College Student Communication

January 14, 2009

“Blanket Email Syndrome” : The numb communicational state that students develop after receiving a series of mass emails, in which, the majority of the content is irrelevant.

In our travels to colleges and universities across the country, we have met numerous administrators who are frustrated with their ability to open lines of communication with students. Many have gone to the great lengths of directly text messaging students themselves. Others will turn their heads away from their computer screen to avoid seeing photos on Facebook. Campus life administrators have found themselves in the difficult situation of trying to disseminate large amounts of vital information without “crying wolf”; possibly turning off the student body to their list-serve (or blanket) emails. The causes of blanket email syndrome are not rooted in student apathy, but in the average students’ sense of urgency and the relevance of given information.

It is safe to say that technology has sped up the campus world, and in the daily touch-and-go lifestyle most students adhere to, students have found faster methods of communication. Mobile technology and the internet provide an increasing number of ways to communicate, and there is no question as to whom the primary adopters of these new technologies has been. One administrator recently reported, “My student body president told me yesterday that she only uses email to talk to old people!”

Despite the wonderful sense of humor this administrator had to a comment most would wince at, the message was pretty clear. The average student has already settled on their preferred methods of communication by the time they reach college, and some may even call it an early establishment of a digital identity. However, to reach a particular student, one must now either know the student-preferred channels of communication, or in the case of email, that student must know you.

We can spend as much time as we like trying to decipher new web platforms like Facebook, MySpace, or even Twitter (for the super-savvy). However, these are only changes in the chosen channels of communication. To get to the root of the cause of “blanket email syndrome” ask yourself, how often do you read the entire newspaper? Most people don’t do that these days. There isn’t enough time in the day, and most of us would rather get a summary of topics we care about from CNN.com or another news service.

Super-involved students we meet (the extremely diligent) report that they know their inbox and particularly which emails are the mass emails. They will usually skim or delete the mass emails. They too, would much rather get straight to the pertinent information, or get a CNN.com update of their world. They aren’t complacent because they don’t care, they just require relevant communication. The biggest social network of students in the United States today is Facebook, with 65% of their users logging in every day. When a student logs in to Facebook, only the relevant information – information that pertains to the user alone – is instantly seen, and that’s interesting.

It is easy to get a student to read your first and second emails, but if they aren’t engaged by the content, then the tendency is to judge future incoming emails as superfluous, boring, or even a waste of time. The name of the game is “relevance” and the more you are able to get relevant content to the right people, the more responsive and engaged the students will be.

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  • http://www.universitybusiness.com Ann

    Do you feel this applies to prospects AND enrolled students?
    It would seem enrolled students should have more motivation to open the “boring” e-mails because the information might actually affect their lives.

  • http://blog.swiftkickonline.com Tom Krieglstein

    Ann – I think that is the justification from adults to not adjust to the changing communication channels, which I would say are better than the ones we are used to like email. I think we should not try and push students to use email more cause that is our preferred communication channel, but rather focus on changing our habits/systems/technology.

  • Daniel Ware

    I couldn’t agree more with Tom. As a college student (freshmen) I do know what the blanket e-mail addresses are and I do just click on them put them in my trash bin. I do this because after like the first five e-mails I saw that it had nothing to do with me.

    As for Ann what you said it does apply to both types of students. By the time I got to high school I was plugged into my-space and facebook and when I got to college I use only facebook and twitter for my day to day communication outside my cell phone but that’s a totally different topic in it-self.

    The only time I check e-mail is at the start of the semester if I know that the teacher etc. is older (wiser or whatever you want to call them) people over the age of 40.

    But my classes where the teachers etc are a younger age we chat on facebook or IM and one even texts to his students.

    So in my I think that if you want to communicate on a day to day with students social networks are the way to go, and yes some people choose to exercise there right of freedom of speech etc. on the facebook, myspace, etc. as to point of saying things or having pictures that the teacher etc. may not approve but it is there right to do.

    So that is what I think and if anyone wants to chat im on facebook.

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