For a few years I’ve made a joke when asked what I think will succeed the so-called Web 2.0 revolution - that which is basically defined as an interactive, sharing (sometimes overly so) period of time online.  With popular social networks, photo sharing sites, blogs and microblogging services like Twitter, it’s become common place for many folks to share their deepest and all-too-often shallow thoughts online for anyone to read.

If in a 2.0 world we’re sharing a lot (some good, some not so good - doesn’t matter), I’ve predicted with a laugh that in a 3.0 world we’ll realize we’ve shared too much and will go back to our own corners and keep this stuff to ourselves.

Well, the first sign that I might have been right may have appeared.

The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced that the word of the year is “unfriend” - or defined as “to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.”

I’ve recently experienced this phenomenon when my girlfriend from high school unfriended me and more recently when a close colleague did so as well.  Perhaps I shared something too personal online and that prompted them to disconnect our electronic connection.  Perhaps they wanted to post something online they didn’t want me to see. Perhaps like I’ve done recently, realized that some people I’ve friended are not actually “friends.”

Whichever the case, unfriending has begun and perhaps I was partially correct - it may not be time that we keep our inner thoughts and pictures to ourselves, but rather be more selective in who we share them with.

In either case, I hope we stay friends

A recent story in Time (September 21, 2009) shares ways colleges are cutting costs. Unfortunately, many colleges suffering from dramatic endowment declines (on average 23%) have taken to across-the-board budget cuts to deal with the situation.  Others have taken a much more strategic approach (applause, applause). And some have gotten very creative.

• Bryn Mawr College saved $900 by holding a virtual swim meet and thus cutting travel costs
• Dickinson College dropped it’s free laundry service (really, are colleges in the business to do laundry?) saving $150,000
• Carleton College saved $3,800 by not serving shrimp and wine and their annual faculty parties (wonder how much of a stir that caused)
• Pitzer College saved $80,000 by power-washing the sidewalks only once each year (I’m lucky to do mine once a decade)

Other colleges are cutting academic programs that are not profitable (in the non-profit sense of that word).  A few are either eliminating or not updating their landline phone systems (which I had the nerve to do that at my house).

Colleges are dealing with a difficult economic situation, but have a great opportunity to get rid of the waste they have built up over decades when they had no incentive to do so.  For college admissions offices, now is an excellent time to review what you’re doing that is no longer effective and put those funds into pursuing newer methods of recruiting.  Or maybe you can use those funds to beef up the pay of the woefully underpaid counselors or send them to an effective sales training program.

Just back from NACAC in Baltimore with lots of thoughts on the brain to share with you. But before I get back to work, I took a detour to a hospital to be with a family member as they go through surgery today. During the first hour I realized how important the little things are to an anxious customer and how much is applicable to higher education.

I thought I’d share one with you. Free and open wireless. You’ve heard us talk about it before but I’m still amazed that most colleges don’t provide this to their prospective students during the visit.  This one hospital not only provides free and open wireless, someone took the time to name each of the wireless ID’s.  To the anxious visitor that extra little step might also provides a sense of comfort.

Here’s a screenshot from my iPhone I was greeting with as soon as I tried to check my email. Nice!

There were a lot of BIG IDEA discussions at NACAC last week, and there was a great deal of talk about fixing the “process” (which I’ll focus on in future posts). But perhaps we need to work on a bunch of little things that might just add up to some big success. Making wireless internet available with cute names might be a good first step for some of you to consider.

If you stayed at a hotel last night (like Jeff Kallay did), you were greeted with this headline under your door in this morning’s USA Today.

For decades the argument for the real or perceived high price of a college education was balanced by the increase in earnings in one’s career.  However, we may be at a tipping point in that argument making it more difficult to win the battle on ROI during a recession.

I’m sure this will be brought up at this year’s iThink event at NACAC (if you’re a VP, Dean or Director of admissions or enrollment, be sure to sign up for this annual lively discussion).

Well also be discussing it as part of our webcast series when I present “Sales Training for Admissions” on September 18th.  Be sure to sign up for this free, 30-minute event as well.

Curious about cloud computing and missed today’s live webcast, “College Admissions in the Clouds”? Don’t worry - we recorded it for you.

Click here to watch the video and view the slides shown.

TargetX has teamed with Salesforce.com to offer this live one-hour webcast that was broadcast on Monday, July 20th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

I was joined by Tucker MacLean, VP of Customer Success for the Salesforce Foundation, to discuss cloud computing in college recruiting, technology that is revolutionizing the way companies buy and manage hardware and software applications that can also give admissions professionals on-demand, real-time and secure access to the data they need most.

If you have any questions about the information presented, please post a comment on this blog.

On Monday, July 13th at 1:00pm ET, we’ll be on air with Abby Laporte’s show, “Abby’s Road” - a live webcast and podcast chronicling Abby’s search for the right college and her life as a high school senior. We’ll be joined by other high school seniors to talk about their college search process as well. I encourage college admissions officers to listen in live at http://live.twit.tv

About Abby’s Road
Abby Laporte is a rising high school senior who lives in Petaluma, California (about 45 minutes north of San Francisco). I met Abby through her dad, Leo Laporte (see below). This summer he’s giving Abby the “keys” to his recording studio to develop her own podcast — and she’s calling it “Abby’s Road.”  Abby’s Road is intended to be a weekly documentary about her journey from high school to college and life as a high school senior — starting with her college search and continuing through her senior year and into enrollment at college.

About TWIT
Leo Laporte is a former TechTV and MSNBC guy who started his own podcast network a few years ago called TWIT (This Week In Tech - http://www.twit.tv). He does about 15 podcasts each week and the show has regularly been one of the most subscribed-to podcasts for years. He also does a weekend call-in show on XM Radio called “The Tech Guy.” I was in his studios a couple of weeks ago in Petaluma and was on one of his shows last year. He is a wonderful person and very knowledgeable about technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Laporte

For many years now I’ve been told that we should write a book. If you know the team at TargetX, we’re big on pushing the envelope and getting colleges to see things differently (heck, our company motto is “Overthrowing Dead Culture”, so we have an opinion or two on something).

The idea of sitting down to write a book on this stuff seems daunting to me, at the very least. Who would read it and how would it be different, practical, forward-thinking and timely?

Despite these lingering questions, a couple of months ago we got the process started and we’re hoping to publish the book later this year. But I thought I’d take some time to solicit some help from all of you.

If you had your college president’s ear, what would you want to tell him or her about the current state of college marketing or recruiting, how your institution is being managed (or mis-managed), what makes this generation so different or what they need to do as your institution’s leader?

The premise of the book is not that much different than why TargetX was created 11 years ago. That the way students search for the right college is very different than the way colleges market and communicate with them. That the way colleges are structured does not match the current state of business or consumer purchasing habits. That the current economic situation may have created a tipping point in how families choose a higher education route. And that colleges may be one of the most inefficiently run industries in a time of fiscal crisis for some.

I find those of you that read the iThink blog have a keen and unique grasp on the situation, have excellent ideas and perhaps sometimes feel like you’re not always being heard. I’ve been there. So I want to give you a place to vent, suggest, proclaim, announce, demand or simply share your ideas.

Take a few moments, if you would, and tell me what’s on your mind you’d like college leadership (or your college president) to hear. If we like what you have to say, we may want to talk with you further and consider including you and your thoughts in our book.

Thanks for your help!

Sunday night, my friend Leo Laporte had a wonderful panel of experts discuss the media, social media and colleges on his popular This Week in Tech podcast. I highly recommend you listen to it. The panel included Don Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital and Grown Up Digital, the father-son duo or Jeff and Jake Jarvis and social media expert, Gina Trapani. During the show they share a lot of opinions on social media, the future of colleges and the generation rising into the the college scene.

I highly recommend college administrators and faculty listen to this show. In the middle they discuss Google Wave - for those interested, I encourage you to also listen to this part - but if you are not, fast forward about 10 minutes and listen to them continue their discussion about colleges, education and needed changes in pedagogy. Jake, the 17 year old on the panel, shares his thoughts on being taught to the test to play the game and get into a good college. Startling comments.

You can listen or subscribe from iTunes or simply listen from your browser.

For as long as I can remember (as far back as my senior thesis for my undergraduate degree on the costs and pricing of higher education), I’ve always had a nagging question about how colleges and universities price themselves.

In my last position at a university, I was “at the table” for discussions of pricing at all levels. I remember researching costs at competing schools, reviewing CPI trends, helping to generate profit-loss statements for the three major areas of the university (undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies) and making recommendations. In the end, a bottom up pricing model peppered with what I like to call “pulled from your butt” market-based increases in tuition was the ultimate decision, mirroring trends in private higher education tuition increases from year to year.

But now decades after my first day sitting across from a parent and having to explain what “gapping” was in their financial aid package, and now during what appears to be the most significant economic crisis my generation has experienced, a parent of a prospective college student tells us that we’ve reached the tipping point - the point where parents are not only frustrated by the cost of higher education, but now make decisions based on it.

You may have read this parent’s letter to Northeastern University. It’s nothing new, it’s just the first time I’ve seen it published online for all to read and comment.

For those colleges that are finally listening. For those colleges that may ultimately be forced to change come May 1st’s reality. For those colleges that see “the tipping point” and take a lead on change. These will be the colleges of the future. Those that choose to ignore the loud, screaming and poignant message from Robert, I believe you are risking the future of your institution - no matter how large your reputation may be.

The times they aren’t a changing. They already have.