Rose Ferro
Office K218, Fall River

Bristol Community College
Rose.Ferro@bristolcc.edu
(508) 678-2811 x2027

CIT 134 Home

Welcome to CIT 134!
Social Media and the Web

Course Description: Students will learn how to use social media as an effective promotional outlet. They will also increase their social media knowledge base via a variety of strategies and techniques. Topics covered will include YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Pre or co-requisite BUS 115. Three lecture hours per week. 3 credits Spring

This website will be updated often and will be your resource for learning about weekly homework assignments, quizzes, etc. Be sure to check it frequently! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email. I am available for in person meetings if requested. I look forward to having all of you in my class and I look forward to a successful semester!

Final Exam (due by 11:59PM on Sunday, May 14)

As your final exam, I would like you to compare and contrast 3 distinctly different companies (for example: H&R Block, Zappos, and World Wildlife Foundation) that successfully utilize social media as their form of marketing. The companies you choose cannot be ones that you have already submitted as part of any previous assignment. Based on your research for both this assignment as well as the assignments you have completed throughout this semester, I would like you to identify which forms of social media you feel would be most appropriate for your field of study. Your response should clearly justify your opinion while providing resources and examples of successful companies utilizing such forms of social media. Your report should be at least 4 pages long (double spaced, not including your cover page, references, etc.).

As you wrap up this semester, I am also interested in your overall opinion of this course. Identify the things you like most, least, and things that you would change and why. Please keep in mind that your feedback is required, however, it will have no bearing on your overall grade. It is simply a survey that would help me improve this course for future semesters.

Your final exam / report (and course feedback summary) should be sent to me in separate MS Word documents within the same email. I would like you to summarize your report as your final WordPress blog post. Include your WordPress blog URL in your email submission.

If you are interested, I am willing to give you extra credit if you are able to successfully tie at least one RSS feed into you WordPress site. If you do, please indicate that you have completed the extra credit in your email submission, for my reference.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. It was a pleasure having you in my class.

Homework #11 (due May 3)

This week I would like you to create an account within YouTube. You will be asked to create a video (not to exceed 5 minutes) teaching a skill related to your field of study. Your video can either be made public (open for searching) or accessible only with the direct URL. Identify which one you selected as well as all of the possible options and why you made this particular selection.

Upon completion, I would like you to summarize your experience making the video on your Blog as well as post your YouTube video link for reference. Your summary should explain the purpose of the video and how it relates to your field of study as well as identify the your experience through the process of brainstorming, researching, creating, uploading, etc. your video within YouTube. Upon completion, please email me with the URL to your YouTube video for feedback. For your own reference (if you made the link public), I recommend that you to keep track of the views that occur of your video.

Homework #10 (due April 19)

This week I would like you to research current trends in virtual currency (i.e. Bitcoin). How is it effectively / ineffectively being utilized? In what ways is it being utilized and what are the benefits / drawbacks to this form of virtual funding? Discuss recent issues with Bitcoin. Based on your research and educated opinion, do you feel as though this is and/or could be utilized effectively on a more wide-spread basis in the future? Explain your answers.

Keeping the theme of funds, I would like you to research different (successful and non-successful) examples of crowd funding. Summarize at least 4 different crowd funding programs and explain how they work. Identify some successful crowd funded businesses / projects as well as some downfalls to crowd funding.

Once you have posted your findings to your Blog, please email me for review. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Homework #9 (due April 11)

This week I would like you to research social media marketing based on a physical location. I would like you to research and compare the purpose and effectiveness of the following tools:

Summarize each of these products and identify how they have been effective / ineffective methods for social media marketing. Have they been successful? Which of these products seems to be most successful? Which of these are using a push vs. pull system of interaction? Based on our research, is it likely for the success to climb, stay the same or decline in the future? Justify your results. How can (or have) these products been effectively applied to your field of interest. If they have been, site specific examples.

Your write-ups should be posted to your Blog. You should have one post (a few paragraphs long) per social media product. Please email the URL to me upon completion for review. For my reference, in your email, please indicate which (if any) of these products you have experience utilizing. If you do use them, is the purpose of your usage of them for personal use or related to your field of interest (if so, how)? General answers are acceptable.

Homework #8 (due April 3)

This week I would like you to work with Facebook. Although you may already have an existing Facebook account, it is important that you use it effectively and prevent your private information (things you would like to share with your close friends and family) from getting into the sight of public users (a potential employer).

To do this, you will need to modify your privacy settings. It is important to keep in mind that privacy settings can be changed at anytime (and without warning) such as the case a few years ago which created an avalanche of issues. Send me a screenshot (before and after) of your settings and explain the changes that you made.

In addition to adjusting / verifying your privacy settings, I would like you to explore the additional options that are available in Facebook, such as building a Facebook group (and how that differs from a Facebook page). As part of this week's assignment, I would like you to join at least 5 groups that are related to your professional field of interest. Provide me with a screenshot of the groups you have joined.

In addition to the screenshots that you will be providing to me, I would like you to do some research about the following:

  • Look into the issue that occurred within the last few years pertaining to the Facebook setting that were changed and lead to a combination of lawsuits and dismissals (firings). Identify at least 2 of the lawsuits / dismissals that occurred as a result of this change as well as include your opinion about how you feel Facebook handled the situation (both before and after). What do you feel could have been done differently and why do you feel that would be a better solution to the situation?
  • Lately, there have been some concern over potential employers asking the individuals that they interview for their Facebook username and password and/or identification of their page URL. Find some examples of this occurring online and form your opinion about this from both an employee's and employer's perspective. Based on your findings, personal opinion, etc. which side would you take if you were faced with this situation and why? Who do you feel is in the right / wrong?

Update your WordPress website to include a summary of your findings as well as your opinion about each of these situations. Each of your summaries should be at least 4-5 paragraphs long and include references. Please email me with your WordPress URL one it is ready for my review.

Homework #7 (due March 28)

This week I would like you to begin working with Twitter. Research the way that Twitter works and submit a summary of your findings as a new blog post. In your post, explain how Twitter can be a useful social media tool. You should also identify any drawbacks that you find either on the tweeting or following end.

Create a professional Twitter handle. This should reflect your full name (i.e. @BobSmith). You are also welcome to create a personal Twitter handle, but please be sure to remember to use each one for their intended purpose (personal vs. professional).

Begin following individuals, groups, and businesses that you would like to connect to on a professional level. You should be following at least 10 Twitter handles by the end of the week. Add a follow up to your Twitter blog post (as mentioned above) explaining and identifying the Twitter feeds you are following and how/why you feel they would be beneficial to you on a professional level.

Please send me a screenshot of the connections that you have made as well as screenshots of your Twitter Profile (minus any passwords, secret question answers, etc. that would be relevant only to you).

Homework #6 (due March 14)

Now that you have a grasp on how some of the social media networks function as well as how they may assist you as both a personal and profession way to build your network, I am going to ask you to start building your social media connections throughout the next several weeks. This will not only help you connect to people, groups, and businesses in your field of study but will also help you stay  up-to-date with current trends in your chosen career field.

To begin your social media footprint, I would like you to create a LinkedIn account (if you do not already have one). Please see the following resource to help you optimize your profile.

Once your profile has been created, begin developing your network of contacts. As part of this, I would also like you to connect to my LinkedIn profile. You should have at least 10-15 connections by the end of the week. Please send me a screenshot of the connections that you have made as well as screenshots of your LinkedIn Profile (minus any passwords, secret question answers, etc. that would be relevant only to you).

In addition to the screenshots that you will be submitting, I would also like you to post a summary to your blog explaining how LinkedIn, as a social media tool, can help you professionally.

NOTE: Please keep in mind that each of the account profiles that you are creating are not intended to begin and end the week that they are assigned. From this point forward, you will be expected to keep up with your social media connections throughout the semester (and, ideally, beyond this course) to help you in your future endeavors.

To help you keep me posted with your progress, I would like you to add a new page to your blog called Social Media Connections. This is where I would like you to give me a weekly update on your social media connections. For example, you can post about the new connections you have made through LinkedIn, the new rending topics that you have followed, tweeted / retreated about and how they relate to your field of interest, etc.

Additional Resources

Homework #5 (due March 7)

This week, I would like you to take some time to revisit your WordPress site. In your "About" section / tab, I would like you to update it with content relevant to yourself, your goals related to your major, this course, as well as current / potential future jobs. I would also like you to review the reports that you have written thus far and post a summary of each of the topics (as individual posts) to your WordPress site. Please keep in mind that I am not looking for you to copy and paste your report. Instead, I am asking you to relay the pertinent information within your report in a format and length that would be reasonable for your WordPress site.

Please also remember to keep your delicious (or alternative bookmarking site) updated with the resources you find useful as it relates to this course.

Homework #4 (due March 2)

Now that you have had the opportunity to do research on some social media networks, I would like you to start thinking about the business end of these tools and more specifically about businesses that have both successfully and unsuccessfully used social media as a means to grow their market-base.

This week I would like you to research at least four businesses that have used any of the different social media tools that you have researched thus far. You should highlight at least three different forms of social media. If possible, I would like you to find businesses in your field of interest (related to your major). This report should be at least three pages long and identify key issues / milestones as well as discuss what went right / wrong?, What alternative forms of social media might have been a better / worse option (Why)?, etc.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Homework #3 (due February 19)

Online Communication

  • Research the following forms of online communication: blog, discussion board, wiki, and website.
  • Using a Word Processor (i.e. MS Word), identify the purpose of each of these forms of online communication and differentiate between them - compare and contrast them (i.e. Why would someone create a blog rather than a wiki, website, or discussion board? List some of the differences between them.)
  • Identify at least two examples of each and provide the appropriate references for your research.
  • Upon completion, email your Word document to me as an attachment using the required email subject and filename format.

Homework #2 (due February 9)

  • Research the difference between symmetric and asymmetric social networking.
  • Clearly define the two, identify the benefits and drawbacks of each, as well as provide examples of each. Explain when and where it would be beneficial for someone to utilize each form of social networking.
  • Have you, either now or in the past, utilized either symmetric or asymmetric social networking? For what purpose have you used it i.e. personal, business related, etc.? In what ways would one approach be better than another for the purpose of promoting a new product?
  • Find examples of businesses that use these forms of social networking. Have these forms of marketing been proven effective? Explain and provide examples.
  • Your report should be at least two pages long (double spaced in MS Word). I would like you to elaborate on your findings, provide effective examples where appropriate, and cite your references.

Homework #1 (due February 2)

  • Research Tutorial (Reading): Read the Search Engine Tutorial - This will give you the skills that you need to refine your current knowledge of how to conduct effective online searches. Note: You not need to complete any of the assessments posted to the tutorial website.

    WordPress

    • Do some research on WordPress. Be sure that you understand the difference between a .com and a .org WordPress site and include your explanation of the difference between the two as a part of your first post.
    • Create your own FREE WordPress.com website. You are not required to spend any money to create your site as part of this course. If you choose to upgrade your WordPress site, you may do so of your own volition, but again are not required to do so for this course.
    • Once your WordPress site is created, based on your research, summarize the purpose of WordPress (in general and in addition to the .com and .org comparison), as well as how it is commonly used. Email your WordPress URL to me.
  • Additional Research: Compare and contrast Del.icio.us, Bit.ly, and Packrati.us. Use this as your second post to your WordPress site. Provide the appropriate source references.
  • Delicious.com: Create a login, if you don't already have one. Once your login has been set up, post the resources (and tag accordingly) that you used to conduct your research for this homework assignment. Email your del.icio.us URL to me. As we progress through this semester, you will be expected to continually add resources.