Need to request publishing access to share information about Ball State news and events? Have questions about guidelines? Need training on how to send messages? You’ve come to the right place.

Publishing on Behalf of Student Organizations

Students who want to send messages on behalf of a student organization should use Benny Link, which has a form for this purpose. Once you sign in with your Ball State credentials, you will find the form on the homepage under the header "Communication Center Announcement Requests."

Visit Benny Link

Communications Center Guidelines

Publishers must use the Communications Center only for University-related news and events. Because the Communications Center is a self-service platform, publishers are responsible for all content and for selecting appropriate categories and audiences. Read the guidelines.

Frequency of Communications

By default, all faculty, staff, and students receive a daily digest email, sent early each business day. This email is a compilation of articles published by 3 p.m. the previous day in categories the recipient subscribes to.

Subscribers have four choices for how they receive notifications from the Communications Center. They may select any of the following options for each category:

  • Immediate: An email is sent as soon as an article is published to the category to which recipients subscribe at this frequency.
  • Daily (default): A digest sent each business day highlights articles from the previous day for each category. Articles must be published prior to 3 p.m. Eastern Time to be eligible for the next daily digest.
  • Weekly: A weekly digest is sent on Fridays with the current week’s posts for each category chosen at this frequency.
  • None: No email messages or digests are sent to the subscriber when new articles are published in the selected categories.

Help Articles

We've provided walkthroughs and articles to help you get the most out of the Communications Center. Learn more.

Request Publishing Access

If you need access to publish content or to change categories, fill out the request form, which will provide Marketing and Communications with the information we need to fulfill the request. Requests must be approved by department heads or unit leaders. Request or change publishing access.

Frequently Asked Questions

In early 2020, the Communications Center underwent a reconstruction that changed the way articles are delivered to campus subscribers. By giving subscribers more control over the frequency in which they receive notifications, the number of emails directed to students, faculty, and staff were dramatically reduced.

In March of 2021, additional updates were made to the administrative/publisher side of the Communications Center, changing the way users write, edit, and publish articles. The streamlined interface allows publishers more control over their content while also giving them the ability to edit published articles and remove articles altogether.

To familiarize yourself with these updates, see our Communications Center help guides.

The Communications Center provides two methods of delivery: web and email. Instead of having two separate options for email and web, publisher now check the box to "Publish Article" before proceeding to the next step.

Each article created by an author is automatically published to the Communications Center website. Recipients will then receive email notifications based on their chosen delivery frequency: immediately, daily, weekly, or not at all.

Recipients who have chosen immediate notification for particular categories receive a direct email once the article is published. The article is also included in daily and weekly digests, with categories chosen by the recipients. The default is the daily digest, sent in the morning of each business day.

In your articles, you are free to encourage your subscribers to select immediate notifications for your category.

All digests will be sent from commcenter@bsu.edu. Please be sure you can receive emails from that address.

A daily digest is sent by email every business day with articles that match one or more categories recipients have selected to receive daily. Each daily digest is curated by the recipient, so the digests will vary.

Content included in the daily digest must be published before 3 p.m. Eastern Time on the previous business day. Articles published at 3 p.m. and after will be included in the next daily digest. The system compiles article based on time of delivery (the time and date chosen by the publisher) rather than when they were created in the Communications Center.

A weekly digest is sent every Friday with articles published one or more categories recipients have selected to receive weekly. Each weekly digest is curated by the recipient, so the digests will vary. Recipient who selected no categories for weekly notifications will not receive a weekly digest. The weekly digest is a collection of articles that were already published from the previous week.

A top stories digest is sent every Monday with the most popular articles on commcenter.bsu.edu. That is, articles the campus community visited the most over the past week. Each recipient who subscribes to top stories will receive the same articles via email.

Because subscribers are given the freedom to select the frequency in which they receive Communications Center notifications, most of your audience will see your content as part of the daily digest.

By default as of February 4, 2020, subscribers receive a daily digest each business day that includes articles published before 3 p.m. the previous business day. This means articles you publish before 3 p.m. on a given day will not reach your intended audience until early the next business day. If published at or after 3 p.m. on a given day, it will not appear until the business day after the next. The system compiles article based the time and date of delivery chosen by the publisher, displayed under the “Delivered” tab, rather than when they were created in the Communications Center.

In the examples below, we define “publish” as when articles were delivered.

Examples

  • If you publish content to the Communications Center on a Wednesday at 2:45 p.m., subscribers will see it in their daily digest the following Thursday morning. Because the article was published before 3 p.m., it will appear in subscribers' daily digest the proceeding business day.
  • If you publish content to the Communications Center on Monday at 5:30 p.m., subscribers will see it in their daily digest the following Wednesday morning. Because the article was published after 3 p.m., it will appear in subscribers' daily digest the day after the immediately following business day.
  • If you publish content to the Communications Center on Thursday at 9 p.m., subscribers will see it in their daily digest the following Monday morning. Because the article was published after 3 p.m., it will appear in subscribers' daily digest the next business day after the immediately following business day. Because Saturday and Sunday are not business days, it will not be seen in a digest until Monday.

University leadership—the vice presidents and college deans—has approved publishers for their respective areas. Therefore, you should work with an authorized publisher in your department or unit to publish your content. Contact commcenter@bsu.edu if you need to know the authorized publishers in your area.

The content you publish becomes public. When you publish an article, it is posted to commcenter.bsu.edu, which is discoverable through search engines and also shareable on social media. Because of this, sensitive information should not be posted to the Communications Center.

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