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Social Media and Education: a SMBNH&ME recap
To answer your first question: “SMBNH&ME” stands for “Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire and Maine.”
What’s that you, ask? Well, Social Media Breakfast was founded as a way for people involved with (or even just curious about) social media to get together to meet and learn. The location-based groups meet on varying schedules, usually with a specific topic in mind.
Last Friday, the groups from New Hampshire and Maine joined forces to cover the topic of social media and education—and Meg and I took a road trip to take part. (The tweet transcript can be found here and here.)
The event itself was a testament to both new technologies and the power of social media-fed relationships: due to some last-minute cancellations, one speaker presented via Skype, and I was asked by my friend and Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire Founder Leslie Poston to pinch-hit with her to answer attendee questions on social media and education (I worked in higher ed for eight years before joining Sametz Blackstone Associates).
Up first was Tucker Kimball from Gould Academy who talked about what he and Gould have learned from their forays into social media. His four “rules”:
- Publish, publish, publish – Keep up a steady stream of content, tailored to what’s finding traction among your audiences
- Respond – Interact with those who are interacting with you (sounds basic, but so many institutions don’t!)
- Don’t speak institutionally – Tucker told the story of the lacrosse coach whose personal engagement with folks on Twitter led to a matriculated student (and much-needed lacrosse attackman!)
- Social, but don’t forget media – Use a variety of platforms, and make sure there’s content that goes beyond mere conversation
We also thought it was interesting that Gould’s upcoming redesign of their website will funnel people in via content-specific microsites (athletics, arts, etc.), rather than driving people to a main site first. A sign of trends to come?
Hans Mundahl, who teaches Media Productions at New Hampton School, used live video streaming (Skype!) to discuss how NHS uses live video streaming themselves, both to produce student-run live webcasts and to live-stream select athletic events (something that’s apparently been a great for building alumni interaction and involvement).
The two Q&A sessions—one with just Leslie and me, and the other with Tucker and Hans as well—covered a variety of topics, from the legalities around posting student images (media releases at a minimum; check FERPA guidelines) to getting students to engage with social tools as classroom aides (I suggested enlisting students in choosing and building what they’d want and need) to whether or not to centralize institutional profiles and streams (general consensus was to keep streams separate, but coordinate through a central office).
Our thanks to Leslie and Amanda (the doyenne of SMBME) for a great event!
Categories Digital Media, Outside the Square
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I was so happy you and Meg made the road trip to come, and loved that you were willing and able to actively participate when speakers dropped out. You rock!
We were so glad to be able to come–and hope we can make the next one!