Yesterday, my friend and higher ed web colleague Mike Petroff, launched FollowEDU with a big splash! I’m very excited about this launch for what it means for those of us in Higher Education who are active on Twitter.

According to the FollowEDU ‘About’ page: “FollowEDU is a searchable directory of Twitter users in Higher Ed. It allows users to Sign In via Twitter and create an account, list their profile under Interests within higher ed, schools, companies, and more. FollowEDU was created by Mike Petroff and was designed and built in collaboration with Stamats Catchfire.”

The launch of this site is timely.  With more and more of Higher Education professionals connecting and engaging on Twitter, FollowEDU easily facilitates connections.  As Student Affairs professionals, this directory will allow us to branch outside our areas and connect with others in Higher Ed who may provide us with alternative views for a broader perspective.  While Twitter lists have helped with this, FollowEDU simplifies the search process.

To all my colleagues and friends in Higher Education, please help Mike out and join the FollowEDU community by:

1.  Logging into FollowEDU.com and sign in using Twitter.
2.  Completely fill out your profile by filling out your interests, hashtags, etc.
3.  Follow @WhotoFollowEDU on Twitter and tweet them with additional suggestions (e.g. additional interests, hashtags, etc.), suggested user interface updates and features, any challenges you are experiencing with FollowEDU, etc.
4.  Encourage others in Higher Education to join this new online community on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and/or LinkedIn.

Kudos to Mike and the folks at Stamats Catchfire on this endeavor.  I admire your hard work, passion, and follow through!  Thanks for providing this network to help connect all of us who work in Higher Education!

What are your initial takes on FollowEDU? How will you use this new Higher Ed online community?

Almost two years ago, I wrote a post called “Teaching Twitter to Higher Education Colleagues” as a way to help people understand the self-proclaimed “information network.”  Surprisingly, it continues to be my most viewed post with (15,000+)!  From the feedback I’ve gotten, many folks felt that it helped simplify Twitter and get them thinking about it NOT with a “Facebook” brain.  Since then, Twitter has changed its user-interface twice, once this past summer and once again this past week, which has garnered many different opinions as it slowly rolls out! Today, I wanted to share some thoughts on the new interface and why I think that there are no longer any excuses why anyone who works in Higher Education shouldn’t be on Twitter connecting with students and colleagues alike.

Overview

1.  New Twitter Looks … Familiar
If anyone has ever told you, “Twitter is way too complicated” or “I just don’t get it”, they will be quite pleased with Twitter’s new user interface because it feels like Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn.  By making it “look and feel” familiar, new users may not feel as intimidated as they start using Twitter.  This is a smart move on Twitter’s part as they continue to grow and find ways to monetize their product.  Truthfully, I didn’t like the new interface that much when I first saw it, but I realized quickly that this wasn’t targeted for me, it was targeted for new and future users.

2.  Twitter Lexicon is Simplified
Home: The home screen is simplified to include what’s important to the general user: Profile Overview, Tweet Box, Twitter Timeline, Suggestions on Who to Follow, and current trends.  What’s more is how you experience on Twitter via the web will be the same as you experience on the Twitter  via mobile apps.  The new Twitter app for Android and iPhone has even built in multiple account support to lure you away from apps like Seesmic, Osfoora, Plume, etc.  Again, this is done to simplify and grow consistency for the new user.  Conversations, pictures, and videos are all part of each “tweet” by simply clicking on it within the Twitter timeline.  You may have also noticed that Twitter accounts, links, and hashtags are colored grey, while everything else in the Tweet is in black. I suspect this is to help new users still read and understand the tweet content without getting confused with some of Twitter’s other lexicon. Oh, and kudos to Twitter for using a birdhouse for the “home” icon

For advanced users or those who still want to view multiple Twitter columns/feeds, “Twitter Pro” is being connected to long time favorite, Tweetdeck which is still  available after Twitter purchased it last May.

Connect: The old “mentions” and subsequent “activity” tab has been replaced with the more appropriate “connect” link which houses all the tweets that contain your Twitter username as well as anyone interacting with your tweets via retweets, replies, tweets that have been ‘favorited’, what ‘Lists’ you have been added to, and who your new followers are.  This centralizes all the Twitter connection pieces quite nicely and focuses your Twitter experience on THE CONVERSATION.  I am disappointed that the numbers associated with Lists have now gone away and are now less important in this iteration of Twitter.

Discover: Twitter promotes the new “Discover” link as “Simplicity Meets Serendipity.” I’m not sure how much I believe this description of the revamped “hashtag,” but certainly this is Twitter’s way of centralizing trending “stories”, twitter follower activities, who to follow, and what categories are trending, beyond topics. I can see new users finding this section interesting as they build their follower base and lurk versus engage.

3. Revamped Twitter Profiles
The new layout of your Twitter profile puts more emphasis on describing who you are, making your picture, bio, and website front and center.  Everything else is streamlined, making the experience a bit more intuitive for users of all levels.  The old twitter profile focused more on the Tweets.  While these are important, Twitter recognizes that the Tweets are only as important as the person sending them.  On Twitter, trust is built between users by building a profile that does a good job describing one’s interests and who they are looking to connect with. I do wish that DMs and Lists were still easily accessible, but now they are located one click away under the profile icon. My guess is that Twitter wants to direct more of the conversation public versus via direct message.

4.  Embed Tweets Anywhere, Easier

As someone who likes to share content from Twitter, this new feature makes it easier to do so. By clicking on a specific tweet in your Twitter timeline, you will notice a “details” link which takes you its specific URL.  From here, click on the “embed this tweet” link and it gives you choices on how (e.g. via email, webpage, blog, etc.)

The neat thing is that embedding tweets now allow for real time interaction without having to leave your webpage or blog. So if you embed a tweet, you can now reply, retweet, or favorite the tweet right from it (very cool!)

Twitter also took a step forward in Twitter button development. Now, you can create buttons for your blog or website that easily helps people Tweet a link, follow you, share hashtag conversations, and mention you in a Tweet with a single click.

Implications for Higher Education

1.  Call to Action: Share Your Twitter Story with a Friend or Colleague
With “New, New Twitter” being more “familiar” and easier to understand and with more Higher Education colleagues on it, now is the time to join, lurk, and engage.  If you have been on Twitter for a while, encourage others around you to create an account and jump in.  Support them through their initial learning curve, which should now be minimal, especially if they are used to other online networks.  Breakdown negative stereotypes about about Twitter by showing them how incredibly useful and powerful it can be by sharing your Twitter story and what made you go, “I get it now!”

2.  Use Twitter Beyond Conferences
This year, during professional conferences, I noticed an unbelievable spike in new Higher Education Twitter users.  Unfortunately, after the conferences were over, most of those new “Tweeps” no longer engaged in conversations.  Encourage those who are new-er to Twitter to reengage and find people and/or topics they really want to learn more about.  Suggest Twitter as a “personalized Google/Bing search” where answers to questions are human responses as opposed to search engine automated, page-ranked responses. If they have a smartphone, encourage them to download a Twitter app and continue their participation on the go

3.  Find a Use for Twitter in Your Next Department Program, Academic Class, or Current Service
If you haven’t used Twitter yet for your administrative or academic area, find a way to do so.  The best way to broaden one’s understanding is to implement Twitter however you can. Some ways to do this are:
a.  Creating Hashtags for Campus Conversations, Classes, or Services (e.g. #bsulife, #comm240, #bsucommutes)
b.  Gather Data Using Twtpoll (e.g. Halloween Costume Contest)
c.  Share Pictures and Videos from Events
d. Provide timely customer service and solicit feedback for future events.
e.  … and many more (just ask Student Affairs Chat!)

4.  Encourage Your Students To Join and Engage in Twitter
If the students in your area are not on Twitter, encourage them to join once you are well acclimated.  Teach them how to use it for professional networking and centralizing news/other information important to them, as their natural inclination will be to use it like Facebook.  If they are already on Twitter, connect with them (follow them, mention them in tweets, add them to lists, etc.) and if their Tweets are “protected,” engage in conversation with them as to why (e.g. for class, for personal reasons, etc.) In either way, its a great way to start Digital Identity conversations, which we must do more of in 2012.

What do you think of “new, new Twitter” and how will you use it to engage students, staff, and faculty alike?

Email can be a daunting task, especially if your inbox has hundreds (or dare I say thousands) of messages in it.  Achieving “Inbox Zero” is challenging, but not impossible.  Last year, I wondered how others had accomplished it and have worked hard to get my inbox under control.  I’ve managed to achieve a clean email inbox (both personal and professional) and keep it to less than 10 messages at any given time consistently. Having an unnecessarily large inbox not only creates undue stress, but it doesn’t reflect your actual productivity (and in some cases, lack of!)

Today, I hope to get you inspired to move towards a more manageable inbox.  Here are some email management tips and ideas that have worked for me this year. I hope that as 2012 begins in a few short weeks, you will be at zero!

1.  Your Inbox Is NOT A To-Do List, Your Tasks Are
Contrary to popular belief, your email inbox is not a to-do list.  While it may feel this way, your inbox is a communication tool. Emails are one-one or one-many communication pieces that inform, solicit help, or entertain.  Each garner some level of importance (perceived or real) and will require you to make judgment calls on what to respond to first. No matter how you determine importance, please realize that if it was truly urgent, you would get a phone call.  Email is simply a medium.

If an email requires an action item completed or thoughtful / researched feedback, flag (Outlook) or task (Gmail) these emails so they end up in your email Tasks List (your true email to-do list.)  Once you respond to and file away the other emails in your Inbox, then you can tackle your Tasks as you would any other to-do list.

2.  Filter CC and BCC Emails To Its Own Folder
In theory, the “CC” and “BCC” emails you receive are “for your information” only and do not typically require a response.  Because of this, filtering them out of your inbox into its own folder can help reduce your inbox clutter.  If you have a smartphone, an added bonus is that you won’t see these emails unless you search your mobile email folders to find them.  It is still your responsibility to follow up with these emails, so don’t forget about them!

While your at it, create filters (Gmail) or rules (Outlook) for other emails that come into your inbox from email subscriptions, listservs, certain people, or anything else that does not need your immediate attention.  If you need to learn this, there are a few great tutorials here for Outlook and Gmail.  Finally, remember to mark (not just delete) all spam email to reduce the chances of it hitting your inbox again.

3.  Filing and Archiving Old Email
After you’ve read and responded to an email, its important to get it out of your inbox and filed away using a few different methods.  If you’re using Outlook, the easiest is to create subfolders under your Inbox and file messages away in appropriate folders.  Another method is to create a “Read” email folder and file all your “read” emails in there and use the search bar to find emails you need retrieved.  In Gmail, using the Send and Archive feature in Gmail automatically archives emails once you respond, saving you a few clicks.

Other Email Recommendations

1.  If Replying To Email at Night, Send in the Morning
I’m not proud of this, but I still answer email on evenings and weekends.  While I think I’m “getting ahead” of the email pile, I was unknowingly creating expectations that I could not keep up with.  As I responded to these emails, half of them would also get responses so I was netting more emails than I originally started with!  While I still respond to emails at those times, I now save them as drafts and before sending them off in the morning.  When using Outlook, I simply schedule them for delivery between 9am and 10am.  Next step is to cut down on reading emails when I’m not in the office.

2.  Mobile Email Signatures
With more of us sending emails from mobile phones and tablets, its important to think about what your mobile email signature reflects.  For a while I thought it was great that emails from my mobile devices read, “Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Phone” or “Sent from my iPhone” or “Sent from my iPad”, but now, not so much.  Consider creating a new mobile signature that takes basic information from your general Outlook or Gmail signatures (e.g. Name, Institution, Email, Office Phone).  This is easily done in your mobile mail settings.  Emails with this signature style will blend in nicely with the content and frankly, do you really care what device the email came from?

3.  Attachments
Whether you or someone else is hosting a meeting, consider sending any handouts in electronic format (I recommend .PDF) ahead of time.  This way, those coming to the meeting can print out the material themselves, or read it on their mobile device.  To take this a step further, instead of attaching anything to an email, consider posting your documents to the cloud via DropBox or Google Docs.  Sharing a shortened link (e.g. http://bit.ly) to that file in an email will spare your recipients valuable inbox space.

4.  Meeting Requests
If you use Outlook for keeping your Calendar, consider sending out appointments for meetings, events, etc. from here instead of email. Often, I still find colleagues emailing me, “Ed, our meeting is scheduled for Friday, December 2 at 12pm in the Campus Center, room 202.”  After receiving this, I now have to open a new appointment in my calendar, fill in the attached info, and save it.  To streamline the process, open up a new Outlook Calendar appointment, fill in the appropriate information, then add any participants whom you are inviting.  They can then accept the meeting, which would automatically be added into their calendar, or decline it.

And finally, please do not hit Reply-All unless absolutely necessary. Seriously, I sometimes wonder if people just miss the Reply button by accident!

What are you favorite email management tips? How do you get to and remain at Inbox Zero?

The last few weeks have been crazy ones in the Social Media sphere with Facebook’s latest round of changes.  As expected, many of my online connections voiced their thoughts and perspectives, many not liking what Facebook has done.  While each of you use Facebook slightly differently, it is important to go through all these changes yourselves so you understand how it may or may impact your approach to the world’s largest social network.  The first part of this post is education and the second are my thoughts on implications

 1.  Facebook Ticker
With Facebook’s News Feed now only showing your “top stories” based on an algorithm called EdgeRank, Ticker will scroll all other activity from your connections as well as your own (e.g. Likes, comments, uploads, app activity, some status updates, etc.)  If you find the Ticker distracting, there are many ways to get rid of it.

2.  Lists & Smart Lists
I’ve been a huge proponent of  Facebook Lists for a while now, and if you heeded my advice, this new feature should not come as much of a surprise.  With the launch of Google Plus and its “Circles” feature, it was only a matter of time before Facebook rolled this targeted sharing option as part of its user interface.  By creating lists and updating the “Smart Lists” that Facebook gives, you may now share anything to anyone or any list.

3.  Top Stories “Blue Bar”
Its up to you to customize your news feed by clicking the top left corner of a status update when you want to see more updates of its kind at the top of your feed.  You can do this with any Facebook Update from Friends, Groups, or Pages.  Simply “liking” a post won’t necessarily bring it to the top.  You will also notice that photos are larger in your feed now, to quickly capture your attention.  It is “Facebook” after all

4.  The Subscribe and Unsubscribe Options for “Friends”:

You may have noticed that you now have the option to be someone’s “Friend” or simply “Subscribe” to their public posts. Frequently, I go through my friend list and “unfriend” people I haven’t had regular contact with, but now, if I wanted to , I could subscribe to their public posts by checking off that option (this assumes they have turned their “subscription” options on.)  If it feels familiar for some of you, it should… it is Twitter on Facebook.

5.  Say hello to Timeline:

According to Facebook, “Timeline is the story of you.”  It is currently being pushed out to the over 800 million Facebook users.  Once it is complete, it will change the way you use Facebook.  Simply put, it is Facebook’s largest user interface (UI) change since 2005.  The “story of you” is a beautifully designed, digital representation of you.  Beginning at birth, it incoporates ALL of your Facebook data into one long, easy to use stream.  It can be nostalgic to look back on some of the events of your “Facebook” life over the last seven years, but where it gets “scary” is how they add pictures and life events to the Timeline, pre-2005.  For example, my wife and I were married in July of 2001 and I have a Facebook Album labeled “Wedding Pictures, July 2001.”  Well in my Timeline under “2001″, there was my wedding album.  It also added the birth of my two kids, my college and graduate school commencements… really, anything that I gave Facebook was added to Timeline.  It was amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.  I’ve been saying for the last 18 months that Facebook is no longer a reflection of your personal life, but a reflection of your entire life… well now its happened.  What you need to decide is, will this change make you use Facebook or will these changes make you leave for another online network like Google Plus?

Implications for Student Affairs / Higher Education:

1.  Digital Identity Education:  Now, more than ever, Student Affairs professionals need to be engaging students in conversations regarding their digital identity.  Imagine, as a student, having Timeline activated and seeing how Facebook sees their online life.  Are they happy with pictures, status updates, and life events being shown?  The release of Timeline is a great opportunity to engage in these important conversations because most students often don’t think about the implications of living their lives online.  Until this topic is added to the college curriculum, it is up to us to start and maintain these conversations.

2.  Thinking Your Own Facebook Account and Digital Identity:  Before having these conversations with our students, its important for Higher Education Administrators and Faculty to take stock in what their own online identity looks like, beginning with Facebook.  Its important to do a few things right now:
- Review your current Privacy Settings to see if they are still accurate
- Go through your current “friends” to see if you still want remain connected online.  There is no shame in “unfriending” or “unliking”, its good for your Facebook soul
- Go over your current Lists to make sure they are still accurate.  If you haven’t created Lists yet, you need to in order to maximize the current Privacy Settings, as well as, having options of who to share updates with.
- Go through all the Apps you have connected to Facebook and update their privacy settings by clicking on the “edit” link. (You’ll be shocked as to how much information you give to these!)
- Go through your “Security” tab and enable “Login Notifications” for an extra layer of security on your Facebook Account.
- Visit the “Account Settings” tab and at the bottom, download a copy of all your Facebook data, just in case you want to leave Facebook all together.

3.  Facebook Fan Pages:  While I don’t see much changing with Facebook Groups, I do see the implied change on the horizon for your Facebook Fan Pages.  Eventually, they will also have Timeline for Fan Pages, telling the story of your organization, department, or business.  Two thoughts on this. First, by understanding and becoming more proficient in your own Timeline, you will be more prepared to handle this coming transition.  Second, successful Fan Pages will need to move beyond the participation level (number of fans, likes, impressions, etc.) to the engagement level (conversations via comments, mentions, etc.) in order to stand out in the “Timeline” era of Facebook.

4.  Student Affairs / Higher Education Professionals Need to Become Better Story Tellers:  What is the one thing that Timeline does well?  It tells a GREAT story, positive or negative.  What will your story be and how will it compare to others?  If you continue to use Facebook personally to stay connected and/or professionally to build online communities, it is something to consider.  Generally, I don’t think Student Affairs folks tell their department stories well enough and in the digital age, this needs to change, in order to remain visible and competitive for shrinking resources.

What do you think are some implications of the new Facebook? Will this keep people on or push them away?  Do you like Timeline, why or why not?

“I totally get it now, this whole ‘UnConference’ thing! It was awesome!”

Last Friday, the inaugural Student Affairs Technology UnConference (#satechBOS) took place at Boston University, hosted by @SportsGirlKat, @DeanElmore, and yours truly.  The event went off without a hitch and by all accounts, was a complete success.  In all honesty, I was extremely nervous leading up to the event.  I wasn’t sure how my colleagues in Student Affairs would react to a different format of conference education.  But to their credit, all 75 participants were excited, engaged, and took full advantage of the day’s conversation.

The day began at 11:00am with introductions, explanation of the format, and voting on our initial topic of conversation.  Two days prior to the event, I sent out a Twtpoll asking everyone to vote on which topics they wanted to hear about most and by the start of the event, the results were in.  This didn’t mean that we couldn’t deviate and pick other topics, it just helped the group decide which one to start with.  We began with “Social Media Best Practices” and each of the participants were invited to share their perspectives and ideas.  My role that day was to help moderate and move the conversation along, switching to a new topic when the current one had been exhausted.  Mix in a break for lunch, a break for cookies and coffee, and some inspirational words from @DeanElmore, and our six hours together FLEW by.  An impromptu request to “live stream” the event was also executed by @JennaMagnuski, which added another layer of fun to our already rich conversation.

After the event was over, I spoke to a number of individuals who were completely satisfied with the format and conversation.  A few even cited being “pleasantly surprised” at how well the event went.  Some of us also then joined our friends from the Higher Ed Web communities at McGreevy’s for the #eduTweetup, hosted by my friends @MikePetroff and @SethOdell, which was a huge success.  Friday, July 29, 2011 was an amazing day of learning and networking among Higher Education colleagues in Student Affairs, Higher Education Web, Marketing, and Information Tech.

This past weekend, I’ve had some time to really reflect on what happened in Boston, and I believe we proved people that this format can work in Higher Education circles.  As I travel and talk to more and more of my colleagues, the sentiment is the same: “I learn more in the hallways after a educational session / over a meal / at the bar than I do during the actual ‘formal’ learning.”  As Student Affairs practitioners, haven’t we found ourselves promoting that “out of class” learning is just as important as “in-class” learning?  Frankly, we should be pushing to do more peer to peer learning at our association’s regional and national conferences.  The UnConference model worked for us and it may work for you and your colleagues should you choose to implement it.

HOW TO PLAN A STUDENT AFFAIRS UNCONFERENCE

If you are interested, inspired, or at all curious about the UnConference educational experience, here’s how I would recommend pulling it together:

1.  Venue: Choose a location that can hold up to 100 people in one space comfortably, preferably in a half moon / horseshoe setup (so everyone can see each other), with enough power outlets and wifi bandwith to support that many users at one time.  At minimum, make sure the room gets good cell phone service in case people want to use their mobile devices to tweet, take notes, etc.  Also, make sure you have access to a LCD projector and screen to allow for folks who want to share slides, websites, and/or videos the opportunity to do so.  Oh, and if the room has access to amplified sound, play some upbeat tunes during the breaks!

2.  Information Management: Use Eventbrite to distribute tickets.  Thanks to the generous donation by Boston Univeristy and Dean Elmore’s office, we were able to offer tickets for free, but if you need to charge, keep it low to cover your operation costs.  Also use Eventbrite’s internal email system to send group messages out to your participants.  You can even schedule emails in advance if that is helpful.   Use Wikispaces.com to centralize all your information regarding the event (e.g. registration and travel info, participant information, suggested topics, etc.)  Use Twtpoll.com to send out your suggested topics so participants can vote early about what they want to learn that day(s).  Finally, used individualized QR codes for each of the participant’s name tags that point to a downloadable contact file, a URL they list at registration, or their LinkedIn or About.me address.

3.  Schedule: Structure your schedule to be flexible with breaks every few hours or so, but understand that the participants can call for a break at anytime they feel it is necessary.

4.  MOD: Find a person who can handle moderating a conversation with a large group of people.  As the MOD for this event, I did the best I could to give as many people the chance to contribute and keep the conversation moving.

5.  Live Streaming: If you choose to do this, make sure that you have access to a ethernet connection to broadcast the video stream and have enough microphones around the room so those watching at home can hear the conversation clearly.  @JennaMagnuski did a great job with what she had, but I just wished I would have thought of this ahead of time so I could have given her more to work with!

6.  The UnConference Process: Just let it happen.  When the day started, I wasn’t so sure how the conversation would get started or be sustained, but after we agreed on the initial topic and a few people contributed thoughts, it just took off.  I would also invite anyone interested to have a few slides prepared on their favorite idea related to the topic at hand, just in case things got quiet.  We didn’t have to do that for our UnConference, but if you have a group not taking to the format initially, invite someone up to the front to share their quick 10 minute idea.  This should get the conversation moving. Finally, open up a Google Doc and have your participants share their favorite ideas from the day in one central place.

Below is a great info-graphic from @LauraPasquini about the number of tweets generated from Friday’s event.  It was so great to read all the tweets from folks at the event and those across the country participating from home or work or both!

Overall, I hope this inspires some of you to do your own UnConference on any topic you’re passionate about.  @DeanElmore and I are already talking about doing this again next summer and hope when we get the date, you’ll mark it down and join us for what we both hope is an annual event!  Thanks again to everyone who attended, especially those who traveled from outside of New England to be a part of it!  It is an experience I won’t forget.

What did you think of the UnConference Format? Could this replace our formal education at our annual conferences, both regionally and nationally?