March 2009 Archives

I normally don't write about my personal life, but I've got exciting news to share with my friends, students and colleagues:

Loyola is in the process of creating an extraordinary school of communication, and it's my privilege to be part of it.

So what makes it special? 

The University has made a strong commitment to the program, hiring a new dean (Don Heider), a talented group of new faculty, and creating a new facility (The Clare, at 51 East Pearson in the heart of Chicago's business district). It's literally steps from the Water Tower, and near many of the city's ad agencies and media outlets.

At Loyola I'll be able to pursue my interest in social media through a combination of teaching, research and professional practice. I'll be working with a collegial faculty with deep academic and professional training. And I'll be able to connect with industry professionals working at the highest levels for national accounts.

Oh, and in one of the most exciting cities in the world.

I'll leave Wichita State with sadness. I have great affection for my colleagues and students. And I'll miss the wonderful group of friends I've made through the years. So you can be sure I'll return regularly.

I don't leave Wichita State lightly. But there's no permanent position for me there. So it's time for a new adventure. And I couldn't have asked for a better one.

That's because the site just sits there. It's little more than a business card with some pretty pictures. The site isn't updated because it's a hassle to do it. If the job requires a web designer, complex software and an arcane process called FTP to send information to a server, it's too complicated to do regularly. 

But it doesn't have to be that way. A new kind of web site - a content management system, or CMS - makes it easy to administer from a secure dashboard. And when it's easy, you'll update it when you're having a sale. A CMS can be expensive, as a custom-designed and programmed site might be. Or it can be free, if you use an off-the-shelf or open source tool. Many companies use blogging platforms such as WordPress or Movable Type as their CMS. If you need more power or control, there are open-source tools like Joomla or Drupal. When you choose one of these, you gain support from communities of experts who provide free programming modules or visual themes.

Conversations you should join: "10 rules of marketing on user review sites," by Todd Defren, on PR Squared

Short, sweet, and true: "Personal branding in the age of Google," by Seth Godin