Challenge and Support What did we get ourselves into?

Teens Don’t Tweet. Blogs are for old people.

As Student Affairs professionals, we try to connect to our students in a variety of ways.  A recent article at ArsTechnica talks about younger internet users (11-17 year-olds) not being all that keen on the latest internet trend -- Twitter.  On the flip side, what I had thought was the most popular internet communication medium (outside of instant messaging), Blogging, has been slowly going to the old fogies (30 years +).

With the ArsTechnica post above, it makes me wonder: how popular are the student blogs hosted by universities?  Are they actually seeing heavy use?  I know I read them, but, as I mentioned above, I'm old and fit into the age range of people who are still interested in blogs.  I don't recall ever hearing a student mention reading the student blogs at my previous schools (a sign that maybe it just wasn't implemented properly?).

I'm not breaking any ground here saying that Facebook seems to be the most popular and effective way to communicate with our students.  I'm encouraged by the fact that more official groups sponsored by campus offices are starting to spring up.  I recently stumbled upon this post over at Eighteen and Life (written by Debra Sanborn, who you should all be following), which, while a bit old, brings to light the age-old argument that faculty and staff are often reluctant to adopt new tech trends.

That being said, I am encouraged by the number of my colleagues I see using Twitter and posting to blogs.  Sure, our students may not be flocking to these arenas, but I am very happy to see the network that has formed using these services.  Fortunately, plenty of the posts out there, and even one #sachat has focused on utilizing Facebook to connect with students.  The "unpopular" mediums may not be a hit among our students, but they are a very valuable tool for us professionals.