In the February 20, 2012, Philadelphia Metro, Bruce Walsh wrote “Facebook finding its place in the classroom”
“I don’t think it’s a good thing to require students to be on Facebook. But it can be helpful if the population of students is already there,” says Steven L. Johnson, professor of management systems at Temple University. “I find master’s students just aren’t interested in communicating on Facebook. But so many undergrads live in a post-e-mail world, so Facebook definitely helps reinforce things.”
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“As educators, we can take the stance that students are going to do what we tell them. Or we can take a stance that says we want every student to do as well as possible, and we’ll meet them where they are,” says Johnson. “If we take the second approach, part of that is recognizing that students — just like any person — have different preferences about what communication channels they want to use.”
On February 3, 2012, my interview with John Moe of Marketplace Tech Report aired on Is Pinterest a Facebook Killer?
Those images and that simplicity have made Pinterest a handy way of managing a web experience. “Pinterest is part of a broader trend toward valuing content curators,” says Steven Johnson, assistant professor of management information systems at Temple University’s Fox School of Business. “Back in the early days, the biggest thing was finding interesting things. Today, the problem is the opposite. We’re inundated so we’re trying to find information sources we can trust. Once you find someone and you like their style, you want to find a way to follow them and follow what they’re presenting to the world as their style. Pinterest is one tool that makes it easy to do that and it’s well designed to share and follow other people who are doing that. ”
No one’s ready to say Pinterest will dethrone Facebook just yet. For one thing, they’re different. One’s about interests, the other’s about people. But if Pinterest finds an audience, other new social networks could do the same. “Certainly a long-term threat for Facebook’s success is that people come along with multiple sites like Pinterest that start to reduce the amount of time people spend on Facebook,” Johnson says. “I think it would be really hard for Facebook to be the one place all of these other things happen.”
Carolyn Beeler of the local NPR affiliate, WHYY, interviewed me about what hot trends for 2012. Read her January 3, 2012 article on Pinterest.com: ‘Virtual social scrapbooking’ site expected to take off in 2012.
Johnson believes the virtual pin board will take off in 2012, as people reach the limits of what they can do on Facebook and Twitter and want more room to be creative online. In an age of information overload, the site also taps into the need for what Johnson calls “content curators” with shared interests.
“It’s not just about finding sources of info, it’s really about finding people you can trust that can sort through that information for you,” Johnson said.
Larry Dignan and I recently prepared complementary Point/Counterpoint articles for the new Fox School of Business alumni magazine, Fox Focus. Find the complete article at, Social Media Strategy: Learn as you go or apply what you know.
Michael Fitzpatrick interviewed me for Leaders Edge Magazine, Nov. 2011, Tweet! Tweet! Twitter: Brand Building 140 Characters at a Time
Twitter has about 100 million active users, about half of whom sign in once a day. The social media outlet allows businesses, including those in insurance, to stay connected to their customer base and to keep clients updated with industry developments.
“Twitter for the average broker is a much bigger investment in terms of making a name for yourself,” said Steven L. Johnson, director of social media programs and research at the Fox School of Business’ Institute for Business and Information Technology. “The more niche your product is, the more Twitter would be helpful. Then you could be known as the go-to information source.”
April 20, 2011, Philadelphia Inquirer, Snatching or shunning the latest in tech:
Plus, committing early helps advertise to others who you are and what you value. “If you are a big fan of Apple products, standing in line on the first day is an event, like people who stand in line, say, for Springsteen tickets,” said Steven Johnson, director of social media programs at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
“It shows you are a loyal fan.”
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Still, for the early-in folks, those extra few months may be worth it, said Johnson. Being robust users, they get more experience with their product immediately, meaning by the time the price goes down, they may already have gotten their money’s worth.
April 2011, Treasury and Risk, Facing up to Facebook: Employees’ use of social media offers risks and rewards.
“Whether they know it or not, every Fortune 1000 company has some kind of online reputation that is being formed and re-formed every day by what people are Twittering and putting on Facebook,” says Steven Johnson, an assistant professor of management information systems at Temple University’s Fox School of Business. “Companies can monitor that, or they can participate in the discussion—or they can just put their heads in the sand.”
A company that has a sophisticated program for monitoring its brand on social networks is Staples, he says. A team responds to negative references and also thanks people who say nice things about the company.
But there’s more involved than just reputation buffing. “Social media also allows employees to share knowledge, managers and employees to communicate, and companies to learn from their customers and suppliers,” Johnson says.
Technology companies like Apple and Microsoft have used social media as a way to get customers to brainstorm and solve software problems, he notes.
“There’s really very little downside to having your employees use social media,” Johnson says, “unless you have a company with very bad employee morale.”
Feb 22, 2011, Fox School of Business, Game on: New Social Media Innovation course features virtual quest
“There are other classes that cover social media topics, but what is unique here is The Quest,” said Johnson, an assistant professor of MIS who researches large-scale social networks. “Lots of social media sites incorporate elements from games, like points, levels and badges. We’re doing the same thing here and having a lot of fun while learning.”
Johnson said he’s already been impressed by his students’ creativity. Every week, students present their best work in class, which also helps students learn from one other. By the end of the semester every student will learn to create and manage blogs and manage an online presence through social media.
“The ultimate objective is that a student in a job interview will be able to say ‘well of course I use Facebook, but, you know, here’s why Facebook is so popular,’” Johnson said.
Johnson said the course will also help students manage their digital identities, which is essential for college graduates seeking jobs.
“When you apply for a job, odds are your boss will Google your name,” he said. “They are either going to find something that you put out there yourself, or they’re going to find a picture of you at a party, or who knows what, and it may not represent you well.”
For those who prefer longer videos:
- My presentation on Gamification for Funtastic User Experience from Philly WordCamp 2011 is now available via WordCamp TV. The most compelling section is probably about 15-20 minutes in where I read and discuss student comments about their experience in a gamified course.
- I appeared with three of my colleagues from the Management Information Systems department of Temple U. Fox School of Business in a round-table discussion on Social Media on Temple U. TV.
If you prefer really short videos, I’ve launched an “… in 90 seconds” series on internet and social media technology. The first four titles are:
I’ll be covering additional topics in support of the classes I teach.
