A Closer Look at Social Media Reading
Last week, we began the discussion on social media and some of the books Educommunicators board member Paul Baker has been reviewing over at EducationPR. Following is guest post from Paul, providing some more information and some more context on his holiday reading:
Most of the books I’ve reviewed for my EducationPR blog were written for communicators in the for-profit sector. I read them as an educommunicator because I’m convinced that any communicator can take away insights and practical tools. Communicators in the for-profit sector will deploy these tools and strategies somewhat differently than we educommunicators, yet there are some important overlaps.
The term ‘education communicator’ encompasses a wide range of job responsibilities. Some, including development and alumni relations, involve meeting financial goals. Others don’t (public affairs, government relations, media relations, outreach, marketing to prospective students).
Given that people in alumni relations and development have responsibility for meeting financial goals, they might benefit most from reading these books. That is to say, they’d need to spend less time translating the business goals that these books assume drive the communicators who read them. Those of us who don’t have financial goals looking over our shoulders can still benefit from these books, as they consistently emphasize the important changes that have already taken place in the ways and means of public discussion. That discourse is increasingly taking place beyond print media and beyond broadcast channels.
These books as a group echo each other in some of the case studies they provide and the sites they link to. Because of that, readers who are absolutely new to social media can pretty much start with any of these titles.
Working with the titles Patrick suggested I will try to recommend these social media books in terms of which seem most suitable for us in the education sector, ranking each in terms of these measures:
Best for those new to social media
Best for those already using social media
Best for those not responsible for meeting financial targets
Best for those responsible for meeting financial targets
The grade A means excellent; the grade B means good.
Now is Too Late2: Survival in an Era of Instant News. By Gerald R. Baron.
A new to social media
A already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
A not responsible for meeting financial targets
The following four are fairly similar
1. Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing. By Jim Tobin with Lisa Braziel.
2. Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide. By Amy Shuen.
3. Secrets of social media marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer
Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business. By Paul Gillin.
4. Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message. By Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba.
A new to social media
B already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
B not responsible for meeting financial targets
Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs by Geoff Livingston.
B new to social media
A already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
B not responsible for meeting financial targets
Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education. By Liz Kolb.
This book focuses on classroom technology and is aimed at teachers, so as interesting as it is, would have limited application for most educommunicators.
You might check out reader reviews on Amazon.com for more detailed information.
The term ‘education communicator’ encompasses a wide range of job responsibilities. Some, including development and alumni relations, involve meeting financial goals. Others don’t (public affairs, government relations, media relations, outreach, marketing to prospective students).
Given that people in alumni relations and development have responsibility for meeting financial goals, they might benefit most from reading these books. That is to say, they’d need to spend less time translating the business goals that these books assume drive the communicators who read them. Those of us who don’t have financial goals looking over our shoulders can still benefit from these books, as they consistently emphasize the important changes that have already taken place in the ways and means of public discussion. That discourse is increasingly taking place beyond print media and beyond broadcast channels.
These books as a group echo each other in some of the case studies they provide and the sites they link to. Because of that, readers who are absolutely new to social media can pretty much start with any of these titles.
Working with the titles Patrick suggested I will try to recommend these social media books in terms of which seem most suitable for us in the education sector, ranking each in terms of these measures:
Best for those new to social media
Best for those already using social media
Best for those not responsible for meeting financial targets
Best for those responsible for meeting financial targets
The grade A means excellent; the grade B means good.
Now is Too Late2: Survival in an Era of Instant News. By Gerald R. Baron.
A new to social media
A already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
A not responsible for meeting financial targets
The following four are fairly similar
1. Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing. By Jim Tobin with Lisa Braziel.
2. Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide. By Amy Shuen.
3. Secrets of social media marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer
Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business. By Paul Gillin.
4. Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message. By Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba.
A new to social media
B already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
B not responsible for meeting financial targets
Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs by Geoff Livingston.
B new to social media
A already using social media
A responsible for meeting financial targets
B not responsible for meeting financial targets
Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education. By Liz Kolb.
This book focuses on classroom technology and is aimed at teachers, so as interesting as it is, would have limited application for most educommunicators.
You might check out reader reviews on Amazon.com for more detailed information.
Thanks, Paul.
while it's not specifically about social media, i'd highly recommend "The Social Life of Information" by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid.
here's the website for the book:
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~duguid/SLOFI/
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