Social Media Week Comes to San Francisco
Last week, Social Media Week held gatherings in several cities simultaneously, including San Francisco. The conference came to our neck of the woods to educate, evangelize, and advance the use of social media with the help of San Francisco Bay Area executives and companies. Each day presented several opportunities to hear talks, meet people, and geek out about all things social media. Several hot topics were discussed and debated, including location-based services, the role of social networks in the coming decade, how to build a brand on social networks, and more.
What Motivates Students?
Like every week of events surrounding technology, there’s so much learning to be done. But the most important thing that we took away from it wasn’t centered around technology: it was around student engagement. Now of course we’re huge advocates that technology has a role in student engagement, granted that we make Facebook applications for colleges and universities. But every Monday, Social Media Club, the organization behind social media week, sponsors a chat called SMCEDU, for education professionals seeking to incorporate social media into their strategies on campus. And this week’s topic was “What Motivates Students to Participate AND Create Good Content?”
Several universities were represented at this week’s tweetup, including Auburn University, Eastern Michigan University, and University of Oregon. Some of the key takeaways were:
- Good content is considered that which helps others learn.
- Show students the benefits of creating a personal brand.
- Listen to your students, learn how to connect with them.
- Allow students to help develop the [social media] curriculum.
- Focus on social benefits and good, not monetary gain.
“The Future of Social Media in Higher Education”
On the east coast in New York this morning, Social Media Week held a panel discussion at McGraw Hill’s headquarters entitled, “The Future of Social Media in Higher Education.” You can view the 30 minute panel below:
On Twitter as #SMCEDU, the chat’s dialogue is blogged every week as follow-up, and there is also a growing wiki for people, websites, and info that comes from their conversations, not unlike Ed Cabellon and the folks do over at the Student Affairs Collaborative. What other communities are popping up like this? Is there a directory that keeps a tab on the social media in education community?
