Social Networking: What Is It and Where Does It Fit in the Alumni World?
Abe Geiger
Affinity Engines
http://www.affinityengines.com
Katie Seay
University of Florida Alumni Association
http://www.ufalumni.ufl.edu/
Online Social Networking has changed the world. This is more apparent in Higher Education than anywhere else. Why? Because our prospective, current, and most recent students are the ones driving the change. How did this happen? Bigger, faster, stronger technology has changed the way we communicate, and the way we define community. Email, cell phones, and instant messaging have successfully become part of everyday life and blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, and wikis are now on their way to doing the same. Social networking communities are bringing these tools together to help members find, share and communicate with others based on trusted relationships.
University/Alumni institutions are in a position to take advantage of these trends. The most successful communities to date have been established on a common shared experience. Alumni communities represent a set of highly diverse individuals with one thing in common. They each share a very influential life experience and common affinity for their school. Universities and Alumni Associations also have the unique ability to verify the identity of each user and thereby provide a more trusted and secure experience.
In this presentation we discuss the social networking theory that led to public online social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and exclusive alumni social networks such as inCircle. Then we explore the University of Florida Alumni Association’s own exclusive inCircle community, the “Gator Nation Network”, centered on the “Gator Nation” brand. Both the front end value to the alumni user and the back end value to the UFAA are covered.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:16 am
I’ve heard from a few people that our presentation isn’t downloading so feel free to email me and I’ll send it to you. I can be reached at abe@affinityengines.com.
-Abe