February 2011

Posted by Carlyn Foshee Chatfield on January 10, 2011

this page is part of the Educause wiki: IT Communications: Virtual Coffee Shop

February 11, 2011 Virtual Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop NotesFebruary 11, 2011

Carlyn Chatfield introduces Jeff Frey and the topic of mobile computing for IT Web Sites.

This semester, I am taking a digital communications class and we are expected to be online during class. I absolutely hate the netbook keyboard and tiny screen, so I’ve been using my iPhone instead. Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress, and our course management web site… not all of them are mobile friendly – yet! But it has made me see how important it is to get our IT web site mobile-ready. Other IT Communicators seem to be interested in mobile apps for IT web sites as well, so we’ve asked Jeff Frey to talk about the work his team has done at Rice.

The presentation slides are available here: www.educause.edu/sites/default/files/SocialMediaandMobile.pdf.

Jeff’s contact info is at the end of his presentation, please contact him with comments/questions/kudos.

Two supporting documents you may be interested in: www.educause.edu/sites/default/files/social-media-prism.jpg and www.educause.edu/sites/default/files/social-media-roi.pdf

Non-Profit Social Media and Mobile Apps

Social media – key words: conversation, interaction, people, digital words, sounds, pictures, shared, internet, value

Remember first, you are communicating with individual people, not organizations, and there is a big difference.

The conversation “wheel” will help you pinpoint the different tools people are talking about.

Most important tools still are: blogs, social networks, online videos, photos, social bookmarks.

Non-profit social media utilization, yes universities are different than non-profits, but we have similarities as well. Marketing = build visibility and authority. Who is using what? 86% of non-profits were using Facebook in a recent survey. Twitter usage was only 60%. Goal of communications is to drive overall traffic to sites, connect with key influencers and customers, build trust, etc.

How much time people give to weekly media time…has gone up over last year, but big hits are 10 hours a week (most people).Using social media…67% of the non-profits are using ½ of a FTE to manage their social media channels and messages and 50% will increase their social media staffing this year. 92% of the non-profits using social media consider it a successful channel.

Why do people join social media? Based on a brochure Jeff got through work he was doing for United Way, people join for social needs – basic need (relationships). See presentation for more details.

How do the different social media fulfill needs? Again, reference presentation for solutions.

ROI – is this working for me? Tips on best return on investment:

    • Audience assessment, what is your existing audience and where are they?

        • SET UP your university’s profile right away even if you don’t use it right away

        • LINK all your profiles back to your main site.

        • USE ALERTS – don’t try to read everything or follow/friend everyone

        • TRACK time and resources, drop what doesn’t work, set goals for specific channels

            • Twitter, track followers, re-tweets and responses.

            • Blogs, track visitors, subscribers, etc.

            • Website, google analytics (page hits)

            • Etc. (more on presentation)

        • ROI Mind Map

So who social media first? Everyone is using their phones for social media. If they are already out there on those channels, think how else you can capture them.

MOBILE Aware Web site

    • Mobile Aware site senses the device, reformats to fit.

    • If you do nothing, the phone user will probably get discouraged, all the fun stuff like rotating images, they don’t show up on a mobile device

    • Friendly sites are a good start, plan that the fun stuff is gone, plan what you want to show up first, banner, navigation, etc.

    • MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project (as one example) to build site for all versions of phones so that the site is reformatted to allow for different content based on what user’s phone can handle

        • See samples in the presentation like WVU’s web browser home page, then how it is reformatted for blackberry and iPhone. It is not displaying three different web sites, the toolkit is pulling out what WVU decided was important for the different devices.

A MOBILE APP is not a mobile friendly aware or a mobile web site. Mobile apps are designed for a specific device. If an app is designed for an iPhone, it doesn’t work on a blackberry. There is a price to list the app even if you offer it for free. Only people with those devices can see the apps. On the positive side, you can tap into the entire device, using the camera, all the buttons, etc. and it can be used offline. There is a very rich user experience and high adoption by the device user population.

    • Look at the Harvard Mobile site - Pulling out the really interesting pieces…

        • look into the library, see availability of books, how long checked out for.

        • Student dining (lists of dining options, daily menus)

    • Princeton mobile app

        • Videos of classes you’ve missed

    • MIT mobile

        • Shuttle tracking, very robust, 5 minute alert before shuttle shows up

        • Campus map

        • Self-guided campus tour

        • MIT150 – is EXCELLENT example of pushing out news content, try it on your phone if you have one

    • Stanford

        • Security escort service

    • Duke

        • Atheltics scores

    • Nebraska

        • Polls

        • Fight song blast through your speakers

    • St Rose

        • Admission scholarship and financial aid calculator

    • Loyola

        • Radio station streamed

        • eSuds – when your laundry is done, how many machines open

Summary:

    • Know what is out there (social media) and understand why/usage

    • Think about what is right for you

    • Make sites mobile aware/friendly first, then think about apps

Q&A:

Q: can you guesstimate which devices…apps universities will most likely find popular in the future?A: all the service providers are coming up with androids, smart phones, and the likelihood of us (universities) creating multiple device apps/sites, we will probably just focus on Mobile Aware instead of specific apps to get best long-term ROI.

Q: how you got everyone working on a mobile site, hire additional people?A: good question; we have the same kind of small group here, have to be jacks of all trades. What we did was the CS dept had a professor teaching iPhone or mobile app development to undergrads and we had two staff members participate in the class (one was a TA, one was a student) and since they had real-world projects to work on, we were able to take their classwork and turn it into our first iPhone app and more of our team learned from those two members and took it further. One more thing: there are resources out there, we use a resource called oDESK and you go to odesk.com and there are iPhone developers who charge $8-14 per hour. It’s like a dating service and we put jobs out there, they bid on it and we pick one and have them do it.

Q: if you have a new page or site and have to create it as mobile, how much time?A: for developers, not double-time, just a little more time. more time to write content that can be adapted based on the developers’ coding.

Q: XML?A: yes, XML is used heavily in mobile sites, it is a way you can push out information to multiple locations: blog, FB, etc. and we use XML a lot to push info out to various locations, could include mobile site. All that is hidden in the background of our CMS system.

Project Management CommunicationsBert Desimone (UGA) and Suzie Medders (Clemson)

See Bert’s presentation in the wiki for details.

    • For projects, how many people are involved? Define levels and phases of information distribution. The sooner you are involved, the better you can manage expectations.

    • What are your distribution points?

        • Social media

        • Print

        • Etc.

    • Everything begins with a good message, regardless of the channel.

    • Levels and directories for Push (mail) and Pull (web)

        • Organizational leadership (bosses are people, too)

        • Internal organization

        • IT professionals

        • Constituent group (student, staff, faculty, club, housing/dining, etc.)

        • Multiple groups

    • Channels and venues

        • Email

        • Paper (post cards, memos, bus signs, fliers)

        • Web, including social media and calendars

            • Note: twitter feed - posts your RSS feeds to both Twitter and Facebook

        • Media (student/faculty newspapers)

    • Phases and concentricity (see planning template for levels and phases)

        • Distribute to Levels 1&2 in Phase 1

        • Distribute to levels 2, 3 &4 in Phase 2

        • Distribute to Levels 4 & 5 in Phase 3

    • The magic tool is a PENCIL because you need to take notes on what worked and what changed so that you can accommodate new venues and channels as they come into the picture.

    • Documents (resources for other IT communicators), see wiki links.

Q: how develop template?A: Bert has been at UGA for 28 years and he was on top of communications, had gradually evolved, but had to prove to bosses that he knew what he was doing and that he was on top of project communications. So he developed the templates and that is how he could track all project communications.

Suzie Medders (Clemson)I’m talking more anecdotally about an experience we had in the last six months, moving our Help Desk location to Library (coordinating with Library service desk).

    • Ask first (due to limited resources)

        • Does this fall under IT communications

        • Does it fall within our strategic priorities

        • Who are key stakeholders

        • What resource can we provide?

        • What resources can we recruit from outside?

        • Standard questions:

            • Message

            • Purpose

            • Audience

            • Deadline

    • Communication Channels used (see presentation for all details)

        • Library blog

        • Twitter feed: Clemson Library

        • Signs up downstairs

        • Series of 3 fliers, campus-wide distribution

        • Give-away candy canes with business card “SWEET! Combined services” note tied to candy

        • Graffiti wall, getting students to pick name for the new location/combined service desk

        • Banners, paint on library windows

    • One of biggest issues, have to get in on the beginning of the project planning

        • Make sure your IT leads know what services are available (communications, etc.)

        • Keep an ear to the ground (weekly or monthly IT leads meeting)

        • Take advantage of opportunities to use less than favorable case examples (this is what I can do with 24 hours notice)

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