semester has ended

Our class is over, but for many of the students in fall 2007 Social Media class the journey in understanding social media has just begun!

In this class, we spent most of the semester creating student-selected social media projects then worked to make those projects a success. From marketing via Facebook to making good ole fashioned business cards & hitting the pavement, each student worked to increase viewership of his or her project.

Another major project involved students coming up with a proposal for an organization to integrate social media. The best of the best were covered on the blog so if you're ever looking for inspiration then check them out.

We provided extensive live coverage of the social media conference UGA Connect. Live blogging, twitter'ing, flickr'ing, podcasts & interviews. We did the same for the college's PRSSA chapter event, Professional Connection. Was there anything the students didn't do in sharing the on-site experience with the out-of-town observers?

And then there was the 48 hours of Twitter assignment that everyone loved! What fun!

Thanks to everyone who followed & interacted with this class - especially the professionals who did a "digital drop-in" for our "social media spotlite" series.

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For more information about UGA's Grady College, please visit http://www.grady.uga.edu .

To contact Dr. Kaye Sweetser, please visit her blog or faculty page.

Social Media and Politics

Social media and politics must be one of my favorite combinations ever, but I'm not sure it's being used to its full potential at this point. It could be a great tool to open up discussion (two-way communication, hello!), but as my friend Shannon - a former blogger and politics aficionada like myself - points out, in most cases it's only being used as a recruitment tool.

Click here to listen to our discussion of politicians joining the social media realm through the YouTube debates, Second Life, blogs and more.

Social media in business?

I talked to a friend who's a business student about his education through the business school and whether the business school is integrating social media into their curriculum. We also discussed a few more social media topics, including his feelings on politicians entering into the realm of social media.

You can listen to our discussion here. Be forewarned - there's some sweet island music in this podcast that might get stuck in your head. Oh and tons of social media content too. But the island music is pretty cool.