Patrick Powers

If you’re like me and chose to watch pre-recorded television while skimming past commercials, you may have missed this: a television ad for a social media network. Foursquare, the location-based networking game, has partnered with Bravo to create a game wherein users can earn Bravo-branded badges. The 20-second spot was created by Bravo to highlight [...]

While there are thousands of applications available for the iPhone, there are surprisingly few dedicated to promoting the interests of higher education institutions. And among those institutions willing to design, build and publish their own app, the degree of quality varies greatly. Here’s some of the best: Missouri State University Main Navigation: News | Map [...]

More than once I’ve been asked to set up a Facebook group when a page might be more appropriate. I’ve also been asked to create a page when a group would be a better fit. So what’s the difference, they’re both on Facebook, right? Well, yes, Facebook offers opportunities for users to create both groups and [...]

The use of Twitter in higher education has exploded in the past year as more colleges and universities have come to realize the power and reach of this communications tool. UniversitiesAndColleges.org last fall attempted to quantify Twitter use among higher ed institutions but limited its study to those within the Top 100 of the U.S. [...]

When Google started to slowly parse out invitations to become a Google Wave user, I was hooked. I absolutely NEEDED an invite. So I spent weeks spamming friends and pleading on Twitter: “Please, please, please invite me to use this product.” I felt like I was begging to sit at the cool table in a [...]

There’s an article in this month’s Vanity Fair focusing on “America’s Tweethearts.” The piece highlights a handful of women who have “tweeted” themselves into celebrity. Each boasts between 33,000 and 1.4 million followers on Twitter and raves about how micro-blogging has skyrocketed her career. But it was the paragraph about travel journalist Stefanie Michaels that [...]

It was a bittersweet end to The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien last night, but I was pleasantly surprised by the way Conan chose to leave. His parting message was simple: “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. Don’t be cynical. if you work really hard and you’re kind, [...]

When it comes to marketing a university, no one does a better job than students. The following is a video producted by students at Yale University, a takeoff on the popular television show Glee: Sure, it’s a little over the top and a little over-produced. But I like it because it’s timely, authentic, student centered [...]

Here’s what I imagine to expect the next big thing when it comes to social media in higher education (and really social media in any industry): location-based social networking. Yeah, I know, I’m a bold prognosticator. Twitter, to some extent, is already starting to embrace the idea by allowing users to attach a location to tweets. [...]