College | Caffeinated

Title edit: Five Reasons Students Should Use Social Media OTHER THAN FACEBOOK.

To be honest, this post is going to ring truer for students of advertising, PR, marketing, communications, journalism, human resources, and the like, than dental students (what up, roommate). But everyone can learn something from it.

5. Own Your Online Name

Statistics show that about 80% of employers admit to searching potential employees on the Internet. Smart people in HR and recruiting, like Paul DeBettignies, says the other 20% are lying. Let’s face it, you don’t want that Xanga or LiveJournal from your, errmm, ‘rebellious’ pre-teens coming back to screw you when you’re 22.

What to do? Get a profile on some social networks. Think LinkedIn, Twitter, Brazen Careerist, Flickr (send your mobile photos from your phone. Hell, there’s probably an app for that), YouTube, and more. Get yourself a domain name for a few bucks (or a few- I have this and colbygergen.com). Still worried? Do a free Pipl.com for yourself, your usernames, etc. Paul taught me that and I discovered a few profiles I didn’t know were out there. Nor did I want them out there.

4. Meet Awesome Students From… Anywhere

We’re lucky to be growing up in an increasingly location-independent culture. I can Skype with future PR All-Star Mikinzie Stuart in Western Michigan while Google Waving with fashion guru Kion Sanders wherever he happens to be at the moment, Facebook chat super-connector Evan Roberts, all while at lunch in Columbia with Samantha Ogborn, Zack Luye and Justin Scott. Hold on a sec… allow me to pick those names up off the ground.

What to do? Put yourself out there. You’re never going to be friends with everyone, but focus on becoming good friends with some awesome people. There are people out there that share your passions. Find them.

3. Learn About Whatever You Want

Honestly, my college program needs to catch up. I want to focus on new media in my Strategic Communication studies, but Mizzou just doesn’t have the curriculum or faculty to support that. They’re great in other areas, so it’s awesome I get to learn that stuff, but I had to turn elsewhere for my education.

What to do? Start with Alltop.com. Find the area(s) you’re interested in and make your own online magazine rack. Start using Google Reader. Talk to people you meet that are doing or studying the same thing and ask them. People love sharing great content.

2. Get Ahead of the Curve

The social media space is still pretty barren when it comes to students. Start learning how to use it properly now, and that’s one thing you’ll do better than 90% of your competition when you graduate. Pepsi decided to drop their Super Bowl spending ($33 mil last year) and focus it on social media. Follow the money.

What to do? Make a plan and dive in. The water is fine. Be yourself- there are going to be people that like you and will show you the ropes.

1. Network Your Face, Arm, Torso, and Leg Off

It’s been preached to us for the past five, maybe ten years – “Network your ass off!” Well, social media is one REALLY FRIGGIN’ HUGE NETWORK. Your network is no longer confined to who your friends’ parents know, or your ex-babysitter’s uncle who knows a guy. Your network is unlimited. How’s that for a service plan, AT&T? Yeah, suck it Luke Wilson. You’re getting annoying.

What to do? Take advantage of the opportunity you have right now. Network. Build relationships. Find mentors that fit you like a glove, because it doesn’t matter if they’re in Timbuktu or Peru (thanks, 2nd grade).

So there are the top five reasons students should use social media. Obviously there are more than five, but I want to go to bed. Did I leave anything off the list? Is there something you would add, take away, or change? Students that are using social media- what’s the number 1 reason you tell other students to use it?

If you’re a student (or anybody, actually) reading this and have questions or wonder what’s the next step, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I’d be glad to help or connect you with someone that can.

Shameless plug: at the end of every post this month, I’m putting a call to action to vote for Pepsi Refresh projects. Specifically mine, obviously. You can vote for an idea once every day and have 10 votes each day. That means you can vote for my idea, or others, but preferably mine, up to 28 times.

News broke the other day that Bristol Palin, 19-year-old mother of one and daughter of political figure Sarah Palin, has set up her own PR firm.

Light the torches! Storm the mansion! We won’t stand for this! She’s inexperienced! Her mother is famous! She’s giving communications a bad name! Rawr! Rawr! Rawr!

This is the reaction I saw from many in the communications community. The tweets, comments, and digs at Bristol as a person made me sick. People were ready to burn her and her hours-old PR firm to the ground. It’s petty and short-sighted.

Yes, she is inexperienced. But as long as she shows a willingness to learn through mistakes, is that really a major issue? Yes, she probably has the opportunity to do this because of who her mother is. You’re willing to blame her for stepping through a door of opportunity that is open to her? And is she really giving communications and PR a bad name? Or, perhaps, the community is giving itself a bad name by lashing out at the news. People were so concentrated on shoving Bristol so far away from the communications community. I saw communications veterans, people I respect greatly, separate themselves from Bristol, instead of making an effort to reach out to Bristol, welcome her in to the communications profession, point her towards a few great resources, and so on.

Rachel Kay posted a great piece yesterday about Bristol’s first PR challenge: crisis communications for her own firm. We will learn a lot about Bristol’s intentions and motivation through how she handles this. But the irony, oh the irony, of a young communications professional having to execute crisis communications, for her own PR firm, targeted heavily at the communications community.

It would have reflected much better on us, the communications community, had we welcomed her and guided her in the right direction. We could have shown strength in our community, on a national stage, by embracing this as an opportunity- an opportunity to showcase to others the support and helpfulness that I know is within our community.

Writer’s note: this is not a ‘holier than thou’ post. I’m not denying that I had similar initial thoughts. This is also not a political piece.

Photo via Flickr user Dan Taylor