Sunday night #uspherechat on Twitter

Hello Twitterati!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, you should learn -- Twitter, according to compete.com, is the 3rd largest social network in the world!

Twitter allows you to share quick updates answering the question "what are you doing?"

We've done our part to help share information about the "going-to-college" process on Twitter through something called a #uspherechat.

Really, it's a U Sphere chat, on Twitter, where you take over and experts answer your questions. The "#" allows for easier search when you visit http://search.twitter.com. In fact, try that now and type in #uspherechat and see what pops up. Go ahead, we'll wait.

Fun, huh? Past guest schools have included:

@unewhaven
@SDSU_NewsTeam
@RMIT

And guest experts included:
@aljamiat
@mariana_66
@collegeadvice
@joeycoleman

This week's chat takes place at 9PM Eastern Time in the USA on Sunday, 2/22. Join in!

Sunday Night Stickam with uSphere and Special Guests

Coming this Sunday Night, January 18, uSphere presents Sunday Night Stickam -- A Video-Enabled Web Chat with college admissions experts. And none of them trying to sell you something; they'll all be sharing their expertise on this whole "going to college" process.

Dave from uSphere will moderate the discussion and we've booked (so far) Paul Lloyd Hemphill from VideoCollegeCoach and an admissions counselor from one of our fave schools, Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. (MOre college admissions reps to come.)

The university types on the chat will be sharing tips on how they find you, how you can stand out, and what scholarship dollars and financial aid money is really out there.

My buddy Paul will make sure you know what he helps his clients with -- some tried-and-true strategies for getting in.

And about this Stickam thing? It's a mind-blowingly cool web chat tool with all sorts of ways to connect.

Students: we guarantee you'll learn something.

Parents: we guarantee your kids will learn something.

Colleges and universities: if you want to get on board, follow @usphere on Twitter and send me a note there.

uSphere and Twitter and Ning used in the same sentence...

We've had an interesting week here at uSphere headquarters. Some of it is subtle (uSphere vs. U Sphere), and some of it a lot more blatant. All in the name of helping kids and colleges connect.

And, on Saturday, we had a really interesting exchange that can actually justify our using uSphere and Twitter and Ning in the same sentence. Here goes:

Our nascent (SAT word) social network, which you can join by clicking here, is hosted by a company called Ning. Theirs is the DIY social network tool and we're big fans.

Yesterday, though, we ran into a minor blip -- what turns out to have been less than 20 minutes of downtime. And what helped fix it? Twitter.

I sent a note to Ning's customer service team and, while I was getting impatient, posted on Twitter (you can follow me here) that I wasn't happy. Within minutes, MINUTES, I was twittered back and told that all was fixed -- there were a few networks with the same issues, the tech team was on the case, and downtime was minimized.

And I have a new friend, http://twitter.com/lauraoatning.

We've seen schools have similar success with twitter (Butler's admissions team, for instance), and, in this instant gratification society, well, it's another way to connect and get answers, like, now.