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Most college students are involved in digital and social media. Social media websites can range from Twitter to Wordpress. It is essential to provide a form of contact between the creator and the user. Contact information should be included on every page of a website because it suggests credibility and accountability. There is a certain amount of contact information that should be included. However, there are different types of contact information that college students should include.

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Including an email address in contact information is necessary to stay in touch with the audience. It also adds credibility and accountability to a website.

Credibility

Contact pages allow websites and other forms of social media to appear credible. Contact information provides the audience with an idea of who is responsible for the content. For instance, if a college student created a website on Wordpress including his/her photography portfolio, it would be important to provide a contact page for future employers. When a website includes contact information, the website appears more reliable. In Writing for Digital Media, Carrol suggests ways for a website to appear more credible. Carrol states providing “full contact information and a way to get to it on every page” is essential towards suggesting credibility . The audience or future employers do not want to search for a form of contact; contact information should be easy to obtain.

Accountability

Contact pages form a connection between the creator and the content. The content provided on the social media website holds the creator accountable. An authority is somewhat created when contact information is included. When the audience has questions, they can contact the individual responsible for the website. Gustavo Tosta, JL Garcia, and Juan Cubeddu describe the importance of including a contact/about me page. They state, "This is a very important page as it tells your customer about who you are and why they should buy your products, services and/or trust your organization". The book, Accountability Through Public Opinion, provides an overall statement about accountability: "Access to information, voice, and a communication infrastructure therefore seem to be among the main prerequisites for effective accountability" .

Types of Contact

Full contact information includes a full name and email address. Sometimes college students provide a business phone number or business address, but it is not necessary. Personal phone numbers and home addresses should be excluded in the contact information because it creates a lack of privacy. College students with a Wordpress account can create contact forms at the bottom of each page of their website. Wordpress states, "A contact form is a great way to offer your readers the ability to get in touch, without giving out your personal email address" .

Other types of contact information to include are

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linked in
• Visual CV

References

• Carroll, Brian. Writing for Digital Media. New York: Routledge, 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.
• Tosta, Gustavo, JL Garcia, and Juan Cubeddu. "Most Important Pages to Include on your Website". Web Design Enterprise. Web Design Enterprise and Miami Web Design, 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
• Ed. Obdugemi, Sina, and Taeku Lee. Accountability Through Public Opinion. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
• "Support". Wordpress. Automatic, 9 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.