Reconsidering the Social Media Hub

One of my favorite projects when working at Tufts University was leading the creation of our social media hub, a custom-built page which hosted feeds from all of our social media accounts and served as an at-a-glance destination for campus social chatter. I was (and still am) extremely proud of what we built. But that was back in 2010. Now, four years later, these types of pages (often called hubs, mashups, or aggregators) are still very … [Read more...]

Mine Your Archives for Content Gold

When considering how best to use social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, we are often thinking in real-time. What are people talking about right now? How can we communicate the vitality of campus life? How can we be proactive listeners and responsive publishers? However, one of the most intriguing ways to use real-time platforms comes from looking into our past. Many institutions are finding that highlighting archival university … [Read more...]

Happy Days for Content at HighEdWeb 2012

Another HighEdWeb conference is in the books. This year’s event, hosted in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisc., featured cheese curds, beer, the Bronze Fonz, bratwursts—and of course, tons of incredible insights into making our university’s online experiences awesome. As for content, there were two compelling themes that ran through the various sessions, and I’m going to get to my recap faster than you can say “Laverne and Shirley. Creating a … [Read more...]

Guidelines for Smart Content Curation

On May 8, I delivered a Meet Content webinar about effective content curation for higher ed. This post captures many of the insights I shared in that session. I love this “Dilbert” cartoon where the “digital media curation” professional at a meeting says, in response to someone asking what he does, “Ha ha! I look down on you for not understanding my trendy jargon!” But in the end, even he can’t explain his work. Curation is hip, which … [Read more...]

Content Takeaways from HighEdWeb 2011

Last week, we traveled to Austin, TX, for HighEdWeb 2011, one of the most eagerly anticipated events on our calendar. We were excited to present on making quality content count with web analytics (Rick) and reinventing news on your university website (Georgy, who received a Red Stapler and Best of Conference honor for the session). While the content track was held on the hotel’s top floor — “closest to heaven,” as many put it — we gleaned … [Read more...]