My office, Athens, OH, August 28, 2009 – In the past two and a half weeks I’ve had 20 meetings where I talked individually with everyone on staff at UCM about social media. Twitter in particular. I said a few things, listened to a few things, laughed, pulled my hair out, and learned a lot. My goal was to get everyone on staff at least signed up with an account, talk about resistance to social media, and help everyone start thinking about a game plan for getting started in professional networking with social media.
So why did I start with Twitter (and blogs for the brave)?
The primary reason I chose Twitter was because it was there. Just like big mountains that people climb.
Same reason I Twitter
Twitter may not always be here, but it’s here now. It is a tool of social networking and my theory is that you cannot learn how to integrate social media into your communications plan until you actually understand how social networking works. I’m pretty certain that you can’t understand how it works until you participate. Successfully.
By setting up individual twitter accounts (and even better, combining it with a blog) that is targeted to professional networking within each person’s area of expertise, a number of benefits are very likely to occur.
Number one, you will learn more about your field by following people you respect. Number two, you will serve your profession by providing guidance and insights to others. Number three, you will establish yourself as a thought leader within your field (also known as personal branding). Number four, you will ultimately strengthen the image of the institution just because you are as cool as you are. And you’re talking about great stuff you’re doing at work.
At any rate, I think it’s a good start and ideas will start germinating as social networking and social media start creeping into our thinking about how we can communicate to students, faculty, alumni, friends, and staff at Ohio University.
We may be a little slow getting into the game, but look out – we’re catching up fast.
