FDOC*

*First day of class…

Many of you know that Saturday was my first day teaching a 14 session course on social media at McMaster University.

And while I’ve guest lectured many times, presented at conferences and meetings, done keynote addresses, I don’t mind saying I had opening night (day?) jitters.

Walking into the class I felt much like I did as a student. Except my desk was facing the other direction. It put my own education in a slightly different perspective.

With a course on social media, one of the challenges I think we’ll face is the ‘body of knowledge’ is very new and constantly evolving. On the positive side, I’m trying to reflect that in the course and cover/discuss emerging trends, issues/crises as they happen.

So even though there’s a course outline and framework (and for anyone from the university who happens to read this, yes, we will cover it!), the dynamic and evolving nature of social media is going to play a big part.

One thing I did was create a Ning community for the class; everything’s going to be on it including the outline, suggested reading, assignments, my notes, photos, videos, RSS feeds of the student blogs (each student is going to have one), discussions, events. The only thing that won’t be there are the marks. I hope it becomes a virtual classroom that goes on beyond our formal hours with lots of conversation and shared ideas and information.

And even though I’m the instructor, I feel I’m going to come away from the experience having learned a lot, too.

A tour of my homes

Where to begin: the Manse in Malibu? Pied-a-terre in Paris? Cottage in Collingwood? Bungalow in Buffalo?

Truth is I have one house and an office (both in Toronto). And, on most days that’s where you’ll find me.

But online is another story. Especially with the rise of social networks. Now, we all reside in many different locales. In fact, if you tally up the number of cyber homes we have, you’d think we’ve all become jet-setters, constantly flitting from one place to another.

Which is, in a way, what we do. And that makes it a lot more challenging for communicators to find us.

It wasn’t too long ago when PR folks relied almost exclusively on MSM to reach people. And, of course traditional PR still works – though I think it may be less effective than it was five or 10 years ago. You don’t feel the same awareness and excitement from a successful media relations program as you once did.

Because we now have both mass and mini media.

And which delivers stronger results? There isn’t a definitive answer yet. But I think we can all feel a shift. Some of us see it moving faster than others. Some are resistant to change. But let’s face it, things aren’t the way they used to be. And that’s good.

And, I think that if we want to truly engage and build a relationship with people, then it’s up to us to find where they like to be and go there and not wait for them to search us out in the place where we want them to go.

That’s a different way of looking at communications. We need to be more creative; to listen and participate; to be more open and visible but not be a pest. We need to try to become a meaningful part of their stories and not merely want them to consume ours.

And, if you are looking to find me, online, here’s where I’ll probably be:

• Email – mwaxmanATpalettepr.com (my BB is never far away)
• Twitter (thanks to UberTwitter, it’s a close second)
• My blog (here)
• Google Reader
• Linkedin
• Delicious
• Facebook (not that often – and it’s mostly for old friends. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but…so many networks; so little time.)

I have lots of other accounts that I will flip to from time to time, much like the way I might use a remote to check out what’s on TV. But, now you know how to reach me.

The question is: what’s the best way for someone to reach you?

Back to school