Socialmedialand

In honor of today’s graduation ceremonies, I’d like to take a second to applaud ASU’s efforts in social media. I saw the following application come up in my Facebook feed recently and I’m seriously impressed with it.

(click the image to visit the application)

This is what social media should be all about. It’s not just fluff, and it’s not just a fad. Detractors try to make social media insignificant. They ask “Who wants to know all these details about your life?” or “Who has the time?”

ASU’s application is a solid answer to those doubts.  They know the devil’s in the details and they make it easy to organize those details because no one has the time.

What we are all dealing with in social media is a paradigm shift in the way we interact as a society. People who learn to use it well and adapt to this new space will be leagues ahead in terms of efficiency, information gathering and networking. With this application, ASU is helping prepare it’s students to succeed given the new playing field.

Here’s what’s going right here:

1. They’re going to the students where they’re at. ASU knows there are a healthy number of students already using Facebook, so an application here makes sense.

2. They’re providing value. This isn’t just a fan page for the sake of a fan page (Though I think a fan page is often a good first move for a brand getting involved on Facebook). The school took the time to evaluate pain points for the students – wanting to interact with teachers without giving them access to their profile, being able to connect with fellow students in a large lecture, etc – and gave them a viable solution.

3. They’re not fighting it. Too many schools try to cut social media out. You can’t access Facebook from the school library, Myspace is not allowed, etc. Employers try to do this too. They’re not helping anyone that way – they’re not teaching students how to use it properly, safely and effectively. They’re leaving them to figure it out on their own at home and giving them the impression that it’s not useful for anything but “personal use” or ”for fun.” That doesn’t show people how these new tools can completely alter the way they communicate and get work done and I think it does them a serious disservice.

3. They’re giving it the old college try. Sure it’s not perfect; there’s probably a lot more functions they could add and they could spend some time responding to the comments that have been written on the wall of the app already. But at least they’re going for it, they can always learn and adapt along the way. Most brands and organizations are too afraid to open up to the community and their hesitation is going to cost them.

Congratulations to ASU for getting it. I’m proud to call you my alma mater. And congratulations to today’s grads!

P.S: If you’re reading this and you happen to be at ASU working on this project, please contact me. I’d love to talk to you about this and where to go from here.

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