Lately I’ve gotten more interested in what’s going on at the college level. Sites like Facebook, ManiaTV and CollegeHumor.com are attacking the 18–25 segment with gusto and having some success. The growth of media in the last 10–15 years has been staggering, and today’s students are smack in the middle of the biggest changes.
But what about all the alumni? My alma mater sends me dead-tree publications a couple times a year and has an e-newsletter that, while informative, is mostly propaganda about all the awards and research grants the professors have won. That’s nice, but I’m also curious about what is actually happening on campus.
When I was in school I read the Daily Northwestern every day, so of course that was conduit to all the campus news. But I haven’t read it since I moved out of Evanston 13 years ago, so I’ve really lost touch with the campus.
(Yeah, I know – “Get a life.” Of course I have other priorities and interests now, but I really enjoyed my college days and would like to maintain a connection.)
So I was happy to see that they’ve started offering RSS feeds.Woo hoo! This has huge potential. If I were head of alumni relations, I would promote the heck out of this. If alumni feel more connected to the campus— really connected at the campus level—they’re much more likely to donate.