Office of University Relations

Oh how the world is changing.

Ten year's ago, Azusa Pacific University was in the midst of presenting its first website, a glorified magazine cover with five key places where someone could click and gain information (read very, very basic) about the university. The images were static (read still photography), and the content (words) never changed.

The measurement of success was how many "hits" were counted on a website. The university worked hard to push this information out to the world, to help everyone find the website, so that we could be proud of the literal picture (and words) that presented a portrait of APU to a world-wide audience. Many websites at that time would actually build a counting  function, similar to what you would find at the DMV or Baskin Robbins, that identified the number people who had visited that day.

Wow, how times have changed.

Roll forward 10 years, and 80% of the university's primary contacts are through its website. Dynamic images, short stories via video, chats, blogs, vlogs changing content, social media, pictures and information are all expected, if not demanded. In addition to the content and message being delivered, everyone at the university wants to be on the front page, as their information is perceived as the most important information.

Internal audiences (staff, faculty, and students) now view the university's webite as having a stronger source credibility than internal communication such as email. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are now responsible for directing 85% of the web traffic, making key-words, search engine optimization, and dynamic content tools critical to the success of positioning a website.

Today, it's all about pull, and what the customer wants, right now. Web analytics allow us to watch website behavior, so as to position university information in a manner that best suits the customers needs.

Wow, have times changed.

As I look at the next 10 years, two things ring true, and will be a key part of APU's success, with the medium of a website, or whatever comes next (Facebook, Wiki's, integrated blogs). First, change is a part of today's landscape. What works well today, does not always create success for tomorrow. Second, we have a responsibility to use whatever medium that  provids the greater good in creating community and enhancing relationships.

"The medium is the message," as communication expert Marshall McLuhan was fond of saying. McLuhan said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role, not only by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself.

Have times really changed?