University Business - April 2006 - (Page 73)

INTERNET TECHNOLOGY The Brand Brave? New World Of Online Public Relations Ready or not, IHEs must strategize about how they appear in mentions on the web. By Karine Joly D the new media have to be taken seriously, AN RATHER HASN'T BEEN and that there's much to be gained by get- the only casualty of the brave new ting ahead of the curve, says Dan Forbush, world of blog swarms. In a speech president of ProfNet, a PR Newswire ser- to the Denver Forum civic group she gave vice, and editor of the website Future of PR, last August, former University of Colo- which is dedicated to the new paradigm. rado President Elizabeth Hoffman said she And although we are just witnessing its wished she would have assigned one of her emergence, a few pioneers in higher educa- staffers to read political blogs every day, as tion have already started to develop interest- reported later in The Denver Post. ing strategies, both to weather the dangers Hoffman resigned in March 2005 in and take advantage of new possibilities. the wake of two major scandals caused by the institution's football recruiting prac- EASY ACCESS tices and Professor Ward Churchill's essay The beauty of these new technologies is comparing some victims of the September the same thing that scares a lot of folks 11, 2001, attacks to Little Eichmanns, Micromedia provide direct micromedia provide direct, cheap, easy ac- referencing a known Nazi official. access to IHEs. This is the cess to your institution and the folks who Influential bloggers played a major role are a part of it. This is the true no-spin in exposing and fueling? these scandals. In true no-spin zone. zone, analyzes Charlie Melichar, vice pres- her speech, Hoffman recalled that one of ident of Public Relations and Communi- the first mentions of Churchill's essay ap- cations at Colgate University N.Y . ers, major donors, or news reporters. peared on a blog called `little green footballs' Your institution should closely monitor Yes, newspaper, radio, and TV journal- after the professor was invited to speak at blogs and other consumer-generated on- ists do read blogs. Last spring, the 11th An- Hamilton College N.Y. . Within 10 min- line media. They can be powerful research nual Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia utes of the posting, people were asking Gov. tools on your target audiences by provid- University Survey of the Media found that Bill Owens to tell her to fire Churchill. ing very useful insights on people's general 51 percent of the 1,202 journalists ques- Scary, isn't it? state of mind and their opinion about your tioned use blogs regularly; 28 percent rely T h e explosion of consumer-gener- organization. Blogs can provide some fan- on them for day-to-day reporting. Also, 53 ated online media has ushered in an era tastic information on perceptions, says percent of these journalists who read blogs of invasive and pervasive transparency. Melichar. The best part is that posts tend reported doing so to find story ideas, 43 While some big companies, small busi- to be very straightforward folks peel back percent to research and reference facts, 36 nesses, news outlets, political figures, and the veneer a bit when posting, which leads percent to find sources, and 33 percent as a institutions of higher ed have understood to some really rich content. way to uncover breaking news or scandals. the associated opportunities and risks, So, what can you do? Know your en- the majority are still ignoring the brand- emies, find allies, embrace the change, and new world of the read/write web. In this Karine Joly is the web editor behind www.college listen to your institution's experts. A lot of world, anybody can write anything about webeditor.com, a blog about higher ed web market- academic PR professionals would like to be an institution and potentially have it read ing, public relations, and technologies. She is also a doing more but are having difficulty per- by either millions of people or a handful of web editor for an East Coast liberal arts college and suading their administrative colleagues that influential individuals: trustees, lawmak- a consultant on web projects for other institutions. universitybusiness.com April 2006 | 73 IntTech.indd 73 3/23/06 11:42:37 AM http://www.collegewebeditor.com http://www.collegewebeditor.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - April 2006

Table of Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Stats Watch
People Watch
Sense of Place
On the Hill
Viewpoint
Future Shock
Financial Aid
Admissions
COVER STORY: Averting Housing Havoc
The Art of Reputation Building
Web Conferencing: Rich Media on the Desktop
All Rights Preserved
Admissions Messages vs. Admissions Realities
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - April 2006