We're taking a vocational approach because we believe there are going to be more and more jobs in social media (we've got three up for grabs right now!) for the on-the-job elements of a vocational qualification to take place in.
So, please join in to help create a standard we can all find useful?
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For me, social media is all about the art of being able to hold a conversation; and it is an art.
ReplyDeleteAn all-but forgotten art.
You don't dominate that conversation; you can host, you can contribute, you can encourage, you can inform.
But it is very much making people feel welcomed as they congregate around that camp-fire and then seeing where that gentle conversation leads - be it in a news-gathering sense or a commercial reward one.
And it is a trick that journalists, in particular, need to remember is an essential part of their 'trade-craft'.
For not everybody can do it - whatever Mr Shirky might claim...
http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=41
Personally I am against the idea of an MA in Social Media. I don't think Social Media is a thing in itself. I think it is part of a new way of doing things that must be part of everything else
ReplyDeleteThe corollary experience that I would point to is object oriented software development. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s "Objects" were big news (in the software development community). There were object magazines, object conferences -- I was am Object pundit writing books, articles, and speaking at conferences...
But today object-oriented is just taken for granted -- it isn't a thing in itself, it is the way development gets done.
I would much rather see you working on how existing curriculum for marketers, product development, management, communications, etc, should all change due to the impact of social technologies.
This is what I have been doing -- working with professors at Berkeley Haas, Stanford, and LBS on adding social technologies as a topic to their existing classes. That is the first step. Come May 22nd to LBS - my first lecture there to a management class on how social technologies are changing organizational dynamics in large companies.
Love to Ted :-) drop me a line with details?
ReplyDeleteThat someone be able to use one, or two, or many (as they see fit and are capable) forms of social media to express what they want to express.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, what Ted said ...
Social media is really about training people to manage online identities, be it brands, or personal. As the technology advances and integrates further and further into our everyday lives, experts will be needed to help navigate the way, so your forward thinking toward an MA qualification is spot on for today's world. Some things to consider:
ReplyDelete-Teaching an in-depth understanding of all the available online tools that add to both social media and online identity, how to use them effectively. With so much out there, understanding how to integrate tools is a skill of value.
-Security sensibility and how to protect a brand and yourself.
-How to communicate identity, developing a voice, a personality and let's not ever forget the humanity of it all. Don't breed any robots please.
-Case studies of brands experiences to date -- both in social media and online branding.
-The future, and a keen eye toward what might be next and how and where to watch for it.
Mostly common sense really!
You may want to also connect with some of the UK's leading cyber historians out there, to help students gain a sense of the evolution of social media through internet history. Dr. Richard Barbrook (a client of mine) has written a number of articles and books on the subject and you can find him here: http://www.imaginaryfutures.com