So, I have some more exciting news to share with you all. This has been in the works for the past year, and I am now able to share it with everyone.
I am thrilled, excited, and so happy to announce the news that SMSC’s second edition will be available for this fall term!
I am very grateful as well to Kyle and his team at Silent Wolf Productions for creating this great book promotion video for SMSC 2e! Thank you, Kyle!
The past few years have been what I have called “busy!” But it has been a good kind of busy! Let’s talk about the timeline for when this second edition came to be.
Let’s start at the very beginning
As I have shared before, I released my first public relations book last year around this time. This was a project that I really was excited about and I had just finished with the final edits, proofs, and details and sent it off to SAGE to go to publication.
Little less than a week (probably a few days at most!), I got a note from my great editor Lily saying “Karen, it’s time to work on the second edition of SMSC!”
I was like – wait, has it already been a few years since the first edition?! Where did the time fly? I guess that is what happens when you have fun! The SMSC first edition really has made its mark in and out of the classroom. It’s won several awards (including NCA PR Division’s Outstanding Contribution to Education Award) and it has been adopted worldwide and by the industry. I am forever grateful to my colleagues, friends, students, family and fellow professors who have supported, adopted, and used the book for their work. This truly means the world to me.
A lot has changed also since the first edition came out in 2018. Even though it’s been a few years, when the first edition book came out, there were some social media books out there that were aligned with the same principles and perspectives as SMSC, but not that many. Now, we are seeing more books entering the marketplace in social media – which I think is really great. My goal has been to develop a bookshelf in my office with all of the books my fellow colleagues have written on social and other related disciplines. It’s important for our field to continue to grow and contribute to the body of knowledge because it helps the field, and our students, who are the future professionals entering the field.
So, after gathering all of the materials from the first edition and listed out the deadlines I needed to make for the second edition, it was time to get started. I got my files all backed up, laptop ready go go, and had the coffee flowing to get things all prepped and ready to go for this new round of writing and edits.
What is new in SMSC 2e?
You might be asking – what is new for this new edition? One of the new features of course is the new book cover. SMSC is still focused on the strategic application and execution of how and why we use social media, so the chess piece image is still present and accounted for. The colors also are the same, as reflected here and to give homage to the first edition. Yet, there are things that are different of course. Like all things in social, platforms change, so this was something I wanted to have highlighted for the book cover. In fact, as I will discuss next, I also wanted to showcase icons that illustrated the new chapters for the second edition. Let me know if you can figure out which icons represent which chapter!
As I mentioned above just now, there are three new chapters. The first thing that was to be done is evaluate what adopters and reviewers had to say about SMSC, and see what needed to be done for the second edition. I had an idea already that there needed to be some additional chapters involved, but it was great to get some feedback on what educators felt was needed. Which, resulted in writing and having three new chapters for the second edition: Influencer Marketing, Paid Media, and DE&I in social media. Two chapters were recommended by reviewers to add that I had already planned on, but I felt – like I did for the PR book – we needed to have a stand alone chapter focusing on DE&I in social media.
However, most books when you edit you do not have to change too much. This is not the case when it comes to social media! With three years from the second edition from the first edition, A LOT has happened in social media that needed to be included, revised, and addressed for the second edition. More case studies, trends, issues, and examples are showcased to reflect the current state and perspectives shared in the field.
Second, it was important to bring in new perspectives and stories as well for the book to highlight the diverse and talented group of professionals who are changing the field. The students and educators have really enjoyed reading the Humans of Social Media features, and we have many more highlighted in the book!
Third, there are many more assignments that are part of the updated and revised Portfolio Activities Book. I thought I had a lot of options for the first edition of this book with 50. Well, you got to go big or go home, right?! This new activities book highlights 125+ new assignments. However, each chapter has assignments that are broken up into different types of assignments and activities from individual projects, group activities, and presentations.
Another fun fact? There’s actually a Spotify playlist for the book based on the Humans of Social Media feature. One of the questions I asked each person was if they had to pick a song to walk out to for a presentation on social media, what would it be? Here’s the playlist and as you can see – we have lots of different artists represented!
How do I get SMSC 2e?
It’s easy! The book will be available for this fall term, and you can get more information below with SAGE and Amazon already having the book listed. I am planning to do some more announcements and exclusives for the professors who are planning to adopt the book. Stay tuned for more on this!
Thank you all again for your continued support and being part of this exciting journey! I can’t wait for you all to get your hands on SMSC 2e!
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
