The idea of tapping into a prospective students Internet world to inform them of the value of a particular college or university is most likely a difficult and frustrating prospect. My experience with “that place” is a far more rudimentary relationship than my 18 year-old.
“Today the Internet is much more than esoteric discussion forums. It is a mass medium for defining who we are to ourselves and to others. Teenagers groom their MySpace profiles as intensely as their hair;…
–The Trolls Among Us By MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ –New York Times 8/3/08 –a great but disturbing story.
Injecting the college search message into the teenage “neighborhood” can only be done, with any credibility by finding the space between the institution and where the prospective “hangs out”. I tend to think that we don’t want to be caught trying to fit into their ” virtual personal space”. Just trying to keep up with the ever-evolving dialog is enough to keep me away. So now what to do? Suppose there is a place in between “our world” and their world to attract that college bound kid. Where would it be and what would it be like?
Without interrupting the dialog there must be a place where kids can go and explore colleges and come back and report to their peers. Facebook provides a forum for this. I know, my daughter has learned some things about her new college roommate this week. But Facebook is still like being on the street. You have to be savvy and take your information for what it’s worth. The danger of moving too much toward their world is that it’s too unpredictable and thus unreliable. That is not the message a college or university wants to convey.
Why does this matter to me? I am a communicator. My visuals must reach out to those kids and I cannot do that without trying to understand what might be interesting to them. Eventually they will go to college and get a job, raise a family and start figuring out their kids. I would like to help them find good places to learn. The work I do will find a place in the message that attracts them. I want it to be honest and relevant for them.
