This is the first post in a series about repurposing some of the best social media marketing advice on the web for higher ed instructors using educational technology in our classes. According to the insightful Claire Chapman, a Social Media Specialist at Intendance, running a social business makes sense for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it allows for two-way communication and developing give-and-take relationships with clients. This puts companies in a good position to “reach out and ask clients’ opinions” and get more people involved in future design and promotional directions.

We’ve heard this social media marketing advice many times, but what Chapman does particularly well is underscoring the importance of developing listening tools. By paying attention to (and participating in) peer-to-peer conversational exchanges Chapman notes, companies glean valuable information about emerging issues and can anticipate customer requirements. And at the end of the day, if those conversationally-aware companies “hear things going wrong, they are able to fix them, faster.” Good business sense.

So what about the classroom? How exactly would this social media marketing advice work in a higher ed context? Does listening to unfettered conversations offer a benefit to profs and their students? Or it is just sketchy?

Should profs have one ear to the net, tracking the word of web buzz and online conversations about our courses between our students on social media sites? In my opinion, absolutely. If time and resources permit, the potential benefits are enormous.

For profs who want to catch troublesome issues in their classes before they snowball, (such as, for example, a misperception about content from the lecture, suspicion about a TA’s skills, or growing angst about the exam) using social media tools to digitally listen in, and selectively conversate (or intervene) will appeal.

Enabling student-to-student connectivity, as well as prof-student communication is not a radical idea—with or without edtech tools. But the issue of faculty friending students on Facebook remains highly controversial to many. At issue is, among other things, all the other studenty-stuff we will see, hear, and catch in a conversational net cast on Facebook. It won’t surprise anyone to hear that a large part of the jetsam and flotsam of FB is steady stream of NSFW (not safe for work) photos and status updates. So should profs steer wide and clear of this perfect storm of inappropriateness?

Luckily there are more and less “fettered” ways to enable conversations using edTech in general and The Facebook in particular.

There are plenty of selective and strategic approaches to listening that will achieve the same positive troubleshooting, crowdsourcing, and community-building outcomes described by Chapman above. To mitigate some of the risks associated with direct prof-student connections on FB, including perceptions that the site facilitates oversharing and informality that may undermine professional relationships—there is always the option for indirect connections—a group or Facebook course fan page (my tool of choice) allows students and faculty to connect on the site without access to each others’ full profiles.

Opening up conversational elements of a FB page, such as the wall, threaded discussions, photo collections, comments, polls, and RSS feeds, allows/encourages students to share course-related opinions and content. Meanwhile the page or group moderators do what moderators have always done: watch, listen, ensure the conversation adheres to community guidelines, respond and troubleshoot. Don’t want to do it? Hire a TA, grad or undergrad, and call them your digital strategist. Most millennials are far more socnet savvy than any faculty anyway—notice I said socnet-savvy, not digitally literate, another debate for another day.

Following Chapman’s advice then, teachers interested in monitoring WOW (word of web) course-related conversations should be erecting some purpose-designed digital scaffolding of our own, to support two-way, asynchronous, conversational interactions that unfold anytime. Some of those tools, like FB pages and Twitter feeds, Blackboard discussions and Flickr photosharing groups, Delicious social bookmarking networks, Nings, and Tumbler blogs, can and should be mediated by actively participating faculty/TAs. On other channels, maybe the unfettered conversations should unfold with minimal or no professorial interference/conversational hijacking, just a lot of listening.

Either way, the key to listening-in without feeling like Professor Creeper is to establish the public understanding that all course-related conversations are being actively and thoughtfully managed and monitored. In other words, the teacher is listening (in), because we’re interested and invested in optimizing the educational experience of all involved. We care.

At the end of the day, if we “hear things going wrong, we’ll be able to fix them, faster.” Thanks Claire Chapman.

For an interesting and related case study of coaches who care, and thus listen in, monitor and mentor student athletes’ social networking profiles, in the interests of personal branding and reputation management, click here.

Thank you to SMM wizard Brian Yanish (@MarketingHits) for tweeting the link to @intendance.