ACUHO-I News Blog

At first, beer pong and Twitter may seem to be unrelated. But in this story, they get intertwined.

A student affairs pro was in Target, doing what we all do there–probably buying more than he planned– when he noticed a back-to-college display. Of beer pong supplies. Red Solo cups, ping-pong balls, and the table. All that was missing was the beer.  Disgusted, he took a picture, and posted it on Facebook. It was discussed, re-posted, and Tweeted by a colleague of his, Cindy Kane. She called Target out, using their Twitter username, and directed them to a blog post she wrote about it:

She got no response from Target.

Another student affairs pro, Eric Stoller, gave it a try:

No response.

Then Shel Israel, author of Twitterville, a book about business on Twitter, offered to assist Target (hint: REPLY), and Eric Stoller re-tweeted this.

Silence.

This post is how worlds collide; Target, beer pong, social media, and public relations, all coming together for this teachable moment.

As Israel puts it on his blog:

“Social media, it seems to me, is not an app. Nor is it a channel, or an outreach program. It is a communications tool set. The tools are not what is vital to the emerging modern enterprise. The communications is.”

Twitter is about communicating, and that word implies a back-and-forth exchange. Many companies seem to view social media as a way of broadcasting their message, but forget that it’s also a way to interact with consumers. Interaction takes more work but it’s a critical part of the process, and the impressions this makes on consumers can be huge. Obviously, there’s only so much Target can manage over Twitter, but as Kane put it:

“The Target corporation has 29,213 followers so I am quite sure they have a long column of @ Mentions. However, 65 mentions on the same topic should probably be worth noticing, even if over the weekend. This is a great example of why any organization should be monitoring their online brand. One response to my tweet at some point today may have helped to quell some of the dissatisfaction.”

If, as a company, you open a line of communication–such as Twitter–then neglect to respond to comments directed your way, the resulting annoyance is worse than if the Twitter option hadn’t been offered at all.

What communications options do you have for your students to “talk” with you, and how do you monitor these accounts to ensure prompt responses? Are there communications methods you haven’t adopted (or have abandoned) because you felt you couldn’t maintain a “presence”? Let us know.

Online dating sites used to be the purview of middle-aged adults. College-age people relied on the usual young-adult social scene — bars, clubs, parties — to meet.

This is no longer so; Web sites specifically for certain institutions or college students now allow for anonymous flirting, semi-anonymous come-ons, or rambling musings on attraction and rejection. Dating sites allow students to meet others with the same stated aims as theirs — hooking up, relationships, or otherwise. Flirting site allow them to put out feelers to see if the object of a crush might respond in kind. No longer is asking someone out — and risking rejection — the only way to make a flirtatious relationship into something more. Traditional dates faded in popularity years ago, but even then, any relationship required some sort of in-person overture. Now it’s possible to delay or avoid the pain of outright rejection.

Is this a natural progression for digital natives, or are they incapable of forming relationships in-person and making themselves vulnerable in order to do it? Is the situation somewhere between those two extremes? Does it even matter?

Here’s a handy chart to determine which social media tool you should use for specific goals. Based on your experiences, do you find this accurate?

Thanks to CMO.com, a website on maximizing marketing efforts through social media by Omniture, a subsidiary of Adobe.

…that is, the wrong person viewing your Facebook profile (or your profile on another social network).

Faculty, administrators and staff usually try to keep their private and professional lives separate, though that’s very hard when you are, say, a live-in area coordinator.

A faculty member at East Stroudsberg University recently got into hot water for her Facebook postings about her students and class frustrations. The commentary on Inside HigherEd largely derides her comments and the fact that she has a Facebook profile at all. A few pointed out that Facebook sometimes suddenly and quietly changes users’ privacy settings, so users must re-set their limits on who can see their profiles and status. Several commenters on Inside HigherEd display disgust towards social media; one declares Facebook is only for the friendless and exhibitionist. However, for younger faculty and staff, giving up social media entirely might seem somewhere between burdensome and completely unrealistic.

How do you strike a balance? Abandon Facebook? Self-edit your postings? Double-check your privacy settings weekly?

I’m loving the Pink Glove Dance on YouTube. Employees from many areas of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, danced to “Down” by Sean Jean in pink gloves to raise breast cancer awareness. This video makes me happy for many reasons; it’s regular people dancing, they’re all so enthusiastic, and it’s for a great cause.

Note the hospital’s librarians (squee!) gettin’ down at 1:14!

Have you collaborated with your students on a project such as this? Was it good for raising awarness? Tell us about it!