The Week in Links

It's Friday, which means you finally have an opportunity to read a carefully curated batch of articles that are far superior to any of the junk I slap up on this blog in my late-night, sleep-deprived ravings. Enjoy!

• If you missed it, here's a recap of Tuesday's #casesmc chat on engaging current students. Special thanks to Jen Doak-Mathewson of CASE for taking a big risk and allowing me to co-moderate - a potentially fireable offense. We had a great conversation, and it will hopefully give you some good food for thought about how and why you interact with current students on social media.

• One great thing that came out of Tuesday's chat? This so-good-it-hurts idea that Meg Bernier of St. Lawrence University shared, in which she sends thank you post-cards to students she crowd-sources photos from on Instagram... using the very same photo she highlighted. Super freaking awesome!

• My most popular post of the week, by a long shot (more than twice as many clicks as anything else): the ridiculously brilliant hand-delivered acceptance letter video from Marquette. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out!

• Thanks to Alicia Amling for passing along this great rundown of some of the latest and greatest social examples in higher ed by the great Eric Stoller in this January's issue of Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly. Very intrigued by the Reddit AMA example from Colgate...

• Good stuff from Liz Gross on her blog on why she thinks colleges shouldn't be too worried about the decline in teen Facebook usage. I very much agree. They may use it more passively now, but - like Shakira's hips - the data don't lie. They still check it regularly, and way more than any other social network.

• Robert Bochnak secured himself a spot in the links roundup when he included a fabulous shout-out to High School Musical - including a screenshot! - in his great write up about collaboration and how it's a key to success in the social sphere. Not only do I completely agree with him and absolutely love his use of LinkedIn for longer-form content, I myself have linked "We're All in This Together" many, many times on this blog. (The product of having 14 nieces and nephews.) As Anne of Green Gables would say... kindred spirits!

• Nice article from Marisa Peacock on the Ed Social Media Blog, featuring five handy tips on how to make it easier for people to share your content.

OK... that's it for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

I'll leave you with a brilliant shoegazer track from back in the day... I might just have to make the rest of January "Shoegaze Month." What do you all think about that? I bet you think it's a great idea.  :)