How to contact the Professor? - DM me on Twitter

I have been thinking long and hard about the best and most effective way to integrate Twitter into my next HR Technology Class.  In the last three class sessions, I have variously discussed Twitter, demonstrated Twitter, and even had an HR expert panel web conference that was organized completely on Twitter.

Yet, I still feel like many students are slow to embrace Twitter and to leverage the vast pool of resources and contacts that can be found there.  I am such a huge proponent of the potential of Twitter for networking, for research, and for connecting to some of the best HR practitioners that I feel the need to 'force' students into the Twitterverse.

So in the spirit of the old-timer professor that props up sales for the ancient textbook he wrote years back by making it a 'required' reading, I am going to make Twitter a 'required' aspect of my next class.

In addition to crafting an assignment or two involving making connections with HR experts on Twitter, I am going to enact a new policy.

I am going to instruct the students if they need to contact me, that they have to send me a DM (direct message) on Twitter. That way I ensure two things, one, that they have actually created an account on Twitter, and two, they have figured out the basics of using the service (at least enough to send me a DM).

So, from this day forward students, if you need to contact me, do what plenty of HR experts, consultants, bloggers, and friends have already done, send me a DM.

Steve on Twitter - SteveBoese

Comments

[Meg Bear]

Completely awesome.

[Steve]

Thanks Meg!

[jessica lee]

i think it's smart. as a part of my recruiting efforts for my company, i speak at least 10 times per year to students who want to work in PR. for communications/PR pros, social media has soooo many implications, so i'm trying to push them in this direction as well... so the last group of communications/PR students i spoke with, i wouldn't give them business cards. i gave them my twitter handle and said to come find me that way. (only one of that group reached out to me, surprisingly.)

should be interesting to see how the level of comms from them to you increases/decreases... either way though, good going! :)

[Steve]

Jessica - thanks very much for your comments and for sharing your experiences with student groups that you talk to. I think that more HR students (and practitioners) should at least get aware of and comfortable with Twitter (and other tools), and 'forcing' them to sign up and use the service is my crude method to see that at least they get introduced to the tool. Also, I think it is important for instructors to lead and guide students to experiences that will have direct applicability and meaning beyond the four walls of class. If I have the students contact me, and each other simply using e-mail, then I really have not taught them anything. Thanks again for stopping by.