readabout.me: A Student’s Perspective
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: Hometown Newsmaker, Interviews, readabout.me, Social Media Leave a comment »
Marissa DeAngelis
Marist College
As a soon-to-be-grad of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY (Yikes!), I can honestly say that the next few months will be very bittersweet. As I walk around campus for my last 30 days as a Marist student, I look at it through a retrospective lens. I’ve accomplished so much here, and I’m ready to conquer the field of public relations. I have truly learned so much about myself academically, socially, and professionally through achievements at Marist, and I’m happy that I can celebrate them online with readabout.me. As a member of the class of 2012, I know we’re only at the infancy of learning more about the importance of building a positive online reputation, and the ability to display college achievements are the perfect way to begin.
When I first returned to Marist’s campus after a semester abroad in January 2011, I was encouraged by professors, classmates, and advisors to explore new social media networks, a dynamic that I was isolated from while in Europe. During this time, I considered myself “technologically incompetent,” as I was not knowledgeable about digital or online media. However, once I began discovering social media’s potential and its relevance to the positive career opportunities, I became so intrigued that I could not stop exploring.
When I develop a passion for something, I desire to share its benefits with others. This excitement prompted me to host and coordinate Marist’s first TweetUp. As I began to discuss the TweetUp through tweets to Marist social media users, I was stunned by their enthusiasm towards the event that would assist the community in effectively utilizing social media, and introduce them to the benefits of a strong online presence.
The TweetUp was not only a break through for me, but also for the Marist online community. Social media helped me to arrive at my first moment where I felt that I had something important to contribute, and I could make a difference. I was overwhelmed by support I received from classmates and Twitter followers. When Marist’s former chief public affairs officer approached me to become the Marist’s readMedia Student Ambassador, I jumped on the opportunity to help students celebrate their achievements and share accomplishments with future employers.
readMedia’s achievement platform gives me this same good feeling. I’m happy to know that my achievements are still recognized by Marist College, even after I’m gone. The badges are like an “I was here” stamp, and a chance to show perspective students what they can do too. I’m so proud to be a member of the Marist College community, and adding the readabout.me link to my other social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, is a great way to share my pride with family, friends, and perspective employers.
Philip Pascuzzo: The Face Behind the readabout.me Badges
Posted: March 28, 2012 Filed under: Interviews, readabout.me, Social Media | Tags: badges, higher education, Philip Pascuzzo, readabout.me, readMedia Leave a comment »readMedia had the opportunity to sit down and chat with designer and illustrator, Philip Pascuzzo about his inspiration behind the readabout.me badge designs. Philip is the designer of the original Twitter bird logo and has created more than 300 book covers.
What were some of your inspirations for the readabout.me badge design
project?
I wanted the badges to be immediately readable and iconic. My research lead me to Otl Aicher’s smart and elegant pictograms for the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The simplicity of these are very attractive and stand out among other Olympic pictogram designs. I was inspired by the colorful work of Lance Wyman’s pictograms for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. So the problem was making the read about.me badges colorful, fun and still very simple.
What is your favorite readabout.me badge and why?
The vis
ual and performance arts badge has a sort of mid-century charm that I love. It was difficult at first to solve the problem of visually representing both of these activities on one badge. I’m glad I thought of an eye icon because it says a lot without being complicated at all. Adding human elements, emotion, and a sense of humor to these badges is what makes them work.
What was the most challenging badge topic to come up with a design for?
I think that the “Who’s Who” badge was the most challenging for me. I
presented some options that included a question mark at first. That approach
wasn’t working making it even more difficult. The final design is the
cleanest one out of the batch and I feel works great. Often the simplest
solution is the best, you just may need to get complicated before finding
it.
How do you think you would react If you were still a student and your
school published one of your achievements online using a readabout.me badge,
considering your perspective as an artist/designer?
I would love it! I could probably convince my mom to buy me skateboard
equipment for every badge I receive. This almost game-like incentive is very
attractive and fun. Seeing the badges together is like a pretty mosaic of
your achievements. This sure beats the black and white piece of paper stuck
to the fridge with a magnet.
In your opinion, do you think there will be more of a demand for badges
in the graphic design world?
I really do since users love customizing and interacting with the internet
now more and more. People have always collected rewards for their
achievements. So a badge with a strong design should be a great little
motivational incentive.
Unlock the Power of readabout.me
Posted: February 15, 2012 Filed under: Announcements, Content Marketing, Hometown Newsmaker, readabout.me, Social Media | Tags: badges, readabout.me, reputation management Leave a comment »Every story you send out on the readMedia platform automatically creates a personalized achievement online for your students – this achievement is created from the single format template you create in your account. The personalized achievements live on readabout.me [see example]. At readabout.me students can share their achievements on Facebook and Twitter [see example]. Students can even claim their achievement and attach a photo [see example].
The students’ individual achievements are then rolled up into a professional, powerful online profile on readabout.me that shows the great things their involved in on campus. Each time you send out an achievement for a particular student, it will automatically attach to their readabout.me profile [See example].
All achievements on readabout.me are awarded a unique “badge of approval” by readMedia to show that they’ve been verified by your institution. The badges are a visual representation of the achievement.
Students can’t find their achievements online if you don’t notify them!
Student emails: the most important piece of the puzzle
To notify students that you’re acknowledging their achievement, you must include their email addresses in the spreadsheet you upload to the readMedia platform. Your students will automatically receive an email that directs them to their achievement on readabout.me.
The notification comes from your email address and it contains a list of the newspapers the achievement was sent to [see example]. You can even notify mom and dad by simply putting each email address in a separate column.
All you have to do is press send and readMedia takes care of the rest!
Why is readabout.me important for my college or university?
readabout.me is a powerful strategic marketing tool for your institution and your brand. It unites social media, earned media and reputation management to create meaningful results in brand awareness, engagement and key institutional outcomes.
See how colleges and universities are promoting readabout.me on campus.
Why is readabout.me important for students?
readabout.me creates a positive online identity for students. It helps people who make decisions about internships, grad school, and jobs find the “good stuff” about them.
Your readMedia subscription is not just a media relations tool. Contact us to learn how other colleges and universities are positioning readMedia and readabout.me in their overall communication plan and how your subscription supports marketing and branding objectives, enrollment, and student outcomes.
Weekly Round-Up: Jan 20
Posted: January 20, 2012 Filed under: Weekly Round-Up Leave a comment »Welcome to our first round-up of the new year! Here are a few of our favorite student achievements and articles of the week.
Achievements
- Morales Gonzalez Honored with a Gold Star at the Citadel
- Maxwell Hendricks Brings Medical Help and Hope From Marquette University to Honduran Families
- Binghamton Student Victoria Eckenrod will Compete in the National Finals of PricewaterhouseCoopers
Higher Ed Articles
- Ed Osbourn of Eastern Connecticut State University explains how their strategic use of readabout.me (readMedia’s platform) has turned into a growth opportunity for brand communications.
- A growing number of universities and colleges are providing additional support to foster care students, reports USA Today.
- A report released this week by UMass Dartmouth (a readMedia client) shows that higher ed institutions are demonstrating a more strategic approach to their online communications.
Student Achievements: 2011 Favorites
Posted: December 16, 2011 Filed under: Announcements, Weekly Round-Up Leave a comment »
This past year has been an exciting one for readMedia. From adding two new team members, rolling out readabout.me and branding, 2011 challenged and pushed us to become even better. We are lucky to have the opportunity to work with many great clients that are open to new ideas.
So as the year comes to an end, It’s the perfect time to point out some of the achievements, profiles and school pages that stood out to us in 2011.
Achievements
- Mesalands Community College: Students Hunt for Dinosaurs in New Mexico
- SCAD: Students Appear at New York Fashion Week
- Marquette University: Students Sing at White House
- Miami University: Students March in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
- University of Delaware: Students Appear on The Sing Off
- Gonzaga University: Students Meet Warren Buffett
- Clemson University: Student Interns at NASA
- Eastern Connecticut State University: Students Perform at Carnegie Hall
- Marquette University: Students Snatch the Golden Snitch
- Wake Forest University: High School Students Learn Green Living
Student Profiles
- Lebanon Valley College: Roberto Valdes
- University of Evansville: Caitlyn Mumm
- Ashland University: Kelsey Paramore
School Page
Weekly Round-Up: December 9
Posted: December 9, 2011 Filed under: Announcements Leave a comment »A few of our favorite achievements from clients and articles we found interesting this week.
Achievements
- Melissa Stafford Joins Northwest Nursing Students to Collect Yoplait Lids for Cancer Research
- (23 individual achievements)
- Biola Student Lydia Ness Publishes a Book on the Dominican Republic (11 individual achievements)
- Kate Rademan Traveled to Joplin to Provide Art Thereapy With WWU Art Club (9 individual achievements)
Articles
Is your institution preparing students for post-college success? Employers don’t think so. A survey of 1,000 employers found that less than 10 percent of them thought colleges did an “excellent” job of preparing students for work.
Tim Nekritz at SUNY Oswego (a readMedia client) conducted an interesting social media content experiment: 24 hours in photos on his campus. He share how he integrated Twitter, Dipity, Posterous, Dropbox and other tools to plan and execute the project, which resulted in a visual journal of a day on the Oswego campus.
Northwestern University’s Matthew Herek compiled a “completely unscientific list” for the CASE social media blog of the top five social media happenings in 2011, including Facebook changes and Google Plus. How have these trends impacted marketing at your university?
Weekly Round-Up: December 2
Posted: December 2, 2011 Filed under: Weekly Round-Up Leave a comment »Happy Friday! Can you believe it’s already December? Bring on the snow.
Here are some of our favorite student achievements and articles of the week:
Achievements
- Anthony Barranco Participates in St. Jude Fundraising Drive at Marist College (404 individual achievements)
- Jennifer Bolognani of Chicago is Among 112 Lewis University Nursing Students to Pass NCLEX Nursing Exam (44 individual achievements)
- Jana Lowe Honored as Davis & Elkins Senior Athlete (6 individual achievements)
Articles
- A report released this week by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California examines the factors that influence college graduation. [Education Week]
- Three in four Americans now say that college is too expensive for most people to afford. This article by The New York Times talks about how the Occupy movement protests helped push spiraling college costs into the national spotlight, again.
Weekly Round-Up: October 21
Posted: October 21, 2011 Filed under: Weekly Round-Up Leave a comment »
Happy Friday! This week we have some great scholarship achievements, an article about HigherEdWeb and a study released by NACAC.
Student Achievements:
Sheona Douglas Participates in Charitable Crohn’s and Colitis Walk at EASTERN (17 individual achievements)
Raymond Bierbach of Hunlock Creek Inducted into Economics Honors Society at Lycoming College ( 13 individual achievements)
Ashley Khan Receives Pathways to Excellence Scholarship from Notre Dame of Maryland University (17 individual achievements)
Articles you should read:
Last week, the Meet Content blog explored the role of public relations in higher ed by interviewing communicators from three institutions.
A study release by NACAC this week shows that more students are applying to more colleges, but that selectivity has remained fairly stable.
readMedia won’t be in Austin next week for HighEdWeb, but fortunately the team at Higher Ed Live has all non-attendees covered.
Strategic Tips for Hometown Newsmaker, Part 3: Map Out a Content Strategy
Posted: October 17, 2011 Filed under: Content Marketing, Hometown Newsmaker Leave a comment »This is the third post in a series aimed at showing you how our best clients are using readMedia for maximum results.
Strategic Tip #3: Turn recurring student achievements into automatic hometowners each semester.
While each college or university has their own unique student activities and achievements happening on campus, there are certain activities that will occur every semester, year after year.
Mapping out a content strategy of student activities and achievements to the school year will help you identify the hometowners you should be sending every semester. To get started, take a look what goes on during every month of the semester and pick out the recurring events.
Here are a few examples of activities that you should acknowledge every semester:
Study Abroad
Internships
Student Government
Resident Assistants
Musical
Honor Society
Club Member
After you’ve mapped out your content strategy, you should reach out to the activity coordinators to inform them of readabout.me. The goal is to create a procedure so you can quickly obtain your information every semester. All you need is a list of the students involved and generic content about the activity.
Now a quick email to the coordinators at the beginning of each semester will serve as a reminder. And since your templates are saved in your Hometown Newsmaker Account, you can simply reuse your templates every semester.
To help you get started, we’ve created a calendar of recurring student achievements.
Weekly Round-Up: September 30
Posted: September 30, 2011 Filed under: Weekly Round-Up Leave a comment »It’s time for our weekly round-up! We have three great student achievements (who wouldn’t want an achievement badge for competing in a rodeo?), a Higher Ed Live interview and an article on alumni communications.
Student Achievements
- Tyrel Virden Performs Well in Arizona for the Meslands Community College Rodeo Team (15 individual stories)
- Mike Cusumano Begins Student Teaching for Wilkes University (35 individual stories)
- Kristin Witcher Participates in Hendrix College Theatre Production (6 individual stories)
Things you shouldn’t miss
Higher Ed Live interviews Patrick Powers, Director of Digital Marketing and Communications at Webster University, on how the latest Facebook changes will impact Higher Education.
Are your students prepared for entry into their alumni association? Alumni Communications examines why it’s important to make the alumni association the start of a student’s journey with the university.
