To notify us of other social media accounts, use the social media start-up form.
EFANS communications will partner with you to create blogs at the program level or higher. These blogs will use the blog template. Examples: Yard and Garden News is the newsletter for the consumer horticulture program; Minnesota Crop News is the crops area’s primary vehicle for timely information. Banner image and color scheme can be customized for each blog, within University and Extension graphic standards. These blogs must use the University UThink system, which runs on Moveable Type.
Before we agree to create a blog for your program, you must demonstrate that:
Requests for program blogs should be submitted like other projects, through the new project request form. These requests are considered on a quarterly basis. Submission does not guarantee acceptance. As mentioned above, submitters will be asked to commit to updating the blog regularly, and encouraged to develop a posting plan. We need to know that this is a high priority for your program that will be sustainably supported. Though there will often be multiple authors, it is essential that there is one point person with whom we work to develop the blog. If your project is undertaken, we will manage the development process beginning with a kickoff meeting to clarify objectives and intended impacts, and to develop a project plan.
Training for authors is necessarily minimal, as the EFANS communications office does not have the resources to support ongoing training and troubleshooting. Please refer to this step-by-step guide [.pdf].
Feeds from program blogs will be incorporated into program pages (we are working on this capability) and program websites, as requested.
Comments: We recommend these remain turned on, and should be answered promptly by authors when an answer is required. Part of assessing a program’s request to start a blog will include this conversation about planning for the time needed to maintain new online relationships with readers.
For initiatives, individuals, teams, and projects below the program level (e.g a course), EFANS communications will not offer the program blog template. It is important to reserve this more official template for external communications of significant reach. When a non-program blog is requested, either through the project request form or more informally, we will direct the requester to the available all-purpose Extension template (in development). This is a basic template with the Extension logo. We will not offer training for these blogs, but will make the UThink training document available.
If you set up a blog using this method, let us know through the social media start-up form.
Whether or not they use the UThink system, blogs not related to your Extension work should not use the Extension logo, nor should they be advertised using Extension listservs. Individuals can have official Extension blogs (see above) but if the blogs are personal in nature, they should remain separate from the individual’s Extension role.
Several newsletters, such as Minnesota Crop News and Yard and Garden News, switched from a static, centrally-updated web page to a dynamic, educator-updated blog.
Benefits to Extension faculty:
Benefits for the readers:
Benefits for the EFANS community:
What stays the same:
What changes: