Email is for old people.┬"--Heard that news?
Though it sounds like hyperbole, it may not be--the first email was sent over 40 years ago. Since then, communication media have quickly evolved and expanded, and along with them, so have people's communication behaviors.
So how does a university registrar best navigate the ever-changing landscape of communication platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and beyond) to communicate with students and colleagues?
Scott Dittman (@sdittman) has been presenting early adopter┬" technology sessions for 20 years, on email, gopher, Netlink, the World Wide Web, and social media. Dittman, University Registrar at Washington and Lee University, has spent over 35 years working in higher education. He has held presentations about social media for registrars and regional associations at the 2011 AACRAO Annual Meeting in Seattle with AACRAO Past President Jeff von Munkwitz-Smith from Boston University and Tim Amyx from Volunteer State Community College, past AACRAO leadership meetings, and online through an AACRAO webinar.
In a recent interview, Dittman talked about his experience maintaining an effective online presence:
AACRAO: What social media network is best for communicating with students and registrar colleagues in other institutions?
Dittman: One of the challenges to any social media is to stay engaged authentically. On our personal Facebook, we share photos and videos of our grandkids and of our vacation. People are really interested in what their friends are doing, and there is a back and forth conversation. If you're doing that for business, it's hard to build that relationship. I don't necessarily give [Facebook] a lot of time, but I hope my posts are timely and helpful to students.
We aren't doing anything as a registars' office in LinkedIn. I'm certainly using LinkedIn to keep in touch with colleagues. The AACRAO Registrar group on LinkedIn is great for networking and satisfying your curiosity. Facebook and Twitter helps me know my colleagues better on a personal level, but they also share content only occasionally relevant to my work responsibilities.
AACRAO: Would you advise individual offices to establish an online presence, such as W&L Registrar?
Dittman: We really have to manage the limited amount of time that you have. There was a brief survey asking students how they would prefer to receive information from the registrar's office. An overwhelming number of students preferred email. However, emails take a while to send out. Twitter and Facebook have its advantages because we can communicate announcements to students instantly with a minimal effort.
We're in the process of developing a really good social media culture here. We have students tweeting for the university and they retweet my announcements. There's benefit in using social media, but you have to start intentionally and slowly, and you can't expect everyone to jump onboard very quickly.
AACRAO: Have there been any new social media or mobile implementations at W&L outside of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?
Dittman: We had to create many of our own mobile resources because no one wants to be tied to desktop, or even laptop, computers anymore. We did a survey with our students recently and 99 percent of our respondents come to W&L with laptops, 90 percent come with smartphones and 50 percent come with iPads or other tablet devices. So far, students are able to register using their smart phones and iPads. It would be great if a student could pull up and send their transcript via smartphone. There are lots of things in the future that we just need to be planning for.