Facebook – and social media, for that matter – certainly has impacted my life. I went from wanting nothing to do with Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn on April 1, 2009, to now having more than 1,100 FB friends, more than 900 LinkedIn connections and, well, I'm really, really trying to become a more consistent tweeter. Nobody's perfect. Anyway, today is quite an emerging media day for my household. Last night, Richard Prince reported that my wife, Mira, is leaving her job as editor in chief of JET magazine to pursue new opportunities. So, of course, being the dutiful husband, I shared the link on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and then spent more time than I should responding to related FB messages and reading the comments, and then getting caught up in everybody else's business on Facebook. Whew! Love sharing news about Mira and reading all the love sent her/our way. But it can blow up a fellow's day.
Zuckerberg, that is, Facebook, that is, social media, that is emerging media has certainly been a key focus for me these past 16 weeks. I have enjoyed Professor Linda Menck's graduate-level course Emerging Media. I knew it was be interesting and different when she offered the class its syllabus not on paper but online via Weebly.com. We had two interesting books, "Open Leadership" and "Trust Agents," as well as more than a few related PDFs.
I won't mention how I missed Roy Halladay throw a no-hitter for my Phillies in the playoffs. I will say that I enjoyed all of our guest speakers this semester. From Philip Nowak to Laura Gainor to Justin Beck, we learned plenty from those who have been there and done that. How can you not enjoy a course when the professor tells you to skip a week's session and instead go see "The Social Network" – about, guess who, yes, Zuckerberg – so it can be discussed in the next class? Our frank class discussion about the movie was among my highlights of the course.
Of course, there was this weekly blog assignment. Proved to be more work than I thought, but I enjoyed it immensely and once I got into a groove I found it hard choosing which subject to write about a given week. I often opted to write about our guest speakers because wanted to review and internalize what they had to offer. I hope to continue this blog as I move onto my other courses for the Digital Storytelling Certificate program, and then, hopefully, en route to a master's degree, here at Marquette.
In addition to the blog and going to see the movie, my two favorite assignments of the course was studying the Top Social Brands of 2009 and helping Michele Tapp Roseman expand and enlarge her "Business Briefs" brand. I hope to produce a new personal brand website of my own for my certificate-program capstone next summer. Professor Menck will also teach that course and I know I'll learn a great deal more as I have learned much this semester.
We had to write down those things we hoped to learn in this course this semester. I have forgotten what I wrote. But I can say I have learned to master a new online-based web design program (Weebly) and more about things that would have otherwise never gained my attention (foursquare, scvngr, SoundCloud, mind maps, Groupon, etc.).
Cannot forget about my classmates. Learned much from – and enjoyed spending time with – them each Wednesday, and in some cases, each Thursday, as several of us also had Professor Menck's graduate-level Craft of Digital Storytelling course. Amazed at how well some of them have taken to using Prezi for their presentations. I hope our blog sites will be up for awhile so I can read those entries that I missed.
One last thing: I enjoyed this course so much I hope to teach it one day! We'll see.