One of the newer classes at PSU in the Multimedia program is Social Media and Web 2.0. The instructor John Anthony Hartman created a blog for the class Webmanual.org. PSU is building a curriculum to offer a certificate in Social Media next year. John created the blog so it could become a living document of the class and program. I was the first student to post! Here is that post;
It might just be me? This new thing, this new space “social media” for some is a very scary place. I sat in a seminar this week listening to people talk about twitter, blogging, facebook and etc. All of the questions asked about social media came from a place of fear. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if the sky fall?
Now I’m no brand expert, but. What if someone starts talking about your brand for you and it’s off message? (btw-they are!) What if they don’t like you or don’t understand what your brand represents. If they have an audience, (many do) they could put you in reactionary recovery instead of a proactive space of retaining and managing your brand message.
At the very least, use social media as a tool to LISTEN to what is being said about you or your brand. Don’t have your story reported via, as Gillmor says, twitter the new AP wire.