I am a middle-aged, balding college president. I am not on Facebook. I do not blog. I have never "tweeted" and only learned to send text messages so that I might be able to communicate when at a distance from my children. The largest crowd I have ever addressed has been about 4,000 people at a Macalester College commencement ceremony. And the number of folks who actually read my regular column in our alumni magazine is, I suspect, relatively small, despite the considerable care I devote to its composition.
Some might consider me a Luddite; I prefer to think of myself as comfortably old-fashioned when it comes to information technology.
Yet now, after agreeing to make a self-parodying video, "President's Day at Macalester College," and posting it on YouTube, I have been seen more than 39,000 times in about a month by people on every continent except Antarctica. Our video—intended to engage alumni—has been reposted on multiple Web sites, generating hundreds of positive comments, "likes" on Facebook, tweets, and retweets.
I have received several hundred e-mail messages from alumni, parents, current and prospective students, as well as from other college presidents and from folks I simply cannot identify, and from countries including Pakistan, Japan, Spain, Singapore, and China—where one alumnus, from the class of 1950 no less, managed to circumvent the national blockage of YouTube and get the video directly from the college's server. Amazing.
Generally I practice strict avoidance of the blogosphere, but it has not escaped my notice that the video has been reposted and reviewed numerous times on blogs of various sorts. One blogger referred to me as "Brian Rosenberg aka the President of Macalester College aka your new hero," a description that provoked expressions of astonishment and skepticism even in my own home. Maybe chiefly in my own home.
While the value of this surge in visibility is difficult to measure, the increased rate of gifts to our annual fund since the video was released is not. We never imagined the video primarily as a fund-raising tool; rather, our goal was to entertain and engage people and capture something of the spirit of the college. Yet positive responses to our annual-fund solicitations spiked after the video's appearance, reminding us that reputation, institutional pride, and general good will can have as significant an impact on development efforts as projects that are more deliberately focused on raising dollars—and are far more expensive. The video cost about $3,500 to produce, which translates at this point into less than 10 cents a view.
With this project, I have begun to learn about the nature and power of the social media that are reshaping the way we communicate with one another and should be reshaping the way organizations of all kinds communicate.
In the end I have drawn from the experience a few lessons that are more significant than what I learned about my own limited gift for deadpan comedy.
First, the longstanding notion that colleges can carefully shape and control their public image is antiquated.
Things that happen on our campuses assume a life and meaning of their own in the public sphere more rapidly and unpredictably than could have been imagined even a decade ago. Messages we send out, if they are not ignored, are reshaped and restated as if caught in an increasingly elaborate game of "telephone."
That does not mean our initial messages are less important. To the contrary, we must devote more care to them than ever as we try to anticipate the ways in which they might be adapted and reinterpreted. We also need to consider how best to convey those messages through forms of media that can almost instantly reach thousands of people. More than 10,000 viewers watched our video within the first 72 hours of its posting.
Second, the notion that new social media are exclusively the province of the young or the technically savvy is mistaken.
A large number of the positive responses to the video have come from alumni from the 1950s and 1960s and from parents of recent students. New forms of social media have more potential to connect audiences across both generational and geographic boundaries than do virtually all previous forms of communication. I suspect they can be as useful in planning 50th-reunion celebrations as in appealing to recent alumni. For an institution such as Macalester, with a strong focus on internationalism, the possibility of knitting together, rapidly and at low cost, an alumni community that is dispersed around the globe is enormously appealing.
Third, we should never underestimate the power of humor and of positive messaging, particularly during periods of great social and economic stress.
Like most campus presidents, I have spent a lot of time in recent months explaining and responding to the financial and political pressures that have been brought to bear upon higher education. That is my job, and it is important. Yet a recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that people are most likely to forward online articles that are about good news. I would add (based upon absolutely no research) that I believe people respond more positively to those of us in positions of authority when we demonstrate convincingly that we do not take ourselves too seriously.
Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, I learned about the potential rewards of risk. Colleges and the people who lead them tend to be highly risk-averse. That makes sense. On an institutional level, the dangers posed by a risky strategy that goes wrong can be enormous. On a personal level, presidents devote so much energy to placing the right face on their colleges and to cultivating particular images—unruffled and articulate, poised and polite—that the notion of letting down your guard can begin to seem unimaginable.
Yet it is precisely that meticulous cultivation of image that can make the occasional moment of self-parody so powerful and so liberating for both the community and the president. While our primary audience was alumni, I have been moved by the number of faculty and staff members who have expressed pride in working at an institution that was willing to risk, even in this seemingly casual way, being both authentic and distinctive.
I'm still not sure if people who watch the video are laughing with me or at me. But in the end, if they laugh, does it really matter?
Comments
1. professor101 - April 20, 2010 at 11:57 am
Rosenberg's video is really messed up -- a (very well compensated) adminstrator fantasizing that his labor makes Macalester run, in a moment in which many of the people who actually do the work are facing real hardships. Self-deprecating as it may be, the video isn't all that funny to those of us who find ourselves struggling to make a living in higher education.
2. michaelbrazell - April 20, 2010 at 02:14 pm
The video is a satire, it is self-deprecating, and it is hilarious. He's playing the role of the disconnected administrator who thinks himself far too important: that he (personally) ushers in school spirit, that he (personally) raises donations for the school, that he is the one who makes the school operate day to day. By playing on this perceived heightened sense of self importance, Rosenberg is proving (at least to this casual observer) that he is more connected than the stereotypical disconnected college administrator. There is no doubt this sort of video will appeal to young alums, lead to more involvement, and as a result hopefully help contribute to the annual fund -- easing the burden of those struggling to make a living in higher ed.
The only point that I don't like is the mention of risk-reward in the last section of the article. While certainly breaking from the norm for promotional videos, producing a $3000 YouTube video is _not_ some huge risk to the college. Certainly it is a risk if the president is not a good actor or comes off looking lame, but that's more or less a risk to the personal ego of the president and -- in the long run -- not much else.
Kudos to Macalaster for doing something so different and for doing it so well... nearly every scene is balanced perfectly between subtle humor and slapstick, while also delivering core advancement messages. I'm jealous.
3. arrive2__net - April 20, 2010 at 02:38 pm
The video is funny, the production values are crude but effective. The article is interesting also in the context of the article's message about the power and impact of online video. I thought Rosenberg's part was very down to earth . The video could be saying people expect the college president to be all things to all people, yet the president is expected to maintain an image (wearing a suit, even in the gym). I was not sure if the suit is supposed to convey "he's a stuffed-shirt" or that he's under a lot of pressure, maybe both. At the same time the video conveyed a lot of information about recent additions to campus, seriousness about education, activities on campus, relaxed students, etc. So, it was effective on a number of levels.
Bernard Schuster
Arrive2.net
4. asongbird - April 21, 2010 at 07:11 am
Wonderful video. Just wonderful. Good for him...and them!
5. bio_bob - April 21, 2010 at 07:49 am
Great video. I'm always in favor of leaders who are confident enough to poke fun at themselves. (The shower scene was hiliarious!)
Respectfully, however, one lesson that Dr. Rosenberg apparently did NOT learn from YouTube is that most YouTube videos are created for FAR less than $3,500.
Unless this number included Dr. Rosenberg's salary costs for the time it took to produce this video, I'm at a loss to explain the $3,500 cost. The production values simply weren't there (i.e., poor audio ... difficult to hear some of the outside audio, volume level change between shots, poor panning, etc.)
A group of students could have produced a video of comparable quality ... for far less.
6. elifmavi - April 21, 2010 at 08:43 am
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7. cshunt312 - April 21, 2010 at 09:36 am
From my perspective, this is a great example of the positive impact social media can have on organizations of all types, as well as the importance of the role of leadership in integrating social media into both communications and operations. President Rosenberg's reflections illustrate many of the points I've raised in the Social Media Primer I've been creating through the SMinOrgs S.M.A.R.T. Blog, especially the most recent part: You Can't Outsource Leadership. You can check out all parts of the primer here: http://www.sminorgs.net/blog_index.html.
Courtney Hunt
Founder, Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs)
http://sminorgs.net
8. paulghiz - April 21, 2010 at 12:29 pm
A fantastic communication tactic and display of how higher ed must embrace social media to assist with their institutional advancement initiatives. Take this a step further to leverage and recycle this content with online peer-to-peer fundraising and watch the gap close quickly to achieve your campaign goals. I've seen this first hand with the work we have done with dozens of Universities. If you are interested in reading, I just published a chapter on social media in a book published by Wiley, Building Strong Nonprofits, and I'd be happy to share it with you for free. My contact info:
Paul G. Ghiz
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
G l o b a l C l o u d
pghiz at globalcloud.com Email
http://www.GlobalCloud.com
9. tsand - April 22, 2010 at 01:38 pm
Brian - As much as I loved the video, I can't help but love this article more. Kudos for taking the risk and sharing what you've learned along the way.
10. robertkase51 - April 22, 2010 at 03:04 pm
Bravo! I wish more College Presidents were willing to take that kind of risk of being among us.
11. merritto - April 23, 2010 at 02:46 pm
I thought this was clever and innovative. It feels personal and makes me want to know more about Macalester. Dear Professor101 - I'm sorry you're struggling, but you might lighten up a bit and find some clever and unique ways to enjoy your career. Then other people's innovation might feel a little less offensive to you.
12. afnaar - April 27, 2010 at 01:15 pm
That was so funny! We need to laugh and just have fun with our lives Thank you for taking a risk and contributing to my daily dose of 'humor therapy'! Thank you, again!
13. mbrown50 - May 03, 2010 at 01:35 pm
As a Macalester alumni, previous UMN web employee, and current MN MBA graduate student I find this very interesting. I have worked with other higher education luddites, and therefore have a mixture of thoughts on the subject.
On one hand, it feels like colleges do need to get over any hesitation and use the media tools available. On the other hand, there is something unique and worthwhile about educational organizations being "different" from other groups and companies.
This is the same argument for churches and some of their new efforts. I just read (from a different article) that it's actually the technology savvy younger people who dislike churches appearing like they are marketing for members.
Should our educational and religious organizations be "above" other groups, by not giving in to the latest trends in marketing/PR? Does it matter if some think no one notices schools and churches when they don't?
And on a third invisible hand there is something "off" about a parody being the technology piece that gets attention and money donations. However, I watched it too, and enjoyed the visual visit back to campus.