Workshop Day 1

What Is Social Media?

Wordle of WeAreMedia participant burning questions:


Using the Internet to collaborate, share information, and have a conversation about ideas and causes we care about. The conversation is not controlled, not organized, and not on message.

The use of social media is growing, but not everyone is a social media user.

Right now, social media might be considered disruptive technology. Social media won't be disruptive technology for long because disruptive technology is constantly evolving (PCs were once considered disruptive technology!).

New term

Online social graph: the map being constructed by social networking sites of every person on the Internet and how they are connected.

What's the Benefit?

Spreading awareness, creating a community, creating a presence, getting other people involved, virality, empowering an audience, learning about your audience, telling your story

The Limitations?

While it is useful, social media is not a life raft. Our main website also needs to be a strong, carefully crafted presence.

However, the main website also needs to play well with social media sites. That means not just the platform but the process and people for updating it. In the era of social media an effective website must be dynamic and "carefully crafted" must not imply static or slow moving. Embedding media, cross-promoting MIIS social media sites, and aggregating news from MIIS blogs must be part of the DNA of miis.edu in order to achieve the maximum benefit from our social media efforts.

Our online presence is an untapped arena of community, participation, and functionality that can better serve the MIIS community. We should use online media to represent ourselves to the world and share the stories of the Institute.

Types of bogs
-institutional blog
-aggregates content
-specialized content
-personality

Flipping the Funnel by Seth Godin

We Need Strategy!

Fears About Social Media

• Loss of control over branding and messages
• Negative comments
• Addressing personality versus organizational voice
• Fear of failure
• Perception of wasted time and resources
• Suffering from information overload already, this will cause more

We need to turn these concerns around. Education and demonstration helps.

Measurement

American Red Cross method

• pick a project that won't take much time
• write down successes
• write down challenges
• determine what worked and what didn't
• watch other nonprofits and copy & remix for your next project

Tactical Approaches and Tools

Listen

Who is already blogging in our area of interest? What are they saying? Know what is being said online about your organization and your field. Listening leads to participation.
Corresponding tools: RSS feeds, Google Alerts, Technorati, Twitter, Radian6

Participate

Share content: Share your story and allow the rest of our community to share their stories as well. Who will respond and in what circumstances? How will we address negative comments? What is the GOAL of our participation? How are we engaging people and encouraging content creation?
Corresponding tools: Backtype, Twitter

Generate Buzz

Community building & social networking: How can we connect the members of our community?
Corresponding tools: de.li.cious, digg, StumbleUpon, friendfeed, utterli, Twitter

Community Building & Social Networking

How will MIIS represent itself on social networks?

Introducing New Media to Key Decision-Makers

Assigned Reading

Definition of Social Media by Liz Strauss
A Primer on Social Media by Jocelyn Harmon
Is Web 2.0 Software You Purchase from Microsoft and other Stupid Questions You Might Be Afraid to Ask by Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

Reflection

The concept of social media may be relatively new to key decision-makers at MIIS. Rob and I must consider how we will introduce Twitter and explain why becoming part of the Twitterverse is so important.

Explaining Twitter to those unacquainted with the service is no easy task. Since microblogging is still relatively new, it is often misunderstood by those who are tech-savvy. I would compare Twitter to a blog, but also stress the fact that each "entry" is limited to 140 characters. These Twitter updates (or "tweets") are much shorter than a normal blog entry; therefore, it will take much less time to prepare and update Twitter than to maintain a normal blog.

I would begin by showing examples of how other higher ed institutions are using Twitter:

• Google Doc: Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom
  The number of interesting ways is always evolving as more educators contribute to the list.


• Twitter @ Butler University
  These blog entries were written by Brad J. Ward, former e-communications director at Butler.


• Top 10 Higher-Ed Web Design Mistakes in 140
  Stewart Foss of eduStyle recently used Twitter to compile a list of the top 10 higher ed web design mistakes.

Twitter can be used in many different ways, so we should have an audience/focus in mind before we present our idea to the key decision-makers. Because the Monterey Institute is so small, I think it would be wise to begin with only one Twitter account (as opposed to some schools who have a separate Twitter name for admissions, athletics, etc.).

Finally, we must show the decision-makers how easy it will be to implement. We will have to decide who will have access to the MIIS Twitter account (probably more than one person) and how often they will be responsible for posting. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, we can provide examples of appropriate tweets. Each tweet should serve a purpose (such as promoting an event, announcing a deadline change, introducing a new MIIS employee, and so on).

In order to be successful on Twitter, we will also need to keep track of who is tweeting about MIIS and follow up with them if needed (I especially believe this after reading Ten 10 Reasons to Monitor Twitter as a University or College). "Following" people who follow MIIS on Twitter will also increase our credibility and help expand our Twitter network.

WeAreMedia Workshop: Pre-Workshop Activity

Who We Are

We are Kristen and Rob from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

Kristen Byers
New Media Development Specialist
Kristen leads and collaborates in the development of web and new media content initiatives. She also helps others develop digital media production skills.


Rob Horgan
Enrollment Manager
Rob manages the recruiting office's presence on both English and foreign language social networking sites, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

MIIS is currently using social media in a variety of ways:

Blogs: MIIS uses a variety of student and staff blogs. One of these blogs, the Monterey Focus, combines the RSS feeds of several blogs to create a more comprehensive resource for students, faculty, and staff.

Delicious: This social bookmarking tool has been used by several staff members to share useful websites with one another. We hope to expand on this idea with the debut of a new student portal; we would like to see a delicious portion where students can begin collecting links to digital resources for portfolio development purposes.

Facebook: The Institute currently manages a Facebook page with over 1,600 fans. The Facebook page is used to promote upcoming events, aggregate MIIS-related RSS feeds, and allow prospective/current students and alumni to network.

Flickr: MIIS has a Flickr account containing a modest 307 public photos. Steps are in place to turn this into a much larger photo repository in the near future.

iTunes U: MIIS recently debuted a public presence on iTunes U. We have also started an initiative called "Global Voices" to help populate our iTunes U site with interesting content.

LinkedIn: The MIIS LinkedIn Group welcomes all current students, faculty, and alumni for professional development networking.

Ning: Bob Cole recently created a Ning to use as a class space for MW 580: Digital Media For Change. We are curious to see how he uses Ning to enhance his series of workshops.

Twitter: The recruiting office recently created a Twitter account and we are currently researching how to tweet effectively.

Yammer: Yammer is the communication tool of choice among many staff members at the Institute. It's great for sharing ideas and events and encourages collaboration across departments.

YouTube: The MIIS YouTube channel, organized into a variety of playlists, offers a glimpse at the diverse fields of study offered at MIIS.

Personal Experience Using Social Media

Kristen is a blogger of 10 years and has been a member of Facebook since August 2004. She is also an avid Twitter user and maintains an active profile on LinkedIn.

Rob is intrigued by social media, although he is relatively new to some of it. Rob helps manage the MIIS presences on Facebook, mixi (a Japanese social networking site), and YouTube. He is a member of LinkedIn and is also familiar with Second Life. Right now Rob is trying to understand the Twitter phenomenon. Maybe you can help him?

The Future of Social Media @ MIIS

The main MIIS website is currently undergoing an extensive redesign. We would like to make media (including social media) the main focus of the new site. By attending the WeAreMedia workshop, we hope to gain a better understanding of where to place our blogs, videos, and social networks in order to maximize their effectiveness. We are also interested in learning strategies and best practices for microblogging; specifically, we would like to create a successful MIIS presence on Twitter.