First of all, I’m not a fan of the title of this post.  I wanted to say “A Couple of Social Media Do’s and Don’t's” but we all know that that’s not proper apostrophe use.  But if I have an apostrophe on Do’s, I can’t very well not put one in Don’t's – so I avoided it and compromised.

Moving right along; I’ve been doing some research on corporate social media policies and it inspired me to write a little post because, honestly, these companies that have robust policies for social media use know what they’re talking about, and some of what these policies outline should be adopted and used in both your personal life and your academic life.

Some Do’s:

• DO respond and engage in productive, positive conversation
• DO share links, articles, posts, and information that you think your peers would find helpful or interesting
• DO post work you’re proud of and encourage your peers to provide their input
• DO post appropriate pictures

Some Do Not’s:

• DO NOT engage in negative conversation; it will get you nowhere
• DO NOT respond to inflammatory comments or rants
• DO NOT post confidential information (do I even have to post this one?)
• DO NOT post inappropriate pictures
• DO NOT allow social media distract you from the task at hand – prioritize!

The bottom line here is that social media can be used as a very helpful, efficient and educational tool — as long as it’s used properly.  One wrong move — or post — can land you in bad-reputation land.

You never know who’s watching; it could be your employer,  your professors, your classmates, or even your grandmother.  Use social media constructively; if you do, it can be your best friend while finishing up your degree.

Nicole’s Favorite Tip: I built a fairly large following of marketing folks on Twitter (I was a marketing major)… any time I had a question, needed advice, or input; I posted it to Twitter – without fail, I always got a lot of great responses and insight.  Don’t be afraid to seek the advice, input or help of your peers – whether they’re strangers or not – you never know, there might be someone just waiting to help you out and inspire you!

Screenshot of iPad and Flipboard App, Credit: iTunes/Apple/Flipboard

For iPad lovers out there, here’s a great new tool to share your interests with those that follow you (and presumably the world).  It’s called “Flipboard“.

It’s a downloadable app for the iPad.  Here’s the excerpt from their iTunes store page:

Flipboard is the world’s first social magazine. Your Flipboard is a fast, beautiful way to flip through news, photos and updates your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter. And it’s an incredible place to discover fresh content from around the Twittersphere.

Flipboard brings the timeless layout of print media to social media. No more scrolling through long lists of posts and links. No more jumping back and forth between websites. Your Flipboard is everything you care about in one place. It’s your magazine. It’s your Flipboard.

Essentially, Flipboard takes all the links you are sharing and makes them far more visually appealing, and then assembles them as a ‘digital’ magazine, making it much more interactive (and fun) to browse through all the news, links, photos, articles and other digital ‘stuff’ you (or someone you follow) shares.

We’ve all heard the buzz about Facebook lately… privacy-this, delete your account-that.  What you haven’t heard much of, is how Facebook can actually help you in your studies.

Granted, it may be all too easy to get sucked into Facebook when you should be doing your work, but studies have actually shown that a little brain break actually ups your efficiency.

Staying engaged (especially being a “non-traditional student” in an online world) is paramount to your success as an online student.  Don’t just count on the discussion boards your university provides for you, make your conversation spill over into Twitter and Facebook, and onto blogs and forums.  Get others involved.  You would be surprised at what you’ll learn by simply sharing your opinion and engaging socially; not just scholastically.

Not only does engaging in discussion via social media flex your brain muscle by beefing up your points and arguments for the paper that’s due next Sunday, it flexes your social muscle and opens you up to other points of view that you may have never even considered.  In addition, you may end up making a few friends along the way.

Here are a few tips to stay engaged both socially and scholastically:

1. Use Twitter Search: Poke around a bit, find topics that interest you and engage in the conversation.  You may start off talking about the points you’re planning on driving home in that paper due Sunday, and wind up talking about a myriad of other things that interest you.  Don’t let your brain or your social muscle gather dust!
2. “Like” your university on Facebook: Start discussions in the discussion tab, or even start discussions on the wall of the page.  Comment on posts, interact with your peers!
3. Contribute to discussion forums and post comments on blogs: If you’re commenting on a blog or forum of a topic that interests you, check the little “notify me of follow-up comments via email” box. You’ll receive a notification every time someone adds a comment to the thread you participated in – a great way to fuel conversation!

Happy Socializing!

We’ve been barraged by warnings about privacy in social media since its early days… but increasingly lately, stories are surfacing of poor judgement, along with privacy concerns, when using social media — Twitter, in particular.

I read an article (see the “this guy” link below) this morning that I thought would translate well into a post for Nicole’s Corner.  All too often, people forget how public the web is.

To avoid a debacle similar to the mess this guy is going through, I have a few things you should probably think about before tweeting, updating your Facebook status, or even commenting on a blog/forum/video/picture, etc.

• What would your grandmother think?
  • Chances are if grandma wouldn’t approve, you shouldn’t be posting it. Period.
• Could what you’re about to say offend anyone? Could it be misunderstood? Is it a rant?
  • No one needs to know your personal business.  Don’t confuse people, and don’t rant, take a second to breathe before you post an angry comment online. I promise you’ll thank me later.
• Could what you’re about to say be proprietary information?
  • If there is any question as to whether or not you should be sharing the information you’re about to share, don’t.  When in doubt, err on the side of caution.  Again, you’ll thank me later.

All of that being said, don’t live tweet your classes or exams (I hope that goes unsaid, especially the latter), don’t rant about your class or your professor, your classmates or your employer (most folks are savvier than you would think), and simply play it safe!

*Thanks to myeeepcmylife.com for the image