Here is another in my series of guest bloggers from the international education field.  In this post we will hear from Gloria Angel, Assistant Director at Temple's CIBER program.  She is relative new to social media but has found even the small things make a huge difference.  Enjoy!


"How does social media influence your international education job?"

It has completely changed the way my job was done before I started. Using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn & WordPress, I have been able to communicate with more students to get the message out there. I work with business students and historically they did not see how they would be able to fit a study abroad semester into their academic career. In 2001 we sent 17 business students to two different locations. Last year we were able to send almost 200 students to 22 locations so the word is getting out. When students are going to a new place, I ask them if they are interested in blogging and give them a video camera and set up an account on WordPress. I have a script of suggestions for topics that they can talk about but the students really take and run with it. Some blogs are more http://www.fox.temple.edu/ciber/blogs.html


"How did you get into social media?"

I like listening to local bands and music that is not played on the radio. After a show one night, someone directed me to their MySpace page. I can’t remember when I opened a Facebook account but I had a MySpace account before that and also Friendster, years ago. I’ve always thought they were interesting mediums of communication. I was using it personally, didn’t start using it for work purposes until 2004.  


"What is one social media tool you cannot live without now?"

I’m always checking Facebook but TweetDeck is the easiest to use so that I can update everything at once. Also Skype.


"What is one thing you wish you knew about social media that would have made getting involved with it easier?"

I wish I would have known about TweetDeck earlier, it would have saved a lot of time.


"What do you think social media's biggest impact has been on international education?"

Getting the information out about little known programs in different places. Showing students the process so that they are not blindly searching for anything to get them out of the country. Also giving them a bird’s eye view of something outside of their comfort zone via other students who blog. The students also give good travel & housing tips in country.


"Why do you continue to use social media?"

It’s the easiest & quickest way to get a message out to students and have them respond in kind.  Especially with everything that has been happening lately with political unrest & natural disasters, we can communicate with them and get a rapid response to see if they are alright. It’s a great marketing tool that reaches the masses. I also like it because students who graduated a few years ago and are looking to reconnect or chat about what has been going on in their lives find it easier to reach out. Several alumni have actually contacted me with internship opportunities for current students so the outreach widens and starts to influence other areas.

About the Guest Blogger
Gloria Angel is currently the Assistant Director of the CIBER program at Temple University.  She is extremely involved with NAFSA at the regional level and has coordinated this year's conference in her hometown of Philadelphia, PA.

Here is Part Two of Frank Merendino's Guest Blog post on how he uses social media within international education.

Let's find out why Frank continues to use Social Media today!

What is one social media tool you cannot live without now?

This is a tough choice because I have an equal affinity for Twitter and LinkedIn—but if I have to pick, I would say LinkedIn. Mainly because it provides more robust features like networking, marketing yourself, seeing what colleagues are up to, and the forums act as an information aggregator (I suppose most of what I just said could be applied to Twitter as well).


What is one thing you wish you knew about social media that would have made getting involved with it easier?

Prepare to be overwhelmed at first—especially with Twitter. When I stated using Twitter, I felt like I had to read every tweet and every article that the people I followed were posting. I was on information overload. It was a good thing because I felt like I was made aware of so much more information…but it was also a bad thing because I was made aware of so much more information! There is a lot to process at first, but after a while you get the hang of it. Tools like tweetdeck and hootsuite are great for creating filters. Learning how to quickly skim your Twitter feed and only read what interests you is something that will develop over time.


What do you think social media's biggest impact has been on international education?

Quickly spreading information and ideas—but I think that’s what’s great about social media regardless of your field.


Why do you continue to use social media?

I’m hooked! In all seriousness, using social media has made me feel more connected and informed. It allows me to access a huge pool of information that is catered towards my interests in international education. I can’t even describe how much I have been exposed to via Twitter that I wouldn’t have found on my own. The best part is that the info is all peer-reviewed. I have come to trust the opinions of many of the international educators I follow based on the info they tweet about.

Frank Merendino is the Sr. Admissions Officer for International Partnerships at the University of Cincinnati. He has presented or volunteered at NAFSA: Association of International Educators since 2007. He currently serves as the Region VI State Rep for Ohio and nationally as a member of the Leadership Development Committee. Frank holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration from The University of Akron.  You can follow him on Twitter at @Frankie_James.

If you are interested in being a guest blogger please email me at mandy@mandysmashups.com

It is extremely important to monitor what is being said about you in the huge sphere we know as the internet.  Likely, for us there are a number of great tools available to help us be able to do this.  Below are a listing of some great tools that will assist you in monitoring what is being said about you personally as well as your organization/institution.

Useful Tools for Monitoring Your International Presence

·         Tweetdeck – http://www.tweetdeck.com– my personal favorite – let’s you monitor multiple Twitter accounts at one time as well as search for keywords
·         HootSuite – http://hootsuite.com– great for scheduling Tweets
·         Google Alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts - highly recommended tool – allows you to received notifications when items are posted on the internet about you or your organization/institution
·         Google Reader - http://www.google.com/reader- great tool for being able to read all of your Alerts in one place.
·         Social Mention - http://www.socialmention.com/ - like Google Alerts but for social media
·         Addict-o-Matic - http://addictomatic.com/ - let’s you create a keyword social media search
·         Tribe Monitor - https://www.tribemonitor.com/ - allows you to measure your presence on social media.

I hope you find some of these useful and use at least one of these to monitor your international social media presence.