SMCEDU: Richmond’s Panel Kicks Off a New Chapter

On Monday night, SMCEDU-RVA held its kickoff event at Virginia Commonwealth University with a great panel discussion. Kendall Morris and Nathan Hughes of the Richmond chapter of SMC deserve credit for organizing an engaging forum that should result in greater interest for the academic community in central Virginia.

What struck me most was the diversity of both the panel and the audience. The range of questions and answers demonstrated the breadth of social media — it touches many fields and serves many uses.

VCU journalism professor Marcus Messner served as the mediator for a panel that included 21-year-old journalistic wunderkind Trevor Dickerson, ReadWriteWeb blogger Jolie O’Dell, Ironworks Consulting recruiter Candace Nicolls, and University of Richmond graduate
Generra Peck. The four fielded questions from both students and teachers, young and older, and helped many form a better understanding of what social media is and what it’s being used for.

Many questions centered around how social media affects potential employment. The consensus among the experts was to be genunine, but to use common sense. Although it seems straight-forward, there remains some ambiguity when it comes to guidelines; much of how you choose to express yourself depends on what industry you’re entering, the company culture of the potential employer, and the personal taste of each individual.

Although there are plenty of students that are concerned with the keg party photos that are consistently brought up as evidence against Facebooking, it seems that many employers and teachers are understanding of a few “events.” What undermines an applicant’s chances for being hired is evidence of irresponsibility, false representation, or other character weaknesses.

All the panelists shared great insight:

• Trevor Dickerson advised the audience to learn the dos and don’ts of communicating, and to reach out to several online communities
• Candace Nicolls spoke on the need for applicants to distinguish writing skills for both Web and print mediums
• Generra Peck expressed the need for students to learn what tools exist, and how to use each
• Jolie O’Dell shared, and later wrote about the need to be an early adopter, to focus your learning efforts, and to expand your digital toolbelt by keeping up with the constant evolution of technologies

I was happy to speak to a few teachers that are enthusiastically embracing technology in their classrooms, and their presence and interest at the event was a welcome complement to the many students in attendence. Teachers, especially those in the marketing, public relations, journalism, and communications disciplines are already aware of the impact technology is having. Events such as VCU’s Tweet That discussion will hopefully create a bridge for those that are curious, but haven’t had the opportunity to seek answers from people that are utilizing these practices every day.

And that’s exactly what we’re trying to create with SMCEDU — an opportunity to learn.