Social Media @ UNI

Social Media Blog Archive

Disruptions: Social Media Images Form a New Language Online

Photos, once slices of a moment in the past — sunsets, meetings with friends, the family vacation — are fast becoming an entirely new type of dialogue. The cutting-edge crowd is learning that communicating with a simple image, be it a picture of what’s for dinner or a street sign that slyly indicates to a friend, “Hey, I’m waiting for you,” is easier than bothering with words, even in a world of hyper-abbreviated Twitter posts and texts.  NY Times

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Boston Police Schooled us all on social media

Commissioner Davis and Public Information Chief Cheryl Fiandaca, who headed up Boston PD's social media efforts, accomplished what no police department has done before: led conversation with citizens in a time of crisis. Mashable.com

Monday, April 22, 2013

What Triggers Universities' Emergency Social Media Response Systems?

The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University received separate bomb threats Friday morning, leading the schools to send out messages to evacuate campus buildings via text, email, Facebook and Twitter. Thankfully, both instances were resolved — no bombs were found and regular schedules resumed. But it got us wondering: What triggers universities to send these alert messages out?   Mashable

Friday, September 14, 2012

How to Handle Social Media Comments

How do you handle the tough ones — the comments made in anger, the posting that doesn’t quite violate terms of service or the diatribe littered with poor punctuation and no clear direction? As with anything else in social media, it helps to have a plan. Patrick Powers

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

How Colleges Can Control Their Social Media Message

With the amount of social media pumping out of each school, how are institutions able to control their message? As social media evolves into this means of survival, how can colleges make sure they’re sending the right message -- a message that can help them recruit top tier students and stay connected to their audience? Bostinno

Monday, July 16, 2012

5 Lessons from Penn State’s Social Media Crisis Communications Fail

Looking at it from a social media standpoint (being a social media crisis manager and all!), there are so many actions and strategies Penn State could have – and should have – put into place that would have helped to cushion their fall.  Melissa Agnes Crisis Management

Monday, June 25, 2012

Eight Ways Your Employee Social-Media Policy May Violate Federal Law

The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Lafe Solomon, gave us direct guidance on how to write a legal social-media policy for our employees. Unfortunately for us, it turns out that he thinks that most all of our current social media policies are illegal. And while Lafe's views aren't necessarily the law, he is the General Counsel of the NLRB, and at the very least we should all probably scurry back to our current social media policies to see how they are impacted by his advice. Ad Age

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

University’s social media crackdown draws major online backlash

A Kentucky university is aggressively fighting parody and criticism of school officials on Twitter and other social media sites, which students and free-speech advocates say is a constitutionally questionable attempt to silence any negative comments.   eCampus News

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

University of Minnesota defends disciplining student for Facebook comments

At issue in the case: Whether universities have a right to discipline students for online comments made from off-campus computers. The Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments Feb. 8 about whether a former University of Minnesota mortuary science student had a constitutional right to free speech when she posted remarks about her lab cadaver on her Facebook page.   eCampus News

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Google+ is Not a Social Network, but Facebook Might Still be in Trouble

Like most of the Internet Giant’s social networking efforts, the reception of Google Plus has been up and down. After a long-awaited debut and a surprisingly positive initial reaction, the smoke is clearing away to reveal a growing nugget of doubt. After all, compared to Facebook, Plus is a ghost town. But wait, should we even be comparing the two? A closer look indicates Google has something different — and potentially way more powerful — up its sleeve.    CMS Wire

Thursday, December 1, 2011

How Would You Grade Penn State's Use of Social Media in Crisis?

Penn State's storied football program is reeling under allegations of sexual abuse by a former coach. Several have been implicated in this mess including the athletic director and business manager. Mike Greenberg ("Mike and Mike" on ESPN) called this the "worst crisis in college sports...ever" on his Tuesday morning radio show. How are they handling the crisis via social media?   Social Media Today

Friday, November 18, 2011

The Brand Pages Faceoff: Google+ vs. Facebook

Last week Google+ introduced brand pages, an almost exact match for Facebook Pages. While Google now claims that Google+ is not a competitor to Facebook, the Pages products are so similar that they are bound to go head-to-head. Brands are going to end up getting more value out of one or the other.  ReadWriteWeb

Monday, November 14, 2011

Post After Hours to Get The Most Out of Your Facebook Posts

Raise your hand if you're a brand marketer who thinks posting to Facebook during "norma" business hours is the way to go? It's ok if you have your hand raised because you're not alone. However, you would also be wrong as a new study reveals that the best time to post a branded message to Facebook is in fact AFTER "normal" business hours.   Social Media Today

Monday, November 14, 2011

Teen Girls Twice as Likely as Boys to Tweet

Teens have some of the highest social networking penetration of any age group. eMarketer estimates that 81% of internet users ages 12 to 17 will use social networks at least monthly this year. Pew Internet & American Life Project found in July that 16% of online teens used Twitter, doubling the 8% figure found in September 2009. Teen girls were more than twice as likely as boys to use the microblogging service, at 22% vs. 10% of the respective populations.  eMarketer

Monday, November 14, 2011

What Google+ REALLY Means for Higher Ed

With the launch of Pages earlier this week, many colleges and universities are scrambling to set up their institution’s presence on Google+. Browsing the nearly 200 institution pages established thus far, I found a mix of empty and flush pages, the majority of which appeared to me to be followed mostly by higher ed industry professionals, not institution stakeholders.  While the land grab is to be expected, it’s important to ask are we just being cutting edge for the sake of it, or is there real potential with the platform?   Higher Ed Live

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Study: Text, Imaged-Based Posts Work Best For Facebook Mobile Pages

How are people actually using Facebook on mobile devices, and how are they interacting with brand pages in particular? A new study by social media marketing firm Vitrue found that text and image-based posts on Facebook brand pages in mobile drew the highest engagement levels, drawing 21.5% and 20.4% of "Likes."   Online Media Daily

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

6 Best Practices for Universities Embracing Social Media

For universities, deciding to use social media is a no-brainer.  With so many key populations embracing social media, universities almost have no choice but to integrate these platforms into their marketing and communications plans.   Mashable

Monday, November 7, 2011

How colleges use, misuse social media to reach students

For universities competing to attract top students, it's no longer enough to have a glossy brochure and a sleek website. Schools like Johns Hopkins are reaching out to engage with applicants on Facebook and Twitter. They're also finding that a robust social media campaign, along with such creative features as student-run blogs, can lure prospective students while a stale online presence can turn them off.   CNN

Monday, November 7, 2011

Southern Illinois University criticized for removing Facebook comments

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is facing questions and criticism over its decision on Friday to remove from its Facebook page comments about the strike by faculty members at the institution.     Inside Higher Ed

Monday, November 7, 2011

65% of online adults use social networking sites

Fully 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% one year ago. This marks the first time in Pew Internet surveys that 50% of all adults use social networking sites.   Pew Internet Life

Saturday, November 5, 2011

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