My latest post for Inside Higher Ed gives you a bit of info about the “hot mess” that is the anonymous app – Yik Yak.
Yik Yak is an Anagram for Hot Mess {new #SAtech post at @InsideHigherEd} http://t.co/GWz7JN2wtb #SAchat #AcAdv pic.twitter.com/2Pn3DXK35r
— Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) September 19, 2014
According to Facebook, I joined “The Facebook” on December 4th, 2004. Who knows…it’s probably just a fad…right? I wonder if Facebook will still exist in 10 more years?
Update: Kind of ironic that a change in my privacy settings on Facebook made the embedded video no longer accessible.
I started 2013 off with a digital identity talk at Curry College for their Career Services Conference for Seniors. They were an awesome group! I’ve included the video of my talk and a Storify from the event:
Part of the experience of being a keynote speaker at the Jon C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values is that you get to do an interview with the Character Clearinghouse at Florida State University. The questions from Pamela Crosby, the editor of the site (as well as the Journal of College and Character), were stellar. Here’s an excerpt:
Why should students care about their digital identity?
Students should care about their digital identity for a variety of reasons. As members of a campus community, it is important for students to know that their online actions can have impact. Student Conduct offices are no longer just concerned with what happens in the brick-and-mortar campus spaces. Additionally, most students are pursuing future careers, and higher education is their launch pad. Social media posts can show up in search engine queries. Companies are no longer just looking at your resume. They want to know what you are doing (and saying) online too. Now, that’s more of the punitive side of things. Digital identity is about much more than just worrying about its effects on future employment or conduct violations. Students with a fluent grasp of social media can accelerate their learning, develop meaningful connections with peers, and grow their professional network. What we do online can affect our face-to-face interactions…and vice versa.Why should higher education be concerned about students’ digital identity?
I think that when the original work on “digital natives†and “digital immigrants†first became popular, it caused an educational disconnect. Administrators and staff at institutions seemingly (without a lot of critical discourse) bought the rhetoric that students were digitally savvy. In fact, students are no better at creating and cultivating their digital identity than anyone else. We’re all digital students in the sense that we are constantly learning how to use the social tools while they are constantly evolving. Schools need to be intentional about how they incorporate digital identity development into their educational constructs. Social media are not a trend or a fad that are going to someday evaporate. We need to be proactive with teaching our students how to build their digital identity versus being reactive whenever they post something that we wish hadn’t made it onto the web. Like anything in education, critical conversations about digital identity are essential. It’s like that movie, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,†we have to jump in, create our own digital identity, and educate our students too.
Read the rest of the interview at the Character Clearinghouse site.
In my attempt to be connected to all things related to higher education, I did something that has had interesting ramifications. One day while perusing Facebook, I liked the University of Phoenix page. I figured that it would nice to see what they were up to and didn’t think twice about it.
Well, always remember that what you do on Facebook can come back to you. Seth Odell, a good friend and interactive marketer for Southern New Hampshire University, sent me a text message today. He asked why I was supporting “team Phoenix.” Little did I know that Phoenix has been running a sponsored ad campaign that shows my “like” of their Facebook page on my friend’s feed. Now, it could just be as simple as Phoenix showing my Facebook connections that I liked their page, or I wonder if Phoenix is using my brand without my permission. I write for Inside Higher Ed and do a fair amount of speaking and consulting within higher education. If that’s the case, I’m not a fan of how that looks or feels. It’s a good reminder that liking something on Facebook can be used by advertisers to promote their brand. While this certainly isn’t a new phenomenon, it is the first time that I’ve had to think about my personal brand in this particular context.
If you’re ever in need of a quick and easy way to visualize the growth of your followers on Twitter, look no further than the Wildfire Social Media Monitor. While your total number of followers on Twitter is really more of a vanity metric, the Wildfire tool is a great way to see if certain accounts have been artificially increasing their following.
According to the graph, on April 28th, 2010, I had 1,586 followers on Twitter. Whenever a client asks me to help them grow their followers on Twitter, I usually talk about providing quality content and engaging with their audience…over time, your follower count will grow on its own.
So this post is amazingly late. However, here it is… Last summer, I was asked to be on a social media panel for Mashable’s Social Media Day in Boston. The topic for the panel was on building brands with social media. Taking place at Boston University, the panel was moderated by BU’s Steve Quigley. It was my first time working with Steve and I was thoroughly impressed. He’s a PR professor at BU and I hope his students soak up as much of his wisdom as they possibly can. Joining me on the panel were Tamsen Webster and Tyler Cyr. Tamsen knows everything about social media. I’m serious. Tyler does social media for Dunkin’ Donuts…I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’m a Starbucks guy. I was thrilled to be representing higher education and to just listen to all of the knowledge that Steve, Tamsen, and Tyler dropped at Social Media Day Boston. Remember, if you go to a party, engage in a conversation..the same thing goes with social media. The full video from our conversation is after the jump. Continue reading Mashable – Social Media Day Boston
Slides from my recent talk at the AACRAO Technology Conference in Chicago.
Here’s part of the description from my talk…I covered a lot in 60 minutes!
Technology: Where are we today? Where are we going tomorrow?
Responsive web design, mobile apps, early alert systems, “big†data, privacy and social media are all topics that are extremely relevant to the work of admissions and registrars professionals.
However, regardless of the technology tools, we have to remember this too:
So many of our technology challenges in #HigherEd stem from issues w/ organizational culture & change management. #tech12
— Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) July 2, 2012
Resources, links, videos, etc, after the jump.
In about a week’s time, I’ll be heading out to New Orleans to give a featured talk at the ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE). In addition to speaking, I’m also meeting with ACE attendees as the “social media expert-in-residence” for the conference. I’m really looking forward to connecting with so many fantastic professionals. Here’s the description of my talk:
“We’ve Always Been Social (Media)”
Our communications and marketing tools evolve on a continual basis. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have become mainstays in our communications strategies. Learn how you can use the “big 3†to enhance your marketing endeavors, create opportunities for engagement, implement a content-based social strategy, and build measurable/sustainable connections.
Social Media and the Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO)
Educate, Engage, and Energize Students
With the rapid growth of social media and accompanying surge in online activity, particularly among university and college students, student affairs staff are using the latest technologies to engage students and forge stronger ties to programs, services, and events. Increasingly, senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) are building their own communities and initiating important conversations through a variety of social media sites. This article provides an overview of social media and how it can help student affairs make and keep vital connections. Continue reading Social Media and the SSAO
