Note: My good friend Paul Venderley is the major contributor for this post. Portions of it were recently published in the Fall 2009 edition of the ASTD-OC's Orange Spiel newsletter.
I was pleased to have been part of the ASTD, Orange County's Summer Social Media Series this past summer.
Over the summer we conducted a series of workshops spanning topics on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogging. The series didn't just give participants a learning environment to navigate and use these resources. It also discussed best practices. We discussed privacy with Facebook, we considered what exactly someone tweets on Twitter, and we mapped the steps for creating a blog.
Also, the series was designed to create a social networking lab for participants. We were able to do this with the gracious sponsorship of the New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Anaheim.
In each lab session, participants were invited to connect with other participants, thus creating a network of practitioners with similar goals. From there, the conversation of how to use each social media resource continued--in the very network the participants sought to explore.
The goal of this summer's series was to demystify--as much as possible--some of the common social media programs that had captured the eye of small business owners and information training practitioners alike. Our friend and co-facilitator, Edward Brandt, shared his thoughts this way, "I always enjoy seeing simple questions turn into vibrant discussion where so many ideas are presented for consideration."
It was that vibrant discussion that sparked a promise to return the series next summer with three new topics: Second Life, SlideShare and perhaps YouTube.
Of course, as I alluded in Chapter 2 of The Social Media Report 2010, the landscape for social media is dynamic and fast changing. It may be that by the time next summer roles around, there'll be a new darling on the street. So, of course, we'll reserve the opportunity to change-up that series schedule a bit.
And, of course, if you have any suggestions, please say so in the comments below.
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