I have written several times about branded hashtags and how to use them to create a great community within the classroom. Hashtags are part of two popular roles we are seeing in the field: a social media manager and a community manager. Both have their similarities, but they do have distinct duties and roles on social media.
In many ways, what we are doing as professors is being almost a blend of a social media manager (sharing relevant content on our respective social media platforms for our classes, running analytics, etc), but we also can’t forget what we are creating with a class hashtag is a social media community.
Dr. William Ward (who is pretty much the ultimate social media professor and now works at Hootsuite) did this great webinar this week talking about the difference between social media manager and community manager. This is a webinar video I think all professors should share w/ their students!
As professors, we have to consider these elements as part of our class engagement strategies with our students. We have to of course pass along relevant knowledge, insights, and perspectives on class content, but we also have to be upbeat, empathic to the dynamics in the class conversation, and engage with others who want to be part of the conversation (professionals, other students, etc).
This is why the new idea from Kimberly Jang and Hootsuite University is pretty cool! They are launching a new hashtag classroom resource initiative to see which hashtags professors are using in the classroom to help build a great and dynamic community. I think it is great to not only connect with fellow professors, but also with students and build an eve bigger classroom community. Thanks again Kimberly and Hootsuite University for the kind shout out!
If you want to read more about the Hashtag in the Classroom initiative by Hootsuite, make sure to check out this link.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
