Category: SMUG

SMUG Enrollment On the Rise

We now have 34 students at Social Media University, Global. That’s pretty cool, considering that our institution was founded less than a month ago. The latest to enroll is Kelsey Thompson, who is a senior at the University of Oregon studying public relations and business. Here’s part of what she had to say about it on her blog:

Our public relations course has some what wrapped up its focus on social media this week, but I am struggling to want to leave. I spoke with my teacher about other courses to take to continue learning about all this new technology. Unfortunately, nothing is really offered by the journalism school that would be similar. I talked to my friend Molly, who is a sports business major, about how I was disappointed about this because of all of the neat things we were learning about. She commented about how it was frustrating that there was nothing even similar offered in the business school. Luckily, I have found a solution to my problem, and hopefully my friend Molly will be joining me soon! Lee Aase, who I have been following with my Google reader, has created the Social Media University, Global (SMUG). Aase has created this public university to help those interested in lifelong learning, dive deeper into social media.

It’s encouraging to hear that SMUG is meeting a need for continuing, practical hands-on learning about social media,  and particularly as it applies to the world of business. For Kelsey’s friend Molly, and for any others interested in enrolling, learn more about SMUG here, read a Message from the Chancellor and then start auditing courses before you apply for admission.

SMUG Class Readings 2-16-08

Here are highlights from the past week at Social Media University, Global.

  • Social Media 104: Intro to Social Networking provides an overview of social networking and why sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are such powerful tools and so important to understand.
  • The Microsoft Office Live article on social networking for which I was interviewed, which is part of SMUG’s required readings as Social Media 201: 10 Tips for Promoting Your Business Through Social Networks
  • In addition to required readings, part of SMUG’s curriculum is available via podcast. This week we have MindComet’s Internet Marketing VooDoo podcast, for which I was interviewed about Facebook.
  • During that interview was born the idea for Facebook 202, the SMUG $100 Facebook Hacker Challenge. As that post explains, your assignment as a SMUG student is to attempt to get into the secret Facebook group I created to test the security of Facebook for having confidential business discussions. If you’re successful, you not only will be getting a tuition-free education from SMUG, but you’ll also earn $100 or $200 and status as a SMUG Teaching Assistant.
  • Finally, in addition to free online education, SMUG now offers in-person classes through the SMUG Extension Service. Or if you want to arrange a campus visit to Old Main, we’re happy to accommodate that, too.

To join the 33 members of our SMUG student body, visit here.

SMUG Extension Classes

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Social Media University, Global (SMUG) is built on the distance-learning paradigm. And unlike traditional universities with on-line programs, we don’t have a requirement that some of the credits be taken on campus in a group setting.

Frankly, we don’t have room for all y’all. (I understand that’s the plural for the singular Texas “y’all.”)

Don’t get me wrong, we’d love to have you visit… one at a time. While you’re here in Austin, Minn. you can also see the world-famous SPAM museum. People have been known to come from as far as Hawaii and Guam to visit the birthplace of the canned meat that saved Western civilization during WW II.

So if they’ll travel that far for SPAM, maybe you’d want to do it for SMUG, right?

If not, and if you’d like to organize a group to have SMUG’s Extension Service bring an intensive session of classes to your community or company, let’s talk. Face-to-face dialogue is still the most effective way to learn.

We can do a Blogging Bootcamp. A Facebook Forum. A Wiki Workshop. A Twitter Tutorial. A Podcasting Program. Or we could tie it all together into a Social Media Summit.

Then you can continue your SMUG education through our on-line courses.

The map above, which is from my Facebook Cities I’ve Visited application, is useful in three respects:

  1. If you see a pin on the map for your city, I’ve been there before. Not for SMUG classes, but I know how to get there. I’d be glad to visit again.
  2. If you don’t see a pin for your city (or if your continent isn’t even shown!), it would be a new adventure for me. That would be fun, too.
  3. All blog posts should have a graphic or video of some kind to make them more interesting. Having the map accomplished that for this post.

If you’re interested in SMUG Extension, see the “Contact the Chancellor” box on this page.

SMUG $100 Facebook Hacker Challenge

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Note: Please read this post to learn what this challenge is about, but there is an update at the bottom.

When Paul Lewis interviewed me about Facebook last week, I said Facebook has lots of promise as a way for businesses to collaborate with key stakeholders without giving non-employees access behind the corporate firewall.Paul asked a common question about whether that would potentially put sensitive information at risk. I said I probably wouldn’t put my bank account and Social Security numbers out in a Facebook group (and certainly no information that would lead to civil legal liability or criminal penalties if disclosed), but that for ordinary business interactions I think the security is strong enough.

So I’m putting my money where my mouth is.

I’ve created a secret group in Facebook, and named it $100 Facebook Hacker Challenge. Here are some screen shots from when I set up the group:

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I’m offering $100 to the first person who can find this group and discover what it says in the “Recent News” section.

But wait, let’s make it really easy. Not only am I telling you the name of the group. I’m also giving you its URL:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=29804935857

And if you can upload a picture to the $100 Facebook Hacker Challenge group, I’ll double your payout, to $200.

Post your answer in the comments below.Meanwhile, if you want to join a group that isn’t secret, and that can help you learn about Facebook and other social media and how they can be practically used in your professional life, enroll in Social Media University, Global (SMUG).

Update: See the latest on the Facebook Hacker Challenge, including your chance to participate in SMUG’s quest for knowledge, here.

Update: No one was successful in meeting the challenge in the first five days. I have now closed this challenge, for reasons that I explain here.

10 Tips for Promoting Your Business Through Social Networks

Monte Enbysk, a senior editor at Microsoft Office Live, called a couple of weeks ago asking to interview me for an Office Hours column on using social networking sites to promote your business. I had a delightful conversation with Monte, and he just notified me that his article is now available online, here. Here’s an excerpt:

Are social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn the business tools of the future? Or are they a passing fad that will meet the same fate as disco music?

Time will tell. But if you run a small business circa 2008, ignore them at your own peril. Many of your competitors have already jumped on the bandwagon, and are successfully networking their way to a stronger Web presence, enhanced credibility, and more customers.

Yes, many of these sites are used for socializing by your teenaged sons and daughters. But businesses can benefit too, says Lee Aase, a veteran media relations manager. His employer, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, has put him in charge of articulating the clinic’s message through social networking sites such as Facebook.

“The way that most businesses grow is by word of mouth, by recommendations, and by peers and communities,” says Aase, who writes articles and blog posts about marketing through Facebook. “The whole concept of social media is a lot like birds of a feather flocking together” — in other words, people with a common interest or objective interacting online, he says.

I recommend that you check out the rest of the rest of the article, in which you’ll get 10 helpful tips. Monte wrote this from the perspective of a small business owner, but I believe the tips are just as applicable for larger organizations. And even if you work for a larger company, you have a personal brand to enhance, too. You should learn how you can do that effectively through social networking sites.

Others Monte interviewed included Jinger Jarrett and Leslie O’Flahavan.

For further reading, I recommend Social Media 104: Intro to Social Networking, which is part of the core curriculum for Social Media University, Global (SMUG).