BlogRoll is Rolling

I have to admit, the roll was lacking on this blog, and I apologize to all the readers and other wonderful bloggers. I have now added and enhanced the blog roll (bottom right). I even tagged each appropriate link with XFN, hopefully it will boost everyone's social graph.

Thanks to all the bloggers and promoters!

Google Docs Comes to the Desktop

Now you can use Google Gears to work on your Google Docs (only word processing, so far) offline. This has been one of the pieces missing in Google's fight with Microsoft (though Microsoft's online version is inferior to Google's).

The new feature should be pushed out to all Google Docs users over the next few weeks.

ClubRed - UNL's Admitted Student Social Network

I have shied away from posting about the successes (or failures) in which I am directly involved with at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The last thing I want for this blog is to turn it into a platform for championing any of the projects I work with; it would take deteriorate authenticity.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I did a quick post on recruiting through social networks. Near the end of that post, I briefly mentioned a social network we recently created for admitted high school seniors. The response around this topic has been huge. Between comments and emails, I quickly realized there was a large desire to learn more.

So, in the interest in responding to requests and sharing I decided it best to write this quick post about ClubRed, the admitted student social network at UNL.

In the Beginning...
Sometime last spring (April or May), the decision was made to move forward with a Social Network for our admitted students. Based on research that our prospective students were checking their email less frequently and responding more to social networks (mostly MySpace and Facebook), the decision was simple. A vendor was selected (time and developer resources were limited, otherwise Ning or a solution similar would have been more seriously examined) and the work began last summer.

The idea was to create a tool where admitted future freshmen could meet other prospective students, share experiences, join discussions, communicate with current students, and receive a personalized checklist of their next steps to become a Husker (data points based on the student's funnel process).

The major separation between ClubRed and a regular social network is the tie-in to our CRM software. It was important for us to utilize the current communication, tracking and reporting tool that fit into our student relationship model. The vendor acted accordingly and has setup real-time data flows between the social network and our CRM.

The Product
At the end of January, we utilized our communication tool to invite all admitted high school seniors to join ClubRed. The invite email went out in the morning, and much to our surprise over 200 students had registered before school was out. In 48 hours, over 450 students had registered. As of today, we have over 1,270 admitted high school seniors who have joined the network. On average, 200 unique students are logging in each day.

Current student ambassadors moderate discussion forums and do quick reviews for obscene photos and defamatory comments. Though the review is done regularly, this hasn't been a problem. On all occasions, the prospective students lead the discussions, our student ambassadors only step in to answer questions or provide helpful insights. Admissions counselors also use ClubRed to communicate with prospective students through "shout outs" (similar to wall posts), forum comments and blog posts.

In addition to the recruitment angle, ClubRed has also been a focus of local media (UNL Press Release, The Lincoln Journal Star, The Omaha World Herald, The Daily Nebraskan)

The Evaluation
Based entirely on numbers and buzz, ClubRed has been a huge success. Obviously, yield numbers and overall analysis can't be done until fall, but I have confidence this tool will contribute to an increase in size of our freshman class.

As future roommates are being discovered, intramural sport teams are created and even concert road trips are planned, ClubRed has become an integral part of our recruitment process.

Recruiting Through Social Networks

This morning, Campus Technology published a great article outlining student recruitment through Social Networks. Instead of a standard news article, the author scripted an interview with Brad Ward from Butler. The article touches a few points: Zinch, student blogging and Facebook.

For those of you unfamiliar with Zinch, it is a social network created by a few innovative undergraduate students who were frustrated with the current admissions search process that starts with the typecasting based on ACT/SAT test scores. Instead, they wanted to empower the prospective student by giving him/her an electronic avenue to display "more than a test score." The result is a social network that works as an intermediary between prospective students and colleges. Prospective students can create an account and colleges can "shop" for students based on self-identified student information (demographic, geographic, etc...).

To date, Zinch boasts:

• More than 475 colleges currently recruiting students on Zinch.
• More than 300,000 high school students have already created Zinch profiles.
• All 50 states, more than 160 countries, and over 19,000 high schools are represented by students currently on Zinch.

The idea behind Zinch is to create more qualified leads. Test purchases are a crap-shoot at best, but are really the most efficient mass-option at this point for lead generation. Tools like Zinch will slowly chip away at the test-score model as will demographic ads by Facebook and MySpace. Social Networks (whether directly like Zinch, or indirectly like Facebook and MySpace) are starting to level the playing field. Expect to see some more services pop up over the next few years, as well as new ways to leverage current services.

Other Recruitment Social Networks
While Zinch has set itself as an intermediary between prospective students and colleges, many colleges are setting up their own social networks for recruiting. A quick search on Ning.com, pulls up 10 pages identified as colleges with social networks. After sifting through the spam and alumni networks (since we are looking mainly at recruitment), a few stand to the top:

• Alfred University
  Alfred University which connects accepted students, current students, faculty and staff. Discover what makes AU truly special - the individuals who inspire the Alfred University community.
• California Lutheran University
  This social network site has been created for YOU to get to know more about California Lutheran University and to let you meet other students who have been admitted to CLU. Log-in to post-discussions, photos and much more.

While Ning is a quick, easy and free way to start a social network, we decided to implement a more robust social network that integrates with our CRM (a crucial, yet often overlooked part of the recruitment piece).

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Last month, we started a social network for admitted High School Seniors. The social network - branded as ClubRed - currently has over 1,000 regular users and gives admitted students the ability set up their profiles and upload photos, search for friends, check and send messages, join discussions, read and comment on blogs, and review their Office of Admissions checklist for preparing to enroll at UNL. More information can be found here.