Chris Brogan Challenge : How Schools Could Use Social Media

As I was sitting in a lonely hotel room, waiting for my husband to get out of work, I was searching the web for new ideas for my blog. During my search, I came across a guy named Chris Brogan, author of Social Media 101 and coauthor of Trust Agents. Mr. Brogan had made a list of 100 blog topics that he hoped “I” would write about. Many of his ideas fit me perfectly, while others I’m not really sure what they are. In all my boredom, I decided to challenge myself to write about all 100 of his topics. This won’t be easy, since some of the topics are a big question mark to me, but a little research never hurt anyone. Figuring in the fact that I don’t write real posts on the weekend, this challenge will be 100% successful if I complete it in 20 weeks. So let’s begin…Day Twelve – Topic Twelve(still here)!

There are many ways that high schools and colleges could take advantage of using Social Media. I think schools could use Twitter to update or remind students about important events coming up. Imagine a big away game approaching. You definitely want to make sure that you have fans in the crowd. Send out a tweet to the entire student body reminding them of when and where the big game is going to be held. Now imagine a fundraiser, dance, or sporting event happening at the school. Why now send out a tweet with a code that is good for a discount? We all know that we are more likely to buy something if it’s on sale.

I believe Facebook would be good for schools to hold class discussions. If each teacher had a class facebook page, the student could join and be there to help each others with questions, bounce ideas off one another, or just remind someone what the homework is. They could add a discussion section with a question each week that encourages the students to think outside the box and interact with one another. This medium would be good for those that are on the shyer side and don’t feel comfortable speaking up in class. How do you think school could use Social Media? Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!