2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
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It gives me a window into their world. It’s a much less formal kind <strong>of</strong> relationship with<br />
social media. I get to listen in, and if I hear or see something, or if somebody asks me a<br />
specific question I can answer. It’s much more passive and more personal. I’m pretty<br />
much an open book – on Twitter and on Facebook. And so students are that way with me.<br />
And I sort <strong>of</strong> role modeled that – to use social media in that way – and so they’re<br />
comfortable with being open appropriately so – being able to share their life and who<br />
they are. And that gives me a window into their world and being there without having to<br />
set up a c<strong>of</strong>fee date or meet on a regular basis. It can be a quick thing.<br />
Offering resources. Educators felt positively about using social media in their<br />
mentorships because it also allowed them to share resources easily with students. As one<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essor from the Midwest US mentioned:<br />
I’m finding it to be really helpful because a part <strong>of</strong> mentoring is to help students find jobs<br />
and on Twitter there are all these accounts for PR jobs. It’s definitely useful for<br />
mentoring because these are great resources that I can easily direct them to. That’s one <strong>of</strong><br />
the greatest things about social media, and online media – I can read up on it and study it<br />
and share that with my students.<br />
Another pr<strong>of</strong>essor from the Eastern region <strong>of</strong> the US enjoyed using Twitter in particular<br />
because it allows her to “learn some new strategies or events in my community that I can share<br />
with my network <strong>of</strong> people.”<br />
Allowing students to choose their own mentors. One pr<strong>of</strong>essor brought up the very<br />
salient point that social media allows students to dive into the field and choose their own mentors<br />
if they so desire:<br />
There are so much more mentoring opportunities because <strong>of</strong> social media and there is a<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> mentoring opportunities. Because from the academic standpoint, students are<br />
not just limited to their teachers. They can cultivate relationships and choose mentors by<br />
really developing relationships with them through social media. It’s changed mentoring –<br />
in the sense that if you follow certain blogs and you comment on those blogs, you can<br />
choose mentors and build relationships with them. By commenting on their blogs,<br />
retweeting tweets, you can build and nurture relationships with leaders in public relations.<br />
And that ability to broadly choose mentors is greatly influenced by social media. You<br />
don’t need to be at a cocktail hour to meet someone. It’s really opened doors and that’s<br />
exciting.<br />
Showing the value <strong>of</strong> social media. Lastly, educators use social media in the hopes that<br />
it can show students its intrinsic value. One pr<strong>of</strong>essor felt her efforts have been successful, as she<br />
stated that “implementing Twitter in the classroom, that’s when I felt the shared mentoring<br />
developed. When they’re seeking out assistance, or career advice or just somebody to listen to.”<br />
Another pr<strong>of</strong>essor in the Midwest US felt that she is still working on this issue, but making<br />
progress:<br />
I’m hoping that in following my lists they see the value <strong>of</strong> Twitter and to me that is<br />
something as a mentor I can do because I can’t force my students to open an account. But<br />
if I can at least encourage them to check out what’s available and see how others are<br />
using it then I’m hoping that will help them when they get their first job that they can<br />
speak intelligently about Twitter.<br />
RQ3: What Challenges Do PR Educators Face in Using Social Media for Their Mentoring<br />
<strong>Relations</strong>hips?<br />
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