Lately, the higher ed community has been taken by the Twitter storm. I’ve heard and read a lot about the importance to add Twitter to the communication mix with students, alums and other target audiences.
While I’m a big fan and a daily user of Twitter (you can follow me @karinejoly), I’m still not sold on the rapidly spreading idea that it should be a priority to set up a “Twitter plan” for an institution. If your institution has done everything else, I guess it does make sense to go for the extra credit. However, if your website is a thing of the past, your email marketing strategy nonexistent or your facebook page never updated, Twitter can probably wait a little bit. The only exception would probably be media relations as I’ve noticed that more and more journalists have fallen in love with the tool, so in this specific case, it makes sense to make “getting up to speed with Twitter” a priority.
But, I digress. So, why start this post about online videos with Twitter?
Because the good folks at the Pew Internet and American Life project have just released some new fresh data from a survey done in April 2009 confirming what many probably know:
A majority (62%) of American adult internet users watch videos online while only 11% use Twitter.
While many of these online video aficionados are actually watching TV shows, there’s still an important audience out there that could stumble upon (or search for) the videos produced at your institution.
So, how do your videos stack up with the rest?
You can find out by having a quick look at the Youtube EDU launched last March – Want to get your videos listed there? Read my previous post to find out how to be added.
And, if you want to improve the overall quality of your production while making sure you comply with the law when it comes to accessibility of web content, you should have a look at this upcoming 3-webinar series I put together for September: Online Videos 360: How to Create Better, Viral, and ADA-Compliant Web Videos
You can find out more about the series at www.higheredexperts.com/onlinevideos360
Karine, I agree with your twitter assessment. Especially since the pre-college and college – age folks are not the core users of twitter right now. I have seen the most success with institutions connecting with alumni and staying “top of mind” with them. These folks usually range from late 20’s to early 40’s.
With regards to the video portion of your webinars, I’d be interested if you are talking about professional production, user generated content, or both.
Tom, thanks for sharing the info.
For the webinars, we will be focusing on videos produced by institutions (news/web services – or students shooting for the institution) – not so much about user-generated video programs.
Hope this answers your question.
It does indeed, Karine. Thanks for your response. Good luck with the webinar, it sounds like a very timely topic.