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We recently hosted a webinar featuring Tom DeLapp, a communications industry veteran with over 35 years of experience, to discuss best practices and proven strategies for effective messaging using multiple modes and methods of communication. These days it seems like there are more ways to communicate than ever before. From phones to text messages to email to Facebook to Twitter, there are numerous ways for people to engage others in a conversation.

In our fourth installment of the Blackboard Connect™ social media integration feature spotlight, we look at Pikes Peak Community College, a commuter college in Colorado Springs, CO, using social media in conjunction with Blackboard Connect to keep students informed. Long ago, before Farmville, Scrabble and Which-Jersey-Shore-Character-Are-You quizzes, Facebook was a place exclusively for college students to interact, converse and share information in a public online forum. Despite the repeated onslaught of friend requests from dear Aunt Millie, seventy-two percent of young adults (18- to 29-year-olds) are using Facebook to socialize and communicate with friends. It is no surprise that colleges and universities are flocking to today’s popular social networking channels, including Twitter, in addition to Facebook, to further expand communication efforts and to reach students in a familiar environment outside the classroom.

When our clients asked for expanded language translation features, we listened. We recently released the latest version of Blackboard Connect Release 4.2 with upgrades and feature enhancements, and expanded language translation functionality. Now, users can translate voice scripts and e-mails into a wider range of foreign languages. What exactly does this mean? For starters, where users previously could only save a translated script, now both the translated script and the original English version can be saved. We’ve also expanded the language selections for voice scripts (now available for 10 languages) and text-to-speech messages (now with 17 languages to choose from). Additionally, users can choose a text-to-speech option to translate, which then automatically reads the voice messages. Finally, voice scripts and e-mails can be translated with just one click.

Remember when we shattered our previous record by delivering over 13 million messages in one day – just two weeks ago? Well, thanks to the powerful winter snow storm sweeping across the country, we have broken that record again and set a new precedent for delivering messages. On Tuesday, Feb. 1, Blackboard mass notification tools sent out more than 18.5 19.2 million messages – including phone calls, e-mail and SMS messages. A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain caused treacherous conditions in 30 states across the Midwest. In record force, schools, universities and local municipalities turned to Blackboard to send calls notifying parents of school closures, students of cancelled classes and residents of dangerous road conditions. Once again, our superior capacity is proven as no other competitor can deliver messages as quickly.

As evident from the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, pandemics can happen at any time, anywhere. In this day and age of transient populations, pandemics pose a serious threat as they can easily spread across borders and continents. Such significant global human and economic implications from pandemics demand proper preparation procedures to be in place, especially in terms of communication.