The rewards and risks of Web2.0 Q :Is this Social Media stuff Risky Business? A : No way. What could possibly go wrong?

It’s really just a tool Respect the fundamentals One voice, one message –The dialogue must be written Use data to establish direction Remember, not everyone is equally ready

Overview: Social Media The tools –The Web –Really Simple Syndication (RSS) –Blogs & Video blogs –Social Networks

The Tools (continued) –Social Networks Facebook Twitter MySpace (but not so much anymore) Sharing (Share This)

Overview The Tools (continued) –Tracking tools Technorati Google Search Google Analytics

The Web Everyone we deal with uses the web –The Electronic Newsroom Print Broadcast Online Outlets –Your University Homepage –Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN 140+ million visitors a month 16 million to ABC, NBC, CBS & FOX 30 million to CNN (online)

The Web and NC State Approx. 70,000 people a day visit either – –news.ncsu.edunews.ncsu.edu More than 25 million a year are making the choice to visit one of our sites and seek out news & information about North Carolina State University

Web-based Media Kit news.ncsu.edu Web version of traditional materials –Links to online sources & resources referenced in releases –More than 2,000 followers on Twitter (NC State News) –“Share our good news” page solicits friends to spread the word through their own Twitter and Facebook accounts

Web-based Media Kit news.ncsu.edu News visibility on NC State Home Page –Bottom half of the home page is dedicated to news content –News page is one of the 10 most-visited sites at ncsu.edu

RSS Syndicating your content directly to subscribers –Newsfeeds to reporters –News area of your site and syndicates Platform for other media Others can share your feeds

Blogs and higher education They’re everywhere Admission, alumni, students, faculty all have blogs on sites out there Millions of “citizen journalists” –Blogs (189 million around the world)

Your school is being blogged Students talking with prospective students, faculty talking with parents – it’s happening Do you embrace the madness?

Blogs as commodity Colleges and universities have jumped all over blogs, so where is the differentiation? Trendy and cheap, but sustainability is the key

Twitter Do I really need to know what you’re doing every waking moment?

Twitter Is Growing twitter.com had about 5 million site visits in December million in December million users (17% twittered last month)

Twitter Can Be Useful Share links, news, feedback, answers, insights, even real-time coverage of news and events. Listen to the social media conversation surrounding your brand, participate in it and affect it.

Twitter News Coverage

Blogs & Twitter are about influence Influence is directly related to your following –Your following is your audience Massive influence online translates to massive influence off-line If you do them well, you become your own media channel –Today’s student/institution has started building his or her online network –Where will you/they be in 5 – 10 – 20 years

Web Video Viral/shared video is the new “it” technology –November 2009: 30 billion videos viewed online on the US Video and flash are far more prevalent now –63% of adult Americans have broadband –Flash is on 99% of internet-enabled desktops The “Trickle Up” effect –60% of Internet users consume user-generated content

The cast of players YouTube/Google Fox Interactive Media Yahoo Video Viacom Digital Microsoft HuLu AOL

YouTube/Google About 40% share of the market 12.2 billion videos in November 2009 –YouTube accounts for more than 12 bill –94.7 videos per viewer (per month) –The others – 19 billion downloads/views in November 2009 from the competitors »Source: comScore

Social networking 82% increase in time spent on social networking sites over the past year. Sites like MySpace, Facebook and others are where prospective and current students, alumni, etc. gather million unique visitors to Facebook in Dec. 2009

Facebook 90% of full-time U.S. college students are members Two-thirds visit daily 300 million active users

The great debate Do we follow them? Do we monitor them? Is leadership important?

Keep the web in your toolkit Develop your strategies and goals first –There is no magic bullet Know the technologies –Where is a blog or Facebook appropriate? Apply, measure, move on

Questions to ask yourself Are you ready to make the commitment? –It does take some work to make it happen Do you really want interaction and more transparency? –And does your boss? The entry costs are low – but the cost of not following through can be great. –Sustainability