Great Social Media Idea: Capturing Moments

I'm feeling hella good so let's just keep on blogging! (For reals - Hella Good is kind of an under-rated classic. That's a jam right there! Plus it features Gwen Stefani. Always a good thing.)

ANYWAY... we all know and love crowdsourced content, but truth be told - it can be sort of hit or miss sometimes. It can be a pain to actually get people to produce things, and the quality can be... um... variable (to say it kindly). So when I see crowdsourcing done well, I have to give a tip of the hat to it.

And this compilation of student-produce Vines and Instagram videos produced by Furman University, and set to the music of Furman alumni, is crowdsourcing done very, very well.

Authentic, charming, cute, joyful... it's all of this and more. It captures so very well the free-spiritedness and fun that, when you look back to college with a wistful eye, is what you remember most. You know, those moments when you're with your friends with not a care in the world and feeling like life really won't ever get any better than right then. (This feeling is usually shown in movies with someone popping out of a sunroof with their arms spread wide, with dreamy music playing.) Watching it, you can't help but feel like the true spirit of being a kid and being in college is being exposed.

Which shouldn't be very surprising, of course, considering this is content created by students themselves, and not old(ish) people working in a marketing office. This video is being targeted to prospective students, and it's easy to see why - it looks so much like what you would want your college experience to be. Unpolished, no BS... just real and inspiring.

I have Jessica Kalbarczyk to thank for passing along this awesome idea, and I'll let her explain a bit about this project:

Just wanted to share with you a video that was all student submitted Instagram & Vine videos. We called it Furman Moments. In fact students submitted their videos (and photos even) with #FurmanMoments. What started as a way to gauge what life is life on Furman University's campus is now becoming one of the most talked about ideas at Furman. Even a tradition. We're using this video as a way to engage prospective students. That was the goal from the beginning. So to see it take on a life of it's own is really amazing. This is just the first of many video compilations we did. We also used Needtobreathe (also Furman alums) as the soundtrack. We're excited to share this because it's resonated so much with everyone on campus. 

You've got every reason to be excited and proud to share this, Jessica. It's awesome! Congrats to you and your team for putting this campaign together.