How Organizations Use Social Media

[Robert George Benkert II]

A big thank you to Don Jones, Michael Dumlao, Melody Fox Ahmed, and Sara Licterman for being on our panel tonight and talking with us about trends in Social Media. For those of you who couldn't make it you missed a lot. Don shared his experiences in developing networks for soldiers and their families. Michael shared his perspective on how social media is disconnected from the mediums through which it is conveyed. Melody explained the constraints she needed to impose upon her website in her efforts to promote inter-religious dialogue. Sara provided a connection to students in the CCT and related social media to their studies.
But it's important that the discussion does not stop here and that we continue to learn about social media and how it will play a part in our respective fields.

[Renee Goldman]

Thanks for the wrap-up Rob! If anyone still has questions, I'd encourage you to keep the conversation going here. We're also hoping to post a video of the event within the next week or so - be sure to look out for that!

[Mike Hayes]

I really enjoyed last night's panel, apart from me accidentally insulting everyone with a Twitter and calling them old, haha. Ironically, I'm one of the few undergrads who actually does have a Twitter account (MIKEmHayes) so I certainly didn't mean anything by it, but all the panelists were very understanding and gave great answers to my question. I actually do feel like I walked away from last night with a better appreciation for Twitter in particular for several reasons. Don's point about "humanizing" the government or large corporations I felt was particularly interesting - in his example of the mother of an autistic child, I can only imagine how pleasantly surprised she was to find a real, caring person on the other end of her Tweets, giving her helpful information about health services on her base. While I still sort of believe that the majority of personal "tweeting" is probably useless, I can definitely see its benefit from the marketing and information broadcast side of things (as Michael discussed). And of course in order for that side to work, people have to have personal Twitters. So it all ties together. Its definitely an ongoing debate though, as Melody spoke about the disagreements just inside the Berkley Center on the benefits of Twitter and the great audience question about the real return on investment, which I got the chance to discuss more with Steve, Don and Dave after the event. I'm fascinated by the business potential of all this and I walked away determined to use both Twitter and this Ning site more, always looking for more discussions on this stuff!

[Yong Lee]

Thanks for the great summary, Rob! And thanks Renee, for helping put together a great event! I look forward to seeing the video (a lot of great questions were asked and the discussion happened faster than I could take notes)!

Mike, I thought yours was one of the more interesting questions I've heard. You're right, the majority of Twitter users have been found to be older, but IMO, that's because many of the "power users" on Twitter have had time to create a body of work and establish some expertise. The great thing about Twitter (which also doubles as the main criticism) is its openness and immediacy. But, like MIchael Dumlao pointed out, social media isn't about Twitter or Facebook, it's about people connecting with people. Twitter's just another way to do that.

Mike Hayes said:

I really enjoyed last night's panel, apart from me accidentally insulting everyone with a Twitter and calling them old, haha. Ironically, I'm one of the few undergrads who actually does have a Twitter account (MIKEmHayes) so I certainly didn't mean anything by it, but all the panelists were very understanding and gave great answers to my question. I actually do feel like I walked away from last night with a better appreciation for Twitter in particular for several reasons. Don's point about "humanizing" the government or large corporations I felt was particularly interesting - in his example of the mother of an autistic child, I can only imagine how pleasantly surprised she was to find a real, caring person on the other end of her Tweets, giving her helpful information about health services on her base. While I still sort of believe that the majority of personal "tweeting" is probably useless, I can definitely see its benefit from the marketing and information broadcast side of things (as Michael discussed). And of course in order for that side to work, people have to have personal Twitters. So it all ties together. Its definitely an ongoing debate though, as Melody spoke about the disagreements just inside the Berkley Center on the benefits of Twitter and the great audience question about the real return on investment, which I got the chance to discuss more with Steve, Don and Dave after the event. I'm fascinated by the business potential of all this and I walked away determined to use both Twitter and this Ning site more, always looking for more discussions on this stuff!

[Renee Goldman]

I think that an important point about social media and probably technology in general is that it's not so much about the specific tools available at the time, but about having a general understanding of how to use it to achieve your goals. The technology will change constantly so while Twitter is popular now, it will probably be something entirely different in a few years. It's still useful to know how to get people engaged in using these types of technologies and what the benefits are of a platform that's so open and in real time. That's what's interesting to me about Twitter and things like it - how the general public become the creators and disseminators of content instead of just being the viewers. I'm not nearly as interested in exactly how they've specifically been using Twitter to do that, unless I'm trying to imitate it for my purposes.

Mike Hayes said:

I really enjoyed last night's panel, apart from me accidentally insulting everyone with a Twitter and calling them old, haha. Ironically, I'm one of the few undergrads who actually does have a Twitter account (MIKEmHayes) so I certainly didn't mean anything by it, but all the panelists were very understanding and gave great answers to my question. I actually do feel like I walked away from last night with a better appreciation for Twitter in particular for several reasons. Don's point about "humanizing" the government or large corporations I felt was particularly interesting - in his example of the mother of an autistic child, I can only imagine how pleasantly surprised she was to find a real, caring person on the other end of her Tweets, giving her helpful information about health services on her base. While I still sort of believe that the majority of personal "tweeting" is probably useless, I can definitely see its benefit from the marketing and information broadcast side of things (as Michael discussed). And of course in order for that side to work, people have to have personal Twitters. So it all ties together. Its definitely an ongoing debate though, as Melody spoke about the disagreements just inside the Berkley Center on the benefits of Twitter and the great audience question about the real return on investment, which I got the chance to discuss more with Steve, Don and Dave after the event. I'm fascinated by the business potential of all this and I walked away determined to use both Twitter and this Ning site more, always looking for more discussions on this stuff!

[Renee Goldman]

Click here to see the video from this event: http://vimeo.com/7649643

Thanks to CCT for putting this together!