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APSEC 2008: Online Communities and Your University Alumni Association

Albert Kalim, WebmasterUniversity of Kentucky Alumni Association

http://www.ukalumni.net

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Introduction

With so many online communities available on the Internet, it is not easy to choose one or two that you can use effectively for your university alumni association.

We will discuss in detail the popular and major social/professional communities your association can benefit from the most based on my experience.

We will also assist you with deciding whether and how to launch a new community for your university alumni association.

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Major Online Communities

>> Windows Live Spaces (MSN Spaces) (260 million users)>> Yahoo! 360 degrees (250 million)>> MySpace (240 million)>> Facebook (230 million)>> YouTube (200 million)>> Friendster (140 million)>> hi5 (130 million)>> Orkut (128 million)>> Habbo (126 million)>> Classmates.com (110 million)>> Tagged.com (70 million)>> Reunion.com (64 million)>> LinkedIn (50 million)>> Plaxo (36 million)>> LiveJournal (32 million)>> Flixster, Netlog, etc.

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My Social/Professional Communities

Facebook (current college generation)

LinkedIn (business professional)

YouTube (future technology)

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Why not WLS or Yahoo! 360?

>> Windows Live and Yahoo are mostly known for their e-mail services, not online communities.

>> They only offer basic online community features such as sharing pictures, sharing files and adding blog entries.

>> Their designs are less attractive than other more social/professional communities such as MySpace or Friendster.

>> Statistics: WLS received only approximately 27 million unique visitors per month and Yahoo! 360, which is still in beta testing, received about 4 million unique visitors per month.

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Why not WLS or Yahoo! 360?

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Why Facebook?

1. Popularity: ”In April 2008 Facebook officially caught up to MySpace in terms of unique monthly worldwide visitors, according to data released by comScore. Both services are attracting around 115 million people to their respective sites each month.” ~ comScore

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Why Facebook?

2. Membership: “85% of college students use Facebook: A year after Facebook was launched, it was supporting 882 colleges – there were about 2,000 in the U.S. including community colleges at the time. The penetration rate was staggering – 3.85 million students in supported colleges had a profile up on Facebook. 60% logged in daily. 85% logged in once a week, and 93% logged in at least once a month.” ~ TechCrunch.com

And the numbers are getting higher, even as we speak.

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Why Facebook?

3. Good E-mail Addresses: There are more alums and students/future alums who are using good e-mail addresses (university e-mail addresses or personal e-mail addresses) for Facebook than those who are using e-mail addresses for spam.

February 4, 2004 – Facebook was launched, requiring a corporate/high school/university e-mail address to gain access to the site.

Fall 2006 – Facebook opened for the world.

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Why Facebook?

4. Positive Applications: There will be more open applications and software products tailored to connect Facebook with alumni associations’ databases, universities’ record system, etc.Example: Harris’ Facebook Community Connections

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Why Facebook?

5. Increased Web Traffic to Your Alumni Association Website:

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Why Facebook?

6. Easy promotion:>> Facebook Profile Badge: (Photo Badge, Signature Badge, Blog Badge)>> Invite others easily through Facebook Contact

Importers (LinkedIn, Microsoft Outlook 2000 and above, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Windows Address Book, Palm Desktop, Palm Desktop Vcard, Entourage, Mac OS X Address Book, AIM Buddy List, Windows Live Contacts), Search for People, Find Former High School Classmates, College Classmates based on institutions, Classmates based on class years, etc.)

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Why Facebook?

7. Privacy and Safety:>> Set Profile Availability: “Control who can see your

profile and personal information, control who can search for you and how you can be contacted, control what stories about you get published to your profile and to your friends’ News Feeds, control what information is available to applications you use on Facebook.”

>> Blocking Ability: “If you block someone, they will not be able to find you in a Facebook search, see your profile, or interact with you through Facebook channels (such as Wall posts, etc.). Any Facebook ties you currently have with a person you block will be broken (for example, friendship connections, Relationship Status, etc.).”

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Why Facebook?

8. Future Technology:

>> New Facebook Page: new.facebook.com (ability to toggle back and forth)

>> Facebook Mobile: Send messages to your phone, receive notifications for friend requests, messages, wall posts, and status updates from your friends; Update your status, search for phone numbers, upload photos, upload videos from phone.

>> Mobile Web: Optimized web experience through m.facebook.com

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Why Facebook?

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Demo: My Facebook

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LinkedIn

>> World’s largest professional network.

>> Growing fast Over 25 million

professionalsuse LinkedInto exchangeinformation,ideas andopportunities

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LinkedIn

>> IBM Collaboration solutions featuring Web 2.0 capabilities: tagging, blogging, added security, etc.

>> Build network through Web email contacts (Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.), Upload Contacts (Outlook, ACT!, Lotus, Palm, Apple), Browser Toolbar (Firefox, IE, etc.), Colleagues Search (institution, work field, etc.), Classmates Search.

>> RSS Feeds to keep up with fresh information in an automated manner.

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LinkedIn

>> LinkedIn People: name search, reference search, advance search

>> LinkedIn Jobs: hiring information, post a job, manage jobs, job credits,

>> LinkedIn Answers: ask a question on anything, answer questions, collaboration.

>> LinkedIn Companies: company profile, company search, networking.

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LinkedIn

>> LinkedIn Group for your alumni association

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Demo: My LinkedIn

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YouTube

>> The future of internet will be more audio visual than static text.>> Incredibly popular.>> Easy for users to contribute videos.>> A central location to find video clips with methods of

finding them (browsing, searching, keywords, etc.)>> Let you embed the Flash movies into blogs so that they could be easily shared with a single click.>> Allow people to watch movies without going through a cumbersome registration process.

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YouTube

>> Uploading videos limited to ten minutes in length and a file size of 1 GB.>> Multiple videos uploading capability.>> File conversions to allow all platforms to view video with the highest quality.>> Supports 3GP to upload videos directly from a cell phone.>> Social networking through comments, rating/ranking

(most viewed, top rated, most discussed, top favorites, rising videos, recently featured and most responded), sharing videos (Facebook, MySpace, etc.), statistics and data to compare with.

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Demo: My YouTube

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Encouragement

1. It's never too late to create your alumni association presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

2. Simplicity, clarity, and being informative are key to success.

3. Collaborate with other groups or admins to create even bigger presence.

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Encouragement: Demographic Monitor

18 years or older, in the United States, graduated from your university.

Auburn University: >> In College: 23,860 profiles>> Alumni: 19,620 profiles

Louisiana State University:>> In College: 27,120>> Alumni: 26,140

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Encouragement: Demographic Monitor

Mississippi State University: >> In College: 12,940 profiles>> Alumni: 11,740 profiles

University of Alabama:>> In College: 24,800>> Alumni: 15,580

University of Arkansas:>> In College: 16,700 >> Alumni: 8,860

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Encouragement: Demographic Monitor

University of Georgia: >> In College: 27,560 profiles>> Alumni: 28,140 profiles

University of Florida:>> In College: 36,680>> Alumni: 36,000

University of Kentucky:>> In College: 21,440>> Alumni: 14,380

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Encouragement: Demographic Monitor

University of Mississippi: >> In College: 14,500 profiles>> Alumni: 13,120 profiles

University of South Carolina:>> In College: 24,380>> Alumni: 14,200

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Encouragement: Demographic Monitor

University of Tennessee: >> In College: 25,160 profiles>> Alumni: 21,860 profiles

Vanderbilt University:>> In College: 6,800>> Alumni: 9,700