Author Archives: Todd Sanders

It’s official, the UWGB facebook page is no longer official

Posted on by
22

The UWGB facebook page has been demoted to a “community” page. At one time, community pages were created by facebook when an interest shared on a profile didn’t match* an existing page. It gave your interest a home to link to, so you could connect with others with the same interest. Community pages are not run by a single author, and they don’t generate News Feed stories… basically, they’re the opposite of what our official page used to be.

Good news, facebook has linked our newly demoted page to the “official” page.

Bad news, the official page is yesterday’s community page — a Wikipedia-populated clone produced by facebook. It is lifeless. It hasn’t been nurtured. It growls when humans approach.

Wikipedia-populated? Clone? Sounds a little harsh, maybe you’re just upset.

True, someone just kidnapped** my four year old, upset is where I’ll remain until I get him back. But I speak the truth, they are populated by the very Wikipedia entry that I edit over on Wikipedia.org. And they are clones, facebook has covered most of our potential spellings by creating duplicate pages (pages that I’ve continuously reported as duplicates because they fragment our community — 2,470, 356 and 311 likes for a combined 3,137 people who might prefer our true “official” page but were misguided by facebook’s attempt at creating interest hubs).

So why the rant? Nothing better to blog about?

I’ve filed a “bug report” with facebook. Provided a screenshot. Complained on twitter. So this was the next logical step to form a more structured complaint. And yes, I will post it to my facebook profile.

The sad truth is, unless you know someone at facebook, unless you have a connection… THEY DON’T LISTEN. They don’t have to. It’s a free service. You don’t pay a dime. Don’t like it? Don’t use it. Move on…

Unfortunately, I’ve leached my career on the existence of facebook and other social web hangouts. I don’t need them to function perfectly, just fairly. If the University account is no longer able to generate News Feed stories, I’m in a world of hurt. But if we’re the only University in the UW System to experience the loss of this feature, it’s game over.

So this isn’t so much a rant as it is a plea.

Dear Facebook, I accept your faults. Nobody is perfect. But please spread your faults evenly across the ecosystem. Listen to all of the cries, not just the ones from the big universities, wealthy companies or incredibly famous people. Act as quickly when a “bug” is reported by an insignificant member as you would if it were reported by a valued investor. I guess what I’m saying is, suck evenly for everyone. If you’re going to flip online properties from official pages to community pages, get a bigger spatula and flip everyone at the same time.

As with most facebook issues I experience, I know I’m not alone, I have fellow ranters over on twitter (see above). And I also realize that time heals nearly all facebook complaints. But while I wait, I will vent. I will tweet, I will blog, and I will share my unhappiness. Not because it’s what I want to do, but because it’s the only thing I can do.

*I’m guessing that to facebook, “match” means the exact spelling. Therefore, even though there was a UWGB page in place, they felt the need to create a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, UW-Green Bay and UWGB page. Wait, what? Never mind.

**If you believe your page is NOT a community page, you can remove the link… unfortunately, the directions facebook provides are flawed. There is no “Fix this” to click. AND upon attempting to remove the link to the new “official” page, your efforts are rewarded by it defaulting back after you click the “Save Changes” button. Helpless and frustrated… the emotions you feel when facebook goes boom.

UPDATE: Decided to like the new “official” page so I could post a link to the correct “official” page…

Also noticed that since the page pulls its content from Wikipedia, and since I edit the Wikipedia page, it actually lists the correct “official” page. Funny, yet sad…

How can you help? (hat tip @lougan)

    Go to facebook.com/uwgreenbay

  1. Click the “Is this wrong?” link in the page label
  2. Select “This is the official page about UWGB”
  3. Click submit.

UPDATE 2: As noted by Deborah in the comments, the “Is this wrong?” link has vanished.

FINAL UPDATE: All better now!

We used to like Instagram…

Posted on by
4

…but now we LOVE it!

My number one social web rule is to play with “the tool” on a personal account before using it on a university account. When people make mistakes, it is understood that they are only human. When a company makes the same mistake, they get a fancy case study highlighting their ineptness.

What follows is an Instagram love story as seen from both the personal and brand perspectives.

The first date:

@tsand – I posted my first photo to Instagram on October 23, 2010. That’s when I got my first iPod touch with a camera, we hit it off from the start.

@uwgb – First post was on May 4, 2011. I just got out of a relationship with Twitpic, and was still seeing flickr.

The relationship up until today:

@tsand – In just over 14 months I’ve amassed 1952 photos. I have 314 followers, average 1.6 likes per photo and have almost 900 comments. The extremely poor camera quality of the iPod touch needs filtering, Instagram makes it effortless. Instagram is constantly improving, we’re growing together, creating and documenting memories.

@tsand on Instagram

@uwgb – A little over 8 months in and only 67 photos. I have 27 followers, average 0.6 likes per photo and have just 6 comments. It’s OK, but nothing special. I mean, I guess we both have things to work on, who doesn’t?

@uwgb on Instagram

The day you realized Instagram might be the one:

@tsand – Today, January 6, 2012

@uwgb – Today, January 6, 2012

What did Instagram do to seal the deal:

@tsand – I shared a “bigger photo” on facebook today and it got the most fb likes of any Instagram photo I’ve ever posted. It was a photo of my daughter and I waiting for the bus, I’ve probably posted the same “daddy/daughter/bus” photo at least 50 times with little to no reaction of facebook. I SERIOUSLY THINK THE BIGGER PHOTO ON FACEBOOK IS THE REASON. Before they were tiny and required a click off of fb to see the larger version, now it’s right there in the timeline/feed. Total marriage material.

@uwgb – I discovered (thanks to a tweet from @InstagramHelp) that I can share Instagram photos on my facebook page directly from the app. Up until now, I was afraid to connect the university account to facebook, since it must be used via a personal profile. Turns out my fears were unwarranted. AND with the larger photos hitting the feed and getting their own “Instagram” album, I think I’m ready to take the next step!

Instagram photos get their own facebook photo album to call home

The real beauty of Instagram is more than skin deep, it’s not all about the pretty filters (currently 16). I think what makes it special is that the mobile app makes it easy to share your pics EVERYWHERE (instagram, twitter, flickr, facebook profiles and pages, tumblr, posterous and foursquare). I don’t suggest blasting the same photo out to all your social haunts, but taking different photos and sharing them in different circles is extremely easy. Also love how geotagging a photo in Instagram and posting to flickr pins the map, super slick.

The ugly part of Instagram is that it’s super selective with choosing a partner. If you don’t have an iOS device (read: iphone/pod/pad) you’re not allowed to date.

Got an Instagram question? Leave a comment and I’ll try to answer, or visit the Instagram Support Center.

Stats and screenshots are thanks to Statigram.

Why would I ask you to watch an 18 minute long interview that never even aired?

Posted on by
Reply

Because I did, and I think it’s important for you to hear what Gary Vaynerchuk has to say.

You don’t have to like wine or buy his book, just open your mind and let his words tickle the spots that hold on to the old ways of doing things. Business has a wonderful opportunity to win the social web, but higher ed has an even better shot*… we just have to loosen our grip on what was, and grasp what can be.

*future blog post, stay tuned

Listen. Shout. Engage.

Posted on by
2

UPDATE: Thanks for attending, we’ll do it again.

Free snow

Social Media Workshop*
When: Thursday, January 5, 2012 from 10-11am
Where: IS 1129E
RSVP by calling x2152 (limited to first 20)

This will be a hands-on workshop, we will play with a real facebook page and twitter account. Bring your questions, they will be answered.

LISTEN

  • Find out what people are saying about you on the social web
  • Create Google Alerts for your department
  • Learn how to search facebook and twitter

SHOUT

  • Communicate in 140 characters or less
  • Live the life of a facebook page admin

ENGAGE

  • Discover the beauty of a content calendar
  • Tell a story with a photo
  • Find out if video is in your future

Questions? Leave a comment.

*You must have a facebook account to play. If you need help setting up a facebook account, find Todd Sanders.

Talking social web at UWGB

Posted on by
Reply

On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, a few of the social media folks on campus were given the opportunity to present at the Chancellor’s Leadership Council. Hoping the conversation continues.*


*Planning to offer a social media workshop on Thursday, January 5 from 10-11am, more details later this week.

Campus Twelcome #UWGB2015

Posted on by
3

just add the uwgb2015 to your tweets to get on the jumbotron

Tomorrow during Campus Welcome (between 2:45-3pm CST) we are going to display the tweets that are using the #UWGB2015 hashtag on the jumbotron.

It’s an opportunity for you to welcome first-year students, give advice, promote your campus events, let them know what you do, etc.

If you are interested, PLEASE play along.

It will be displayed as a twitter fall… think around 3 tweets will be displayed, as new ones come in, the bottom one is bumped off the screen. The more tweets, the better.

If you have a twitter app installed on a smartphone and are attending Campus Welcome, you can tweet from the Kress and watch it hit the board in real-time. If you are off-site, you can monitor the chatter here: http://bit.ly/pm7Kgc — just need to use the #UWGB2015 hashtag in your tweets to make it work.

UPDATE/RECAP

Over 600 tweets generated (includes RTs), here are few:

tweets from campus welcome
hashtag on the jumbotron