It generally starts with a statement and then ends with a question. The statement is usually framed as: “Social media is/are a 24/7 concern.” The question that follows said statement has consistently been: “What do we do about that?” There’s a fascinating fear of social media that is ingrained in a lot of student affairs … learn more→

The recent publication of a leaked video demonstrating American security firm Raytheon’s social media mining tool RIOT (Rapid Information Overlay Technology) has rightly incensed individuals and online privacy groups. In a nutshell, RIOT – already shared with US government and industry as part of a joint research and development effort in 2010 – uses social … learn more→

Social media is often stereotyped as a frivolous, navel-gazing enterprise, and completely antithetical to the deep thinking and thoughtful questioning of academia. However, most gradhackers know that academia and social media are not at all incompatible. Used well, social media can be a vibrant and fruitful space for networking, exchanging ideas, and–dare I say it–building … learn more→

“Mom, take a video of me and put it up on Facebook!” My five-year-old daughter is a (relative) wiz with technology. She was using my iPhone with ease before she was even 18 months old, playing memory games, shape puzzles, and phonic lessons. Both she and her younger brother have our old iPhones for when … learn more→

When I first signed on to Twitter and started to get the hang of it, I was like I had finally found the community I had been looking for all along. I found educators who shared my values, academics who challenged me without condescending to me, and a support system I had never really had … learn more→

On January 16th at 9:06 AM, I liked the University of Phoenix Facebook Page. Because of my consulting practice, it makes sense for me to like a wide variety of higher-education-related pages on Facebook. Universities and colleges that I have worked with are in my list of likes as well as several other well-known schools … learn more→

Instagram’s announcement yesterday of a new set of terms and conditions has elicited a backlash from many of its 100 million users, with many vowing to ditch the service before the changes take effect on January 16, 2013. The crux of these changes is that Instagram, a photo-sharing mobile app launched in October 2010 and … learn more→

My research and thinking, and even my identity with regard to social networking has evolved, but not in a way I have anticipated. Over the past three years, I have offered a number of conference addresses and keynote presentations focussed on the use of social media and networking in education. I have co-authored chapters in … learn more→

Twitter’s home page features a regularly updated list of topics that are “trending,” meaning that tweets about them have suddenly exploded in volume. A position on the list is highly coveted as a source of free publicity, but the selection of topics is automatic, based on a proprietary algorithm that factors in both the number … learn more→

I had the opportunity to attend a session last week, hosted by Pearson, on how higher ed faculty use social media. Much of the content was quite interesting. You can download the full research report here. Quite a bit of survey data was presented on the survey with 3,875 respondents, including that 34% of faculty … learn more→