Baylor University spreads campus news through blog

Written in a light tone, blog delivers university news better than press releases ever did

College students don’t care about press releases. An alumnus won’t read stale university copy. And professors pay no attention to e-mails announcing yet another university award.

So what can university communicators do? Follow Baylor University’s lead and jump on the social media bandwagon.

In August 2007, Baylor launched Baylor Proud, a blog that delivers positive news, written in a playful voice, to external and internal audiences.

And by all measures, the blog is a roaring success. Averaging 850 page views daily and 6,000 unique visitors monthly, the blog’s conversational tone appeals to Baylor’s audience much more than lackluster press releases ever did.

“Our goal with this is to tell the news the way a rabid fan of the university would,” said Jeff Brown, assistant director of Baylor magazine and special projects, who moderates the blog. “It’s so easy for universities to be stodgy in the ways that they write things and to make it very high academic sounding,”