The age of technlogy and especially the wave of Web 3.0 is definitely impacting not only businesses or professions like public relations, but also academics in the classroom. The use of social media in the classroom is growing significantly, and will only increase as it becomes even more part of our culture. For example, there are numerous sites coming up that shows academics and professors what social media tools to use and implement into their lesson plans for their students. In other words, professors in all disciplines have to be aware of what these tools are, and how to implement them effectively for their students to convey the knowledge from their class.
Social media also has many benefits for the classroom and for professors – especially in the communication and business professions. First, it is a way to communicate and interact with students using a new form of technology to disseminate course material while at the same time learning how to use social media effectively. Secondly, it also provides students practice with using social media since more businesses are expecting their future employers to understand and use social media for their various campaigns – whether this is in marketing, advertising, or even public relations.
Also, social media is a way to actually measure whether or not a campaign or advertisement was successful or not. This has been a challenge for Public Relations – we have all of these great strategies and messages that we create for our clients, but they of course want to see hard numbers to determine whether or not this campaign was a hit. Social media allows PR professionals to accomplish this. 🙂 Another key aspect of social media is the fact that it is a new way for professionals and students to look for future jobs and making networking contacts. Basically, it bypasses the gatekeepers for some of these organizations and companies, and it allows the individual to take control in managing their reputation effectively and make their own opportunities.
Both as a PR professional and academic, I see the beauty that social media has to offer both in the business environment and classroom. It offers so many opportunities for everyone to share information and knowledge – while at the same time brings people together. Social media is indeed changing how we conduct business and teach our future PR professionals – it is all very exciting! I am very excited to try out some of these social media sites into the classroom in my future classes this upcoming school year. 🙂
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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