The New York Times has an interesting article on what many of us have already picked up on: younger alumni don't give a hoot about class notes when they can get up-to-the-second updates on Facebook from former classmates.
I'll go one step further and say that younger alumni aren't involved in a school's alumni association anyway to even receive the alumni mag with class notes. You look at most alumni association's rosters, and it's heavily weighted toward the 50 and up crowd.
I think back to last year when a coworker and I conducted a focus group for our alumni association. The youngest alum who came was 35-ish. Not like I'm saying that's not "young," but none of the 25-35 crowd we sought could be bothered to come. We even singled out a couple and begged, but they were too busy or just didn't care enough.
It's hard to talk to younger alumni about how the association could better communicate with them when they can't even make time to talk. (Makes me think we should try some kinda online Facebook chat session/focus group or something)
It will be interesting to see how the strategies of alumni magazines and even alumni associations change as they realize the eyeballs (and dollars) of younger graduates are elsewhere.
Monday, June 2, 2008
News of the Obvious: Younger Alumni Turn to Facebook Versus Class Notes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I think it may depend upon the institution. It seems like we're all still bowing to older alumni.
At my previous institution (of which I am also an alum), our re-branding caused a stir b/c the alumni were upset. Truth be told, it was just a handful of older alums.
I think eventually alumni, advancement and other such offices in higher ed will have to embrace new techniques to stay in touch and keep their alums a part of the college/university's community.
Feeling as though one is still a part of that community will keep them engaged and ultimately keep their money coming in.
Good post.
Thanks for the comment, Susan.
We are in a unique time now because we can't put all our eggs in one basket. We have to be able to speak to our older and younger alumni -- two very different strategies.
Post a Comment