Make All the Facebook Laws You Want

I remain amused at the interest of state governments to institute limits on the ability of higher ed (or K-12 for that matter) to "police" social media as a violation of the First Amendment.  Aside from the obvious -- you violate terms of service when you ask to get passwords/logins, etc -- these items are not about embarrassing the institution as much as self-inflicted wounds upon the individuals.

Our most recent case in point -- a fraternity in the Pacific Northwest that lost its on-campus house and the ability to recruit thanks to its Facebook page.

In the brief from The Chronicle, note they were disciplined for violating the student conduct code of the university, not for breaking a social media policy.

Reminds me of another Oregon event where the perp of a hit and run DUI event busted himself by posting it online.  Or any number of other times where bad social led to loss of jobs.

Our jobs in higher ed include . . . educating young people (and the young at heart coming back to college) about the perils of over-sharing.

Weiner and Sharing

I am reminded of the Disney classic . . . "a tale as old as time."  Digital never dies.  Once again, Anthony Weiner proves this, and this screen capture from HuffPo today is not as much about the lesson of not putting your privates online, but about how we share that.

My attention is on the nice five-spot share bar on HuffPo -- a snapshot if you will of how the readers of this article interacted with the news and video.  The proportions are not terribly surprising, leaning heavy toward Facebook as a platform and almost zero for Google+.  What I did find interesting is the desire to comment directly in the space, perhaps a higher number than I would have anticipated, and how dominant at this moment (captured at 6:30 pm CT) Facebook was over Twitter.

We don't know without tracing through the comments generated on Facebook pages or Twitter feeds to know if there was an equal -- probably larger -- amount of commentary scattered across those platforms.

UPDATE:  So a little more scanning around, here's another version of same from Mashable.  Regrets for Google+ (and any other platform beside the big two), but interesting how this piece of sports news (who has the largest total fan bases as measured from adding social and attendance) gets a near 50-50 split in the Facebook/Twitter sharing.

I also have a moment of Edward Tufte sparkline graphics with the "index" of how hot the story is.

I Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the local Kroger store with a big Red Wolf window painting.  I did not use the word "Kroger" in the post.  No one in the comments said the word.  As a new resident to Jonesboro, I did get a Kroger "points" card, but I have not filled it out to turn it back in.

Today, my top sponsored ad on the right side of my Facebook page is for Kroger.

In Natchitoches, we had Brookshires -- no Kroger literally within 150 miles.

So why did I get that ad?  The Kroger sign logo was big in the photo -- did they read it off the image?

Social media peeps -- could that be true?

The Athletic Future is Now

Today Wisconsin rolled out their new look to their athletic website.  I freely admit to not having spent a lot of time with it, but it reminds me in some broad stroke concepts to what another W launched -- Washington State.

No IAB ads at the top.

No over the top promotional splashes.

Content. Lots and lots of visual content.  Wisconsin also brings a ton to tight social integration.  WSU still has some old school ad placements, but they are less jarring.

This is what fan bases want.  It serves the needs of the brand better than something that has the look of -- as one social media wag once said -- "the Vegas strip with all those buttons and ads."

Kudos to UW and WSU.

Facebook Art Faux Pas

Facebook evolves, and with the latest versions of mobile the idea of swapping cover art based on "advertising" or themes gets dicey.  Sure, you have a nice wide canvas on the desktop.  The new layout destroys that and puts the emphasis back on having a high quality profile picture.

Facebook long had rules on the amount of text content, but the new layout is more draconian than any suggestion to have "less than 50% text" in your artwork.

To that end, I've included an attempt to add some inspirational messaging to a cover art.  (No, not mine.  Advised the admin involved to not do this.)

While the key information (the word being defined, along with other chunks of data) is covered by the profile online, it disappears completely in mobile.  Actually, the artwork begins to work somewhat in mobile because almost all the text is chopped off leaving just the eyes.