A Student Perspective on How to Teach Social Media

In Mark Hausman’s blog, founder and CEO of Strategic Communications Group, he discusses the failure of universities in teaching social media and Web 2.0. He was surprised that a group of about 40 junior and sophomore communications majors were clueless about LinkedIn, Twitter, or even blogs. To his understanding, this group of students was out-of-date in a time when their generation is known as Internet Natives, a surprising observation of the next young professionals. My own experiences can relate.

I used to be completely clueless about social media. To be honest, it scared me, the topic of my first blogpost. It wasn’t until this past summer of my junior year that I was finally immersed into the blogosphere and became a part of a social network. 

So what’s the Problem? How come our next communication professionals aren’t aware and involved with social media?

It comes down to a few things: 

• It’s not an assignment.
• We don’t have time.
• Who would we connect with?

I am speaking from my own experiences here, but for most students we work hard on things that will get us good grades. For me, I spend my time doing assigned work in order to keep my GPA and hold on to my scholarships. I want to prove to my professors that I am worthy of their time, in hopes that they entrust a relationship with me. It is easier to work on projects that directly reflect your level of professionalism and abilities to those around you. 

Time; there really is none in college. Between working a part-time job, interning, being a student, a friend, and even a girlfriend, it’s a lot to handle. When I have free time I will do anything to spend it all outdoors and not in front of my computer. Now, I’m lucky if I get one of those days a term. Unfortunately, that’s where social media comes in. So far, maybe I’m still new to the game, social media has been extremely time consuming, and without my public relations course, I would not be as involved. 

Another obstacle is finding an online community for yourself. As students, we work hard at establishing a community in our dorms, at our work, and in our classes. It takes a lot of effort to find a perfect niche. To do that online, without any guidance, is frightening. How do we know who is important to track and start a conversation with? Do they even care about us? It’s like being a scared little freshman all over again.

What can universities do?

1. Teach them some netiquitte.
   It’s as easy as that. Sure we may be expected to know our way around the Internet, but that doesn’t mean we know how to use it properly. It is even as simple as teaching how to properly research with Google online. By teaching the basics and proper tools and methods, students will be able to gain a more intuitive and efficient way of finding what they need online.
    
2. Make social media part of the curriculum. 
   In my Advanced Writing for PR class at the University of Oregon, Professor Derville has done an excellent job introducing us to social media. Each week we are expected to further our online presence. We are required to write blog posts, add a blog roll, and comment on other blogs. Additionally, we have joined many social networking sites and have gained a new online knowledge. Because social media has been made part of our class, establishing an online community was easy. I am friends with everyone in my class and they are friends with me; a simple network foundation.
    
3. Keep up with your students.
   Our professor checks up on our blogs and social networks regularly. She even follows us on Twitter and promotes our work to her peers and professionals in the field. As a result, I feel as if I am part of a larger and more professional community and I feel privileged to know she cares about my work and my accomplishments.