.

Which of the social networking sites or tools best meet our business needs?
Coke has identified several sites including Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and more. Since it's a global company I would venture it will also be using some of the other global main social channels such as China's QZone.

What measurement tools will be used to identify success?
Coke has indicated it will track media impressions, followers as well as page views.

The University of Minnesota guidelines simply highlight important subjects to consider such as legal ramifications, copyright infringement, terms of service, and more. Think of the guidelines as the base map for developing successful communications strategy. It's up to you to decide how far and high around the world you want to go.

Posted by Jennie Lijewski at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although none of us were fortunate enough to attend the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) summit in October, High Point Creative pointed out three of their big takeaways, specific to the From and Subject fields.

Much of the summit appears to have been focused on social media. You can find presentations on MIMA's For [Summit] Attendees page.

Posted by Peter Wiringa at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Social networking sites rank 13 out of 15 for reaching prospective students. Woa. Is that right? Yup.

Here's an excerpt from the article:
"Last month at NACAC, I got my hands on a copy of the Hobsons Domestic Research Report 2009-2010. It's a fantastic report that every admissions professional should get their hands on, but one set of numbers specifically stood out to me. Hobsons asked sophomores, juniors and seniors about their perceptions of the credibility of college search tools. All you social media cool kids may find the results surprising."
Read more on social network statistics.

Posted by Jennie Lijewski at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

University Relations is gathering links to official social networking pages developed by University colleges, departments, centers, and units. Our goal is to provide a single Web page, like a directory, that will allow our visitors to quickly find and link to all the great social networking pages that the U has to offer.

If your unit has developed an official social networking page, please send the name of the page and the link to webdepot@umn.edu. We will publish this social networking directory page (we're working out just where) and link to it from the newly created social networking standards page on the eCommunication Standards site here: http://www.webdepot.umn.edu/social_guidelines.php

Posted by Kathy Jensen at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just returned from the New Media Research Breakfast hosted by the Institute for New Media Studies. Yoshikazu Suzuki, a School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate student, shared his perspective on "Seeing the Internet Through the Eyes of a Young Scholar." To simply state -- IT WAS GREAT!

One of the most intriguing parts of his presentation was this video. It is a MUST SEE if you think about social networking, dabble in it online, or consider it one of your main food groups.

Take a moment to look at the Social Media Revolution video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVXKI506w-E

Some of the figures are mind-blowing and definitely started my brain to head into overdrive. I'd love to know what you think about the video. Please feel free to comment.

The other extremely mind-blowing topic Yoshi spoke about was Japan's fascination with anime. He shared one example of how computer-generated music spurred real musicians to cover the songs and it resulted in a concert of 50,000+. In addition, Yoshi noted how there's a game in Japan where people develop relationships with avatars and questioned if that could be considered "true love."

While I was sitting there, I couldn't help but ponder the future of interpersonal relationships in the workplace. If the basis of relationships is not with "real" people in face-to-face situations, how will tomorrow's generation deal with conflict resolution, learn to empathize, and compromise with their colleagues?

A lot to think about.

Posted by Jennie Lijewski at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After reading, exploring, consulting, and meeting (a lot!), we've developed a set of guidelines for University units that want to use social networking as part of their electronic communications strategy.

The guidelines can be found here: Social Networking Guidelines. These guidelines should be considered a moving target as social networking evolves, new opportunities arise, and old systems die.

We are not quite finished with the image component related to the guidelines. We will offer a customizable group of graphics for use with social networking profiles and pages. These graphics, intended for University units and not for personal use, will help users quickly identify your unit and the University. The graphic on the right gives you an idea of some of the designs we're exploring.

As always, please let us know if you have questions about the guidelines or have ideas for improvement. We want to hear your input!

Posted by Kathy Jensen at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a quick note to let you know we are very close to completing the Social Networking Guidelines. We are waiting for a few final comments from the fantastic folks in OGC and then it should be good to go.

In the meantime, I hope you will read this great article by Jakob Nielsen:
Social Media Outsourcing Can Be Risky--Hosting a company's content and services on 3rd-party social networking sites involves both tactical risks (lower usability) and strategic risks (less user loyalty).

Finally, don't forget to mark your calendars for the 2009 New Media Research @ UMN on Sept. 18. Should be a great event!

Posted by Jennie Lijewski at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Writing for the Web is a different beast. Those of us who live, breathe, eat, and sleep electronic communications must respect the differences and help others who are not as familiar with the online world.

For some great ideas on how to tame the beast and provide sharp, attention-grabbing content, check out "20 tips for writing for the web."

~Jennie

P.S I'd love to know if you think Web should be capped. Is it Web or web? Thoughts?

Posted by Jennie Lijewski at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The investigation into guidelines for use of social networking sites by University units is moving along. One of the items we're discussing is a definition of "social networking." We all agree that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace obviously fit the criteria. But what about a listserv or a forum discussion? Does the ability to Digg a site have anything to do with social networking?

Webster's defines social networking as " the use of a website to connect with people who share personal or professional interests, place of origin, education at a particular school, etc." This definition limits social networking to Web sites, so a listserv would not qualify.

I recently came across a page on the Chartered Institute of Public Relations site for social media guidlines. Listservs are not mentioned in these guidelines either, but content sharing sites, such as flickr and You Tube are. So, would that mean that NetFiles would be considered a social networking site for the U of M? It doesn't seem likely. Perhaps we need to stipulate that a social networking site be interactive, not passive.

If you have any ideas that may help us define social networking, please comment on this entry or send them my way.

I thought I'd list a few of the other articles I've found about social networking, for anyone who might be interested.

• How Higher Ed is Using Facebook Pages
• Social Media Policies and Procedures
• Sample Social Networking Policy
• How Non-profits Can Use Social Media (this one has a lot of great links at the end)

Posted by Kathy Allen at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the past two-plus years, we’ve all noticed the growth in the personal and professional use of social networking sites. Many of us who work in communications, marketing, or electronic publishing fields have set up our own personal accounts on a number of sites. Some University communications professionals have even developed sites for their units, events, or special interest groups.

As University Relations works to create a new branding policy and update the existing WWW Publishing Policy, we are asking some hard questions.

What role does social networking play for any individual unit on the U campus?

How does the use of these sites – the way they look and what they say - portray our image or brand?

When and where do our policies conflict with the terms of service on various social networking sites?

How does social networking fit into a unit’s overall marketing plan and staffing resources?

University Relations is actively researching the terms of service on the most popular social networking sites and will be meeting with a representative from the Office of the General Council to help us interpret these terms along with our policies.

We are asking communications professionals at other universities how they’ve handled social networking on their campus.

We hope to engage our U of M colleagues in our exploring the purposes and goals of social networking sites.

I know that we’re already behind in this realm and that answers probably won’t come as quickly as we’d all like. Keep checking this blog for updates. Also, follow me on Twitter @goldiegopher, where I hope to tweet about things I find along the way in my research. And most certainly, please post your comments on the blog.

- Kathy

Posted by webdepot at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Updates on the ongoing investigation of the use of social networking sites by University units and how the terms of service on these sites work or don't work with the WWW Publishing policy.

Posted by webdepot at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)