Social media at the intersection of education and the workplace

Note: This is an entry in a series of blog posts written about entering and the workforce as a member of Gen Y. These posts focus on Socialcast intern Margo Consul’s first-hand experience in a social-media-rich landscape that shapes the way new employees interact with their colleagues and customers.

With all the reading and watching I have been doing in San Francisco at Socialcast, I wanted to ask some people who work both in education and the corporate world exactly how they use social media. I have been giving examples of why and how to use social media in the workplace, but the employees at Socialcast have essentially been using new media since their school days. I understand that every workplace is different and has different needs, so I wanted to branch out to learn how non-technical employees in academia use social tools at universities and in their business roles. The media can tell me what percentage of the population is on a social networking site, but they cannot tell me how it is being used.

Using LinkedIn and Santa Clara’s email address book, I was able to track down two professors at Santa Clara that I know actively use social media. I wanted to ask these professionals how they effectively use social media to do work.

Terri L. Griffith, PhD is a Professor of Management at Santa Clara. She teaches Organizational Analysis and Design, Technology and Innovation Management, Managing Innovation and Change. She writes her own blog about technology and how it is used within teams and full organizations.  When I asked what social media sites and tools she uses, she said Twitter, Facebook, tools from Google and a variety of wiki providers.

Griffith uses social media consistently for classes. “I use Twitter to be ready for class topics, find new blog ideas,” she said. “I’ve used the wiki sites to run class presentations and real time conference collaborations.” The speed of communication allows her to coordinate more efficiently than with previous technology.

Professor Chuck Byers is a Marketing Communications Executive and lecturer at Santa Clara University. I know him as my public relations professor, however, he has worked in the semi-conductor industry managing global marketing since 1995.  He is using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and writes a blog that focuses on B2B marketing.

Although he uses multiple social networking sites, it seems that Twitter is the social media tool that brings the most value to him. “The PR agency of one of the companies I consult with uses Twitter to alert the media to news release that just crossed the wire. That has paid dividends with a couple of editors calling and asking for interview follow-ups,” Byers said.

Twitter has also opened new lines of communication with editors that weren’t available to him before. “I have always had a policy of not annoying editors with phone call asking if they got a news release and if they planned to do anything with it,” he said. “Being able to Tweet an editor with simple, “you may want to check out the latest news about XYZ Company at this URL” is effective and appreciated by the editors.

Byers sees social media as a necessary tool in the communications industry. “I think we need to go and need to be where are constituencies go.  If important audiences are using Twitter to point people to a site that may have unfavorable comments about our companies, we need to know about it and be proactive.  I don’t think it is a matter of choice.  Social media … depending how you define it … is part of our constituencies’ workplaces.  To ignore it is to do so at our own peril,” Byers said.

I think it’s important that professors who also understand the workplace are embracing and teaching social media to today’s college students. My dad is Tweeting, my mom is on Facebook and my 80 year old Grandma IM’ed me on Yahoo messenger today. Employers from past jobs have asked me to help them learn social media because they know that it is a force to be reckoned with. College students are the driving force behind many social networking sites even as the rest of the population begins to adopt these tools. Byers’ and Griffith’s ability to understand the importance of social media in their professions has helped them to be successful in the classroom and in the corporate workplace at the same time.