Robert Pearl Starks

Paul, I think you are correct in your observation that the medical field for some reason tends to have a slower adoption rate for digital media, namely, social media. Referencing Everett Rogers' Innovation Adoption Diffusion curve, you have your Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and your Laggards. One could argue that by now, those who are not using social media are in the Late majority or even Laggard portion of the adoption curve. For some reason, certain social groups will be late adopters of innovation such as social media and I believe your observation of the medical field… >>>

Marcus, At my college, I began using social media before our marketing department did. Once our marketing department started using it, they implemented many rules and I had to present my case for why I shouldn't have to shut down my page. I bring this up because it is common for marketing, admissions, and student retention to see the benefits of leveraging social media but not everyone will understand how Career Services or even Education can leverage social media. The entire organization can leverage it to their benefit but you may have to present your case. I'm glad to hear… >>>

Angela, The challenges you describe are begging for a social media strategy! As you already know, there is never a magic solution to the types of challenges career professionals face but a social media strategy as outlined in the course can help provide yet another intervention strategy to address your challenges. Forming stronger partnerships from day one with students using platforms and channels they are on can help but it is a long-term strategy. Hopefully, some of the skip tracing tools can help you be an even better researcher to track down students who lose contact. Pay particular attention to… >>>

Paul, Many colleges use Facebook to generate leads and to have a positive impact on retention. However, many are not leveraging it for Career Services which is unfortunate because, as the course will outline, there are many potential benefits. Hopefully, you will champion a social media strategy at your school Paul once you finish the course! Feel free to create new forum topics with questions if you have questions. We are all here to help each other learn so please don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you want - I'm here to help in conjunction with the course… >>>

Marcus, That definitely presents a challenge. Tell me, with your online students, do you also serve a more non-traditional adult learner, or do you serve a traditional learner? I ask because I am curious if you have found that the demographic of students you serve changes their social media interactions based on your observations. You already employ a number of mediums through which to encourage continued relationships - have you found some to be more effective than others? I think your experience can benefit the learners participating in this course and this forum so I'd love to hear what you've… >>>

Marcus, Thanks for contributing to the conversation. Do you think that organizations use social media in the first way you describe because they don't understand how social media is/should be different than other traditional communication channels? If you recall module 1 and the introduction of how social media differs from traditional communication channels, I think you just provided an amazing example to the group on this exact point. Organizations want to obtain information but information can be better obtained when there are strong relationships and students collaborate with the department. You hit the nail on the head when you indicated… >>>