Social Media Overview

The University of Oregon American Sign Language Club was founded in 2001 as an outlet for learning and practicing American Sign Language (ASL). The club promotes and organizes activities for National Deaf Awareness Week, as well as other cultural events on campus. Other activities organized by the club include weekly “Sign and Dine” social meetings, where members of the club meet at local restaurants to practice their conversational skills over dinner. Johanna Larson, a professor of the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department of the University of Oregon and native ASL speaker, acts as faculty advisor for the club.

The ASL Club would benefit from participating in social media because it is in need of publicity, especially among students at the university. To accomplish its goals as an organization, it first needs to make people aware that the club exists. Blog writing and the Facebook site are both examples of social media that would allow the club to gain public awareness. Social media can be a highly useful tool for enhancing both awareness and image of an organization. Writing a blog and participating in a social media networking site, such as the Facebook, are two ways that the club can use social media for its own benefit.

Participation in social media is a new way in which people with shared interests can spread and share information. They are also venues where passionate individuals can express feelings and encourage discussion. Communicating through social media allows an organization to establish an identity, receive feedback and engage in dialogue with other social media participants.

Social media enables instant sharing of information through video as well as text. Because ASL is a visual language, social media is an especially effective way to communicate with those who are part of the deaf community.

The widespread coverage and growing popularity of social media will allow the club to reach a larger and broader range of potential members than its Web site alone. More awareness of the club could also generate funding from companies interested in promoting the club’s goals.

Using social media would also be an excellent way for the club to establish and promote its own image. Currently, it is unclear what ASL Club’s image is. The club’s Web site does not clearly state the group’s purpose or define its goals. With a clearly established image, it will be easier for potential members to decide whether they want to be a part of the club.

Social media can also enable leaders within the club to gather input and feedback directly from their target audience and use that information to more effectively manage their reputation. By properly managing their reputation, ASL Club can gain popularity among students, faculty and deaf citizens to increase its number of members and its impact on the community.

Target Audiences

• Our first target audience is University of Oregon students ages 18-25 of all ethnicities and genders, especially those who are currently learning American Sign Language or are enrolled in classes within the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department. This includes any student with an interest in learning sign language or spreading campus and community awareness of deaf culture. This target audience is made up of both latent and aware publics. The latent public is the students who maybe know about sign language and are interested in the deaf community but do not know about the club. The active public includes students who know about the club, want to participate in it, and have few barriers in doing so.

• Our second target audience is University of Oregon faculty of all ages, ethnicities and genders, especially those who are part of the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department. This includes any faculty member who is interested in expanding community awareness of deaf culture and language or who support student-run organizations. These will most likely be people with a high level of involvement. This is an active public, with high problem recognition and campus involvement. This public seeks information and usually acts on it. Usually, this group of people also has low levels of constraints.

Objective

To spread awareness of and increase involvement in the American Sign Language Club at the University of Oregon.

Strategy

Social Media Forms

The first form of social media used to accomplish our objective will be a Facebook group. Facebook is a social networking Web site that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People can use Facebook to create a personal profile, organize groups and events, upload photos, share links and videos, and communicate with a wide range of people. In this case, we will use the Facebook site to create an ASL Club group and create events throughout the year.

The Facebook group will focus on gaining members and spreading awareness of the ASL Club locally. It will also highlight local news and events related to the Deaf community.

The second social media used will be a blog. A blog is a Web page diary made up of multiple entries called “posts.” Blogs often contain links to other sources of information, such as other blogs, videos and news stories. Each post also has its own Web address and a place where viewers may post comments.

People read blogs to gain information on a subject that interests them. They can also be a way for groups such as the ASL Club to find people who are passionate about their area of expertise. In blogs, content is refreshed on a weekly basis, causing it to quickly rise to the top of the listings in search engine results. Therefore, it reaches many people.

The word “blogosphere” refers to the collection of information through the use of blogs over the Internet. It is the web of information sharing and receiving from blogger to blogger and from blogger to outside viewers.

Active Listening

ASL Club will read and listen to what our fans and critics say about us in their own blogs and Facebook groups. We will do this by subscribing to new blogs and Facebook groups that focus on the deaf community and ASL.

We will monitor the blogosphere by using Google Reader. Google Reader is an aggregator tool used to subscribe to RSS and Atom feeds. Feeds are lists of updated items that are published from many types of Web sites. An aggregator is a type of software used by people who want to keep up with many other blogs. The aggregator finds new RSS files and displays the headlines to the user. This allows the user to manage feeds, label them, and share feeds with others.

Outreach

We will also reach out to the deaf blogging community by actively reading and commenting on ASL-related blogs before and after creating our own blog. We will also emphasize our readers’ needs by including information in our comments and blog posts that our readers would be interested in. It will be our goal to ensure that these bloggers receive the latest information first so that they are always the first to know.

Engagement

The blog will be written by the ASL Club’s outreach officer following approval of the group’s faculty advisor, Jo Larson. Because of Larson’s high level of experience and expertise in the subject, she will act as a monitor of both the blog and Facebook group. This monitoring will ensure the accuracy of information shared and overall effectiveness of communication. The blog will focus on news and events in the deaf community, both nationally and locally. Although the Facebook group will have a local focus, the blog will attempt to share national news and find its significance locally.

Any negative buzz that may spread as a result of the blog will be responded to in four easy steps:

1. Apologize to the audience.

2. Explain the reasoning behind why we said what we did.

3. Empathize with the audience.

4. Explain how we plan on fixing the situation.

Tactics

We will accomplish our objective by creating a Facebook group and blog that focuses on news, events and opportunities associated with American Sign Language and the deaf community. We will attract more members and create a well-defined, positive image of the ASL Club by creating and maintaining these two social media outlets. This will not only attract more members, but it will also allow current members to stay informed of events in which the club participates.

Our Facebook group will be created in the following steps:

1. Create a new “open” Facebook group with help of Web Master Pat Cunningham, which will allow all Facebook users to view and join the group. This will also make the group appear in all Facebook search results.

2. Create a description of the club that includes a synopsis of the club’s activities, goals, and brief history within the University of Oregon ASL Club group page. Post contact information of the president of the club, including an e-mail address and link to the updated club Web site.

3. List club officers in the group “Officers” section. Have each officer write a small, one to two-paragraph introduction about themselves to post on the group “Wall.”

4. Post photos from past ASL club activities, including one photo of the entire club with all members tagged.

5. Post a link to the ASL Browser Web site, an online sign-language dictionary that utilizes video communication.

6. Post a calendar of ASL club meetings and events.

7. Post comments on upcoming ASL events and other local deaf community news in the “Recent News” section of the group’s page.

8. Have all ASL club officers invite all of their Facebook friends to join the group.

9. Create Facebook events and invite all ASL Club group members and potential members to participate.

10. Update the Facebook group with recent news stories, events and changes to the calendar as they arise.

Our blog will be created in the following steps:

1. View blogs listed on the “Top Ten Blogs to Watch” appendix and post comments to actively participate in the blogosphere before creating our own blog.

2. Work with Web Master Pat Cunningham to create a blog using Wordpress.com.

3. Create an “About Me” section that gives a synopsis of what the ASL Club is, who makes up the club, and the club’s goals.

4. Create a Technorati link to prepare for measuring results of the blog.

5. Create an RSS button, so readers can bookmark the blog.

6. Have ASL’s outreach officer, the author of the blog, write an introduction post. This post will introduce the author of the blog, the purpose of creating the blog, and its audience. Jo Larson, faculty advisor, will also write an introduction post that contains biographical information including her experience and education in American Sign Language. This will help build trust among readers and add to the credibility of the blog. Photos of both people will be included with their introduction posts.

7. Post links to other sources of sign language-related news, with special attention to video links. Video links will be more attractive to Deaf viewers than plain text.

8. Publish weekly posts about American Sign Language and the Deaf community. Each post is required to include at least one picture and two in-text links. Jo Larson will approve each post for content and delivery before it is published.

Evaluation

Success in achieving our objective will be determined by different factors for each of the social media. To measure effectiveness of the Facebook group, we will first look at the number of people who have joined the group. High numbers of Facebook members will let us know that we are successfully spreading awareness of ASL club. Feedback from Facebook members written on the “Wall” of our Facebook group will also give us an idea of the attitudes felt towards our organization. This will aid in determining whether we have been successful in defining and promoting a positive image of the organization. As events are created and members are invited, our success will be measured by the number of people who RSVP to the event and then actually show up to participate. Higher numbers in participation will tell us that our Facebook event messages are not only reaching people but also inspiring them to become active participants.

To measure the effectiveness of our blog, we will use the same measures pertaining to event participation, along with a few other tools. First, we will use our Technorati account to measure the number of people who have visited the blog and marked it as one of their favorites. The content of comments posted by viewers of the blog will give us an idea of the image viewers have of our organization. The “blog stats” button and incoming links on Wordpress will also give us information about our effectiveness. The “stats” button will give us information about how many posts, comments, and categories are on our site. The incoming links information will tell us who has pinged or trackbacked to our site. This will help us determine link popularity for our site and will give us an idea of who thought our site's material was worthy of praise.

Blog Code of Ethics

Although ASL Club understands the value of transparency in blogging and remaining a credible and believable source to our readers, we feel it is equally important to eliminate comments that only detract from the purpose of the blog. While most comments are helpful in understanding our audience and creating an inviting, open atmosphere for discussion on the subject matter, some comments can be irrelevant or hurtful to readers. We also believe that if a reader would like to make a comment about our blog, he or she should identify themself and own what they write.

Here is our code of ethics statement to which we will hold all blog comments accountable:

“The University of Oregon American Sign Language Club blog does not accept comments from anonymous sources. We will refuse all comments that are used to harass or threaten others, misrepresent another person, violate obligations of confidentiality or privacy to others, or whose content is not pertinent to the subject and goals of the blog. All posts are written by ASL Club President (insert name of president here) and are screened for content and accuracy by Jo Larson, University of Oregon professor of American Sign Language and faculty advisor of ASL Club.”