Learning Experiences

I've definitely had some experience in the past with regard to the web, social media, and blogging, yet on a very "micro" scale. With blogging, my experience comes from writing on a very specific topic (Android and the mobile phone community), whereas my social media experience lies on a mostly personal level. Over the last year, my learning experiences with search engine optimization have helped these areas grow for me, but always on just the "micro" level - it's easy to optimize something for a certain audience when the subject matter never changes. Then came this class.

At first glance, the class was more about "social media", and less on getting the word out in general. To be honest, I thought the class would be somewhat of a cakewalk, due to my prior experiences. Luckily I couldn't have been more wrong.

Of course, we talked about social media; the different types, and how, why, and when/when not to use them. What really taught me a great deal was how to tie it all together. It's obviously one thing to write up a blog post or send out a tweet, but to actually help to create a video (or collection of videos), and use at least 3 different forms of social media to bring everything to a point really makes sense. Using a blog to write about the video context and the relevant keywords, while tweeting and posting on Facebook about facts from the blog post and video, and then linking everything throughout is almost so simple it's stupid. I love how the "K.I.S.S." model more often than not makes so much sense.

I also learned a great deal about some of the problems happening in society, and how people are using creative ways to solve said problems. While I don't agree with the way "The Yes Men" went about getting their point across to the WTO, I have to admit the idea behind it and the creativity of the presentation definitely was one way to do it - albeit a crazy one.

I think the class really helped me to learn that social media, viral video, and other techniques meant to bring forth change can not only be used on a local level, but if done correctly, can be used rather effectively to get a point across on a very global scale. One person can scream at the top of their lungs to try to get their point across - or - that person can have a simple, calm, conversation to get their point across by using their head and doing it right. This way, you don't lose your voice.