Student Loan Blog : MySpace

College Admissions Offices Using Facebook as Recruiting Tool

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:39:00 GMT

A growing number of graduate school admissions and college officers are turning to Facebook for recruiting, communicating with potential students and providing up-to-date news on the school through the social networking site, instead of relying on more traditional recruiting methods like mass mailings or emails, according to an article in Business Week (“The Admissions Office Finds Facebook,” Sept. 28, 2008).

A recent study indicated that a full 29 percent of university admissions departments surveyed now use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, to recruit new students. To date, about 60 institutions have gone so far as to establish official pages for their school on Facebook, according to Nora Barnes, director for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

“If you're an undergraduate or graduate institution and you’re looking to attract people 35 and under, then I think you have to go to Facebook because that’s where your opportunity is,” Barnes said.

Admissions Officers Use Ads, Fan Pages, Chats to Attract Students

While some schools have leveraged Facebook as a marketing tool, purchasing ads to target students based upon their age and where they live, other institutions have focused on maintaining their Facebook fan pages, uploading pictures, news pieces, and videos detailing recent campus events.

San Diego State University’s Facebook page, for instance, features video footage of the school’s involvement with the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach and its students’ visit to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

Scott Minto, the director of the admissions office for the school’s Sports Business Management MBA Program, uses Facebook to invite students to college admissions open house events in different cities around the country. He says that the school’s Facebook community has become so active that he now uses it as his sole means of communication with many students.

The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management put up a Facebook admissions page just a year ago in response to increased student demand and has experienced phenomenal success, said Richard Powers, assistant dean and director of MBA programs. Cheryl Millington, the school’s director of admissions, holds Q&A sessions with students that have drawn about 100 students each time.

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Wilkes University Puts Freshman Recruits Front and Center and Billboard-Size

Student Loan Girl — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:56:00 GMT

Wilkes University, a small, private school in northeastern Pennsylvania, is using a quirky new in-your-face $120,000 ad campaign to get the attention of today’s media- and marketing-savvy students.

The university is plastering personalized messages on billboards, pizza boxes, gas pumps, and even on MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central to students it wants to make a part of its freshman class, reports Michael Rubinkam in a story by The Associated Press (“Pennsylvania College Woos Students by Putting Them in Ads,” April 30, 2008).

The “trendsetting and forward-thinking” marketing campaign appeals to the “look-at-me generation,” teens comfortable sharing all-things-personal on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, says Nancy Costopulos, chief marketing officer of the American Marketing Association.

The Message: Personalized and Not for the Shy

Wilkes features applicants in its ads who have a “mix of talents and determination” and who live in markets where the university wants to promote itself, says Jack Chielli, the school’s director of marketing. Students must also consent to having their names used.

The ads, writes Rubinkam, are meant “to convey the message that the school gets to know its students personally and pays close attention to their needs.”

To get messages with the right personal touch, 160over90, the Philadelphia marketing firm contracted by Wilkes, interviews participating students and their friends and families, uncovering likes, dislikes, hobbies, nicknames.

The agency uses the information it gleans from these in-depth interviews to design the highly personalized ads that have turned some college-bound seniors into quasi-celebrities in their high schools and communities:

“Lake Lehman senior Greg Heindel: You give your time at the soup kitchen, the firehouse, and your church summer camp. Wilkes University would like to give you something — a top-quality education.”
“Hey Kristen Pecka. Only your closest friends at Central Catholic call you Pecka-lecka-lecka. Choose Wilkes University and add 2,362 more people to that list.”
“Scranton High senior Nicole Pollock: Our goal at Wilkes University is to be as much a mentor as your mother has been. (Now, if we could only make her ravioli.)”

Each ad includes an invitation to “call a Colonel” (the school’s mascot) and provides a phone number that plays a recorded message from a current Wilkes student.

It’s the Thought That Counts

Even if targeted recruits end up choosing another school, says Chielli, he considers the ads successful as long as they continue to grab attention and get other students to think about Wilkes.

But besides drawing more students to apply, the school wants to help make it possible for them to actually attend: Nearly all students receive some form of financial aid apart from student loans to help cover the $25,000 price tag. Wilkes awards $22 million in financial aid each year.

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Can’t Find Your Friends? Check the Library

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Libraries aren’t what they used to be.

No more stuffy, hair-bun-bearing librarians, no more thumbing through cumbersome card catalogs, and no more getting lost in aisles of endless Encyclopedia Britannicas.

Libraries are now high-tech, high-speed information portals that offer a wealth of resources: free, online and easy to access.

Sure, libraries still have books too … tons and tons of books. But it’s not the stacks that are drawing the visitors. It’s the Internet.

And who are these visitors?

Generation Y. The 18-to-29-year-old crowd has become, almost counterintuitively, the age group that most commonly frequents public libraries, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Libraries Change Face to Save Face

Whether they’re updating their Facebook accounts, Stumbling their favorite websites, doing research for a term paper, or just socializing online with their friends, the young adults of Gen Y are increasingly making a trip to the library to tune in to the Internet, particularly when their own Internet connections are slow or limited.

Libraries across the country have received virtual facelifts over the past few years in an effort to appeal to a younger crowd and to offer services the public craves. Local municipalities and non-profit organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have devoted resources and millions of dollars to technological renovations at libraries.

The result? 62 percent of Gen Y respondents in the Pew survey reported having visited public libraries within the past year. And out of 53 percent of total respondents who spent time in libraries last year, 65 percent of them said they used the Internet while they were there.

Bookworms Make Way for Surfers

Considering that over ten years ago, a survey by the Benton Foundation showed that this same age group felt libraries would eventually become less relevant, Julie Vorman of Reuters reports that the Pew survey results are surprising and exciting (“Generation Y Biggest User of U.S. Libraries, Survey Finds,” Dec. 30, 2007).

“Internet use seems to create an information hunger, and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries,” says Leigh Estabrook, co-author of the Pew report, in Vorman’s article.

That hunger for information is being quenched — 99 percent of libraries now have Internet access for their Web-surfing patrons, according to a USA Today piece by Anick Jesdanun (“Young Use Library Most Despite the Net,” Jan. 1, 2008).

But high-tech advancements at libraries are not the only draw for frequenting teens and young adults. As rows of shelves give way to computer desks, libraries now act as social gathering sites, offering virtual homework help, gaming software programs, and even access to virtual librarians, the online avatars of real-world librarians in the virtual-reality game Second Life, Vorman reports.

“We’re seeing a lot of conversion of what may have been stack areas, warehouse areas,” says Loriene Roy, president of the American Library Association, in Jesdanun’s USA Today article. “Libraries are creating social spaces.”

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Not Just Your Virtual Diary Anymore, Blogging Is Big Business

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:23:00 GMT

A decade ago, blogging was a way for anyone with a computer to get a high from posting their personal ramblings to the Web and sharing their now-published thoughts with the online world.

Narcissistic? Maybe. Therapeutic? Definitely. Profitable? Questionable.

But not anymore.

Thanks to our obsession with the Internet and our undying need for ever-more information at our fingertips, blogging has evolved into a powerful and profitable business venture that almost anyone can do.

Big-Buck Bloggers

Take Zach Brooks, for example. This Manhattanite has turned his love affair with greasy food into Midtownlunch.com, a blog devoted to spotlighting cheap eateries in New York for nearly 2,000 daily readers.

The website, which focuses on restaurants where you can get lunch for under $10, can sometimes net Brooks $1,000 a month, writes Associated Press reporter Candace Choi (“Casual Blogging Not Just Lunch Money Now,” Dec. 26, 2007).

Then there’s Samuel Chi, who started BCSGuru.com “as a way to demystify the convoluted universe of college football rankings for fellow fans,” Choi writes. This season, Chi, a former sports journalist with a background in statistics, earned about $8,000 from his blog.

With the help of PayPerPost, BlogAds, Google’s AdSense, and similar programs that help advertisers place ads on large and small sites, bloggers, who write on everything from the latest tech gadgets to politics to the celebrity train wreck of the day, can earn money based on their site’s popularity — the more people who click on the ads on their site, the more money they make.

Turn Your Blog into a Cash Cow

Write about your obsessions, make the most of your advertisers, and you may never again have to hawk your clothes or sell your plasma to get that extra cash.

Last year, total online ad revenue was nearly $20 billion, so there’s plenty of money to go around.

The Washington Post suggests a few different ways to get your share as a blogger:

Let online ad programs work for you. Sell ad space on your blog, and you can get paid each time someone clicks on your ads.

Take control of your ad sales. Not a fan of pay-per-click ads? Use BlogAds. Join its database of advertisers — free of charge — and set your own ad prices. Companies then find you and purchase ad space for a set period of time. You keep 70 percent of your add fees and turn over 30 percent to BlogAds.

Be the middleman. Join a company’s affiliate program: Post an ad on your blog that links to their site, and every time one of your readers clicks on the ad, goes to the company’s site, and the visit results in a purchase, you’ll receive a small commission. You can earn as much as 10 percent per referral sale from businesses like Amazon, eBay, and Match.com. Use affiliate marketing networks like LinkShare or Commission Junction to browse hundreds of companies with affiliate programs.

Get your fans involved. Give your loyal and dedicated readers an opportunity to show their support. Post a donation button from online payment services like PayPal or the Amazon Honor System, and set yourself up to receive monetary donations.

Sell blog-branded gear. If asking for a handout isn’t your thing, slap your company logo on T-shirts, coffee mugs or caps and create your own online store. CafePress offers you more than 50 products to choose from.

What Are You Waiting For? Express Yourself.

Know the best places to find a bargain? The best sports bars to watch a game? How to make the most out of your college loans?

Launch a blog. It’s so easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before.

Just go to any popular blog platform site, like WordPress, Blogger, MySpace or Weebly, and create your blog for free. And let your love of all things you make the extra cash for you.

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Say Goodbye to Town Hall and Hello to the World of E-Mediacy

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:37:00 GMT

First, there was Cindy Sheehan, the suburban mother turned political activist after her son died in Iraq.

Then there was the CNN and YouTube joint foray into the presidential debates, with CNN televising all eight Democratic candidates debating questions submitted by the public through YouTube videos.

And now get ready for the first-ever webcast of a presidential town hall discussion, brought to you by MTV and MySpace.

Although the CNN debates were available online through YouTube immediately after the television broadcast, on September 27, former Senator John Edwards will be the first in a string of presidential candidates to simultaneously take to the stage and to the Net for one hour of dialogue with both an in-house audience and long-distance Web junkies.

The public can submit questions for discussion throughout the events via text message, instant message and e-mail, and the Q&A sessions will be webcast live and in real-time on MySpaceTV.com and MTV.com.

Although all the questions for the presidential candidates will have to be submitted electronically and can thus come from remote participants, the discussions themselves—most of them taking place on college campuses—will have an audience of about 100 to 200 students physically present, as well as a moderator, political pundits and MTV News correspondents. Aside from the intervention of the moderator, who will choose discussion questions from among the submissions, the dialogue will be relatively uncensored.

Between September and December, the two social media giants will host 11 webcast discussions accompanied by real-time polling for candidates from both parties: Democrats Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson; and Republicans Sen. Sam Brownback, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Duncan Hunger, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, and former Gov. Mitt Romney.

YouTube Generation Spins Its Own Political Webs

Not since President Clinton rocked the world of presidential campaigning by becoming the first candidate to engage in face-to-face discussions with MTV viewers has a presidential race so shattered the norms of the conventional campaign trail.

Like their CNN and YouTube contemporaries, MTV and MySpace—two of the most prominent media forums catering to today’s under-30 crowd—are relying on their Internet-juiced audiences to embrace the new era of politics-on-the-Web.

“Our expectation was that they were really going to use the Web and let the wisdom of the crowd help drive politics in a more democratic way,” said David Colarusso, a Massachusetts physics teacher, about the CNN/YouTube debates in an article by Mary Anne Ostrom in The Mercury News, (“YouTube Presidential Debate Breaks the Rules,” July 19, 2007).

The executives at MTV and MySpace view their innovation as a means of engaging their young adult audiences in a political dialogue that they typically eschew—a sort of Rock the Vote for the YouTube era.

“We very much want to take the Iowa or New Hampshire living room global,” says Jeff Bernam, general manager of MySpaceTV, in an Associated Press article by Jake Coyle (“MySpace, MTV to Offer Candidate Chats,” Aug. 22, 2007).

The webcast sessions aren’t meant to be traditional face-to-face town hall debates simply transplanted into cyberspace, but rather face-to-webcam conversations geared specifically toward their audience’s digital sensibilities.

“This is not a debate,” says MTV spokesman Ian Rowe in Coyle’s article. “Each one of these dialogues is an opportunity for young people both on a college campus as well as millions watching via a live stream on MySpace and MTV.com to have a one-on-one, direct, unfiltered conversation with each candidate.”

A Blessing and a Burden for Political Campaigning

The CNN/YouTube debate attracted 2.6 million viewers, an audience only slightly smaller than that for MSNBC’s traditional debate in June. With roughly 43 million regular MySpace users and millions more young people online in general, this latest test of online political engagement has just as much potential for viewership success.

But some critics argue that the whole concept of Internet-driven political activism is inherently elitist.

With less than half of the U.S. adult (18 and older) population having high-speed Internet access, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, potential participants with the capability to partake in the MySpace and MTV Web-only discussions would be limited to those who understand the technology and can afford high-speed service.

According to the Pew study, only 30 percent of those who earn less than $30,000 a year have high-speed Internet access, compared to more than three-fourths of those who make at least $75,000.

“The danger with [the online campaign platform] is that … we have a digital divide in broadband,” says Barbara O’Connor, director of California State University-Sacramento’s Institute for the Study of Politics and Media, in Ostrom’s article.

On the other hand, it’s hard to deny the reach of a technological revolution that has, in some ways, created a more democratic presidential election season.

Even at traditional face-to-face town hall–style debates, only the handful of attendees who are lucky enough to gain admission into one of the few debate locations nationwide stand the slim chance of having their questions answered.

But the Web has opened up the realm of possibilities for the average Joe sitting at his computer in Fessenden, N.D., to communicate with jet setting and often hard-to-reach presidential candidates, whether it’s by e-mail, MySpace comment posts or the upcoming webcasts.

In today’s online climate, says Steve Grove, YouTube’s news and politics editor, in Ostrom’s article, “politicians are hearing the hearts and minds of the American people in new ways.”

Talk to the education finance advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.

Student Loan Girl

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‘MyNews’ for MySpace Coming Soon

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:57:00 GMT

Forget that Rupert Murdoch’s multimedia acquisitions involve ownership of social media properties like MySpace and may be an attempt to transition old school newspaper content into relevant content for a new generation. Instead, focus on the millions and millions of MySpace users, including more than 230,000 new registered users a day that eclipse the viewership of most Internet news sites, with the exception of the Drudge Report. So, a MySpace news site does make a lot of sense, really.

I came across information on the Internet (corroborated by many sources) that confirmed that MySpace will put together a news site in the near future. I have heard that it will be sometime in the second quarter of 2007. Apparently the information originally came from a leaked document from MySpace’s parent company, Fox Interactive Media.

One particular blog entry by Josh Lowensohn at CNET News.com’s Blog Media titled “MySpace News: It was a matter of time,” located at http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6166033.html, gave the details. Apparently, Lowensohn wrote, the news service will allow MySpace members “to post the stories on their profiles, discuss, promote, and submit their own written content to be seen and ranked by other MySpace users NewsVine. The new service is reminiscent of Digg and del.icio.us, with social bookmarking for news stories that can be promoted with user voting.”

Steve O’Hear, another blogger, in his March 13, 2007 post “Murdoch 2.0: MySpace News” at ZD Net, http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=111, gives the following details for the new MySpace News service (originally found on Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog http://www.thepomoblog.com/archive/news-as-a-social-play-here-comes-myspace-news/):

“So what do we know about ‘MySpace News’?

According to sales materials that Heaton claims to be privy to:

· MySpace News takes news to a whole new level by dynamically aggregating real-time news and blogs from top sites around the Web

· Creates focused, topical news pages that users can interact and engage with throughout their day

· MySpace is making the news social, allowing users to:
Rate and comment on every news item that comes through the system
Submit stories they think are cool and even author pieces from their MySpace blog

And finally we have the clincher…

· MySpace users previously had to leave the site to find comprehensive news, gossip, sporting news, etc. With MySpace News, we bring the news to them!”

Interestingly enough, blogger O’Hear believes that one of the big reasons for the introduction of MySpace News is to keep users on the site. Here’s his reasoning:

“It’s all about keeping MySpace users within MySpace. Which of course makes sense from Murdoch’s point of view but also is more evidence of the closed nature of the social networking site. As the aggressive launch of MySpace video shows, MySpace wants to have it all, by providing no excuse for users to leave the site, and to guard against other content providers — such as YouTube — from encouraging MySpace users to navigate elsewhere.”

I think it is pretty exciting stuff, especially with all the talk regarding how it will affect Digg and conventional news content providers. However, a lot remains to be seen in how it all will come together and when. As they say, only time will tell …

The Education Finance Advisors at NextStudent can help you figure in all your college expenses so that you get the student loan that best suits your needs. Don’t get caught short. Go to www.nextstudent.com for all your student loan needs.

Check back here next Friday for my next blog on Campus Life.

Student Loan Girl

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Social Networking: Hip, Cool and Fun … But Be Smart

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:19:00 GMT

There now is little doubt about social networking becoming an integral part of our culture. It almost is a foregone conclusion. I know you and your friends for years have been into MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and many other such networks. But mom and dad—“the parent generation”—are just starting to get a clue.

I realize that last week I touched on social networks and how to get a job through them. This week I want to issue a caution for all of you out there who have become totally absorbed, dare I say obsessed, with meeting people and “doing your thing” online.

Do Not Let This Be You

Just ask Cameron Walker or Kurt Vachon. A few years back they had a short stint of fame I am sure they would rather forget, and quickly. Remember, they were the guys from Fisher College in Boston who tried to get a security guard fired by setting up a petition and posting it on Facebook.com? Both ended up getting expelled from school. Here is the story if you missed it: http://www.physorg.com/news8698.html.

Another interesting tidbit I found on Wikipedia gives details on how Facebook “is increasingly being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users.” Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook's_use_in_investigations.

You seriously need to look into this and pay attention. I do not say this to scare you or even to get you to close your Facebook account. No, what I am attempting to impart to you is a bit of wisdom. Be smart in what you say and how you say it. Honestly, is it a good move to air your dirty laundry, or give far too many incriminating details that could come back to haunt you later?

Most recently the CIA set up a Facebook page (see my blog from Jan. 26, 2007) and joins many other employers in the social network community. Do you really think that these employers want to hire someone who “parties all the time” or engages in behavior perceived as blatantly irresponsible?

Simple Solution With Minimum Hassle

Here is a great idea: If you absolutely must brag to your friends about a recent event that was so earth-shattering it was practically religious in nature, why not try more conventional methods. Like contacting your core group of friends directly through e-mail, instant messaging, or, in the case of MySpace, send an announcement. This may well keep you out of trouble and below the radar. And no, just for the record, I am not condoning methods that enable you to conceal immature behaviors or break the rules of your school behind the backs of college administrators.

Bloggers: Take Note

For all you bloggers out there, both those who post and those who comment, be careful too. This past Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007, a blogger by the name of Shoemoney (Jeremy Shoemaker) got a rude awakening, and it was not from anything he did. Shoemoney was served a subpoena to testify in a slander lawsuit stemming from a comment someone made on his blog. Unreal! Here is the story: http://www.revenews.com/carstencumbrowski/2007/01/legal_issues_with_blog_comment.html.

So, if you have a blog, conservative or outlandish, just be sensitive of the content you post. If someone posts a comment that is way over the top, is slanderous or just plain mean or evil, you may want to consider removing it, for your sake.

Check back here next Friday for my next blog on Campus Life.

Student Loan Girl

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CIA Socializes: Getting a Job through FaceBook, MySpace, Whatever

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:18:00 GMT

Could it be that social networks are becoming an embedded piece of our culture, no longer just limited to college geeks, party mongers, and those who are hip and in the know? That would appear to be the case.

Just last month the CIA, that is, the Central Intelligence Agency, got friendly with FaceBook. It has been using the popular social networking site to recruit potential employees into its organization. And get this, it even uses a promotional YouTube video to get you interested. Here’s the page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2223915657.

Do What Gets You Hired

Responding to newspaper ads and competing with hundreds of other applicants for a single position does not give you great odds for getting hired. Resume experts and career coaches point to statistics that say most people, in excess of more than 70 percent, get jobs through people they know or from hearing about jobs “on the street.” That is good news for those of you who are into FaceBook, MySpace and other social networking sites. Chances are your network already is established, even if it is filled with college buddies or those with whom you associate for entertainment or dating value.

So, it would not be that much of a stretch to use your network, or more likely expand what you already have for the purpose of searching for your ideal job.

Be Careful What You Post

But before you get started, heed this: Clean up your profile and make sure that you do not reveal any information that could harm you or defeat your job search before you start. Though there is a definite difference between a “public” and a “private” persona, employers may not get this.

Several weeks back, there was a lot of talk flying around about how employers do not have the right to (or should not) check out MySpace and other social networking sites when screening potential employees. The fact remains that employers do this, regardless of what we would prefer. So, here’s my unsolicited advice: Do not brag on and on about the latest frat party where you won numerous dubious awards for certain behaviors that likely will not endear you to your future employer.

Other Avenues

Besides searching employers’ profiles, developing your network, and asking your existing network if anyone knows someone in the industry or of a job for which you may be interested, you could try some of these techniques.

· Check out career networking sites like www.LinkedIn.com.

· Use the Jobs section on MySpace. You can search for positions as well as post your resume. Go here: http://jobs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=careers.

· Start a blog. You either could write one about your career interests or give a firsthand account of your job search. Both ways may serve to market you as a potential job candidate. Use: www.blogger.com, www.blog-city.com or www.wordpress.com (they all are free).

Check back here next Friday for my next blog on Campus Life.

Student Loan Girl

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