Yesterday afternoon, around 300 higher ed Web professionals sitting at their desks around the world braved the initial audio/visual difficulties to watch and participate in the Social Media Summit at the Penn State Web 2009 conference. Between the coverage of live events in the room at State College, the conference chat and the Twitter stream (plus @tsand’s Ustream commentary), the level of participation was pretty amazing and downright … social!
Thanks from all who benefited from the discussion are due to summit coordinators and presenters Mark Greenfield of the University of Buffalo, Brad J. Ward of bluefuego.com and Jordan Goldman at Unigo, plus all the Penn State conference organizers for taking a chance and opening the conversation to the rest of us.
Here are some highlights, to be found in full on Twitter at #smsummit.
Robin2go W00t! Starting the #smsummit!
jallgire From @markgr at Social Media Summit — with social media, we all have marketing/admission/alumni staffs in the thousands! #smsummit
skirubbi “Social media is not about control. its about empowerment — giving people the ability to get your message out.” #smsummit
jesskry Whoa – double audio now. And loud! #smsummit
moosetoga #smsummit is just one more bit of evidence that online conferencing still has miles and miles to go before it’s a mature tech
LoriPA Love watching 200 geeks try to troubleshoot audio/visual problems in real time. I <3 geeks! #smsummit
ulieanntuttle Listening to @bradjward presenting at Penn State Web 2009 Social Media Summitt #smsummit
kerri9494 #smsummit Average higher ed Twitter web site: Following = 254 Followers = 471 Updates = 260
Shanan_S The schools with the most Twitter followers likely have someone encouraging discussion + interaction.@bradjward #smsummit
LoriPA Hey, was just gonna say athletics! (@bradjward at #smsummit: RSS-only accounts still have a place on Twitter; not always about conversation)
theotherlondon bluefuego.com researched over 900 highered Facebook accounts 33% growth in the past two months #smsummit
cpd623 #smsummit, like the formula for determining engagement on facebook… 1000 fans with 10 comments and 90 likes, you get 10% engagement.
jesskry Its not your platform: its what you offer. Be a part of the conversation. @bluefuego #smsummit
tsand AND have fun w/ it! #smsummit
beatnikgal #smsummit No.1 Question to answer – how do you measure the value of social media?
LoriPA Analytics of social media — how come “justify” so often means “quantify?” <sigh> #smsummit
kprentiss measure value: connectedness -> engagement -> retention. #smsummit
TuftsWebComm “Those days are gone. You do not control this anymore.” – @markgr #smsummit
Gordon_Ryan “PR has a PR problem. People equate PR with BS.” #smsummit So true.
ColB Kerri Hicks @ #smsummit : Development hires MANY people to engage alums/biz. How can we engage via social media w/out hiring many web pros?
dancinjul Question 2- How do you integrate Social Media at your school/business. #smsummit
TuftsWebComm Re: coordinating campus-wide social media, we currently don’t try to coordinate/control, but we do try to aggregate and advise. #smsummit
theotherlondon Does it make sense to coordinate social media practices institution wide? Yes. Control social media practices institution wide? No #smsummit
JamieOber Using social media to manage social media – Mark Greenfield said his school created a Ning site to share projects, best practices #smsummit
theotherlondon Ah the discussion I’ve been waiting for: How do you make the case to senior management to utilize social media? #smsummit
cpd623 #smsummit how do you determine ROI with social media? Can we justify the time spent to build out the brand on these platforms?
stevier From @tsand: If you’re waiting for a green light from your administrators, then you get what you deserve. #smsummit
beatnikgal Worried about your ROI in social media? If you don’t do it, you’ll worry more about your “return on ignoring” #smsummit
bevinhernandez Understand the business, Understand the user, Understand the medium – brilliant easy mission statement #smsummit via @markgr
kuratowa Does social media mean the end of the traditional higher ed website? My sources say No. #smsummit
jesskry @kuratowa Def no. One is personality, one is information. #smsummit
apetersen Student trusts college’s website for facts, but decision made on community/review sites, hearing from other students. #smsummit
Robin2go Go real or go home. And yes, that’s my trademark. 
@markgr #smsummit
ColB From #smsummit backchannel: ”I think of LinkedIn as data-driven, Facebook as a publication, and Twitter as a conversation.”
kuratowa “Never say anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t say to your boss. The end.” #smsummit
tsand I <3 my boss. #smsummit
mansibhatia #smsummit Does Twitter have a place in HigherEd? Is it just a fad?
TuftsWebComm It’s not about Twitter; it’s about conversation. Don’t bet on the app, bet on the trend. #smsummit
whitneytaylor “Twitter redefines what a coworker is.” #smsummit
ellenkanner thx to @markgr for the great content and opportunity 4 further discovery with folks i’ve just “met” #smsummit hello to fellow higher-eders!
skirubbi Best part of #smsummit is all the new friends made. And isn’t that really the point of social media? To be SOCIAL??
