Social Media and Networking for a University Presented by: Title Slide

Introduction The use of social media and networking can be extremely helpful for a business to utilize in today’s society with how plugged in most consumers are with technology, but it does present its own particular challenges. Universities and schools need to be informed about the benefits and challenges of using social media and networking for their classroom to make an informed decision. Social media and networking technology can be a great tool when used by the student body as it can act as the glue to hold it together into a close group that understands events and other university happenings. It can help with teamwork for the students, but can also be extremely helpful for the staff and facility of the university to work together. Social media and networking technology can be used as a way to recruit new students and staff to the university for a brighter future. The possibilities of the benefits of using this technology are huge, but there are always potential problems if the use of it is not fully thought about in advance.

Social Media and Networking Technology Advances and Disadvantages Concerns about campus and student privacy Issues with safety Staff unwilling or afraid to use new technology Revising campus policy Advantages Create a close campus Create relationships with the community Invite parents to know more about the student’s experience Increase visibility of campus Recruiting tools In order to make any decision, it is important to get all of the information regarding the issue. This can be positive and negative, and should be equally weighed against each other before proceeding. There are some ways that the positives can be enhanced to work even better for a campus, and there are also ways to decrease the impact that the negatives may have on a campus. The first step to being able to do that is understanding what the positives and negatives would be in implementing this new technology.

Two Most Beneficial Technologies Facebook Yammer The two social media technologies that should be used for the university to get involved with this type of technology would be Facebook and Yammer. Facebook is a great way to stay connected with the world and have a presence on the web. Most students may already have a Facebook account, so they would already be familiar with this technology. The university Facebook page would be an excellent way to keep in touch with current staff and students while introducing prospective students to it. Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms today and would work well as the first option for the university. Yammer is not as well-known, but it allows for businesses to connect over a secure network that would be also beneficial for the university to use. It can be a great way for students, staff and facility to interact with each other through a secure system that does not allow for others to gain access. This could be used as a place for facility and staff to place notifications about classes and events, students and student groups to introduce themselves, a job board, and any other information that might be helpful for the campus to have everyone have access to on a daily basis.

System Development Life Cycle Overview The six stages are: Investigation Analysis Design Programming and testing Implementation Operation and ongoing maintenance It is important to understand the system development life cycle to be able to understand how this technology will be created for the university. There are six stages that are involved with the system development life cycle. Every stage is necessary because it helps to further the project along. If there is an error in one of the earlier stages, it is necessary to fix that problem before going any further as it would continue to remain an error throughout the process. Each step will build upon the last step.

Systems Investigation And Analysis Investigation stage – looking into what other similar operations have in place for social media. Analysis stage – determining which functions will be necessary for the social to have involved for their particular needs. The investigation stage is the start of the process when an organization decides that they have a need to be filled, and start to research what their competitors and other organizations have already started to use to fill that particular need. This can also include contacting and researching the particular social media tools that have sparked an interest. Facebook is relatively easy to conduct searches on to gain information while Yammer may require contacting the company to learn more about it. The analysis stage is taking all of the information that came from the investigation stage to make some decisions. This is the stage where things like features, functions and designs are determined. Want and need lists can be compiled on what the university is looking to accomplish.

Systems Design Systems design stage – taking the wants and needs listed previously to create the actual design aspect of the social media and networking tools to be used: Layout Design elements Features Pictures, graphics, and text can be added The systems design phase is when Facebook and Yammer will be designed to fit the needs and wants of the university. Both of these are well-established websites that would not take as long to create as other project might take. For Facebook, there are even templates that could be used to get a basic design down before personalizing the page.

Programming and Testing Programming and Testing stage – this is the stage where the designs that were created in the previous stage are applied and is followed by testing to make sure that it is running correctly. The programming and testing stage is the point where all the work that had been done previously is finally applied to the websites, such as creating a Facebook account and applying all of the design work previously decided upon. After this stage, it is essential to test out the layout of the design and how well everything is functioning. Anything that worked well conceptually in the design phase but not in the programming stage will need to be changed before moving past testing. This is when things that can cause any issues are fixed before it is revealed to the world.

Implementation Implementation stage – putting the live versions into place for the public and the university to be able to use the new social media and networking technology. The implementation stage is where everything is finally online for anyone to be able to access it or log in. This may seem to be the final stage, but it is not.

Operation and Ongoing Maintenance Operation and ongoing maintenance stage – making sure that the social media and networking tools run as they were intended to run, and installing any updates based on the future needs of the university or unforeseen problems. The operation and ongoing maintenance stage may not seem like a part of the system development lifecycle as it occurs after the tools go live, but it is vital. This stage ensures that all the previous work that was completed stays up to date and improves upon itself. If these changes and updates were not taken care of in a timely manner, all of the money that the university put into creating these social media and networking tools will not be wasted. This will keep them running and functioning as long as they are needed by the university.

Conclusion In conclusion, it can be difficult to decide if a university will benefit enough to set up social media and networking technology to offset any potential challenges and negatives that they offer. There is a lot of information that is needed to make that final decision. This presentation has offered the positives and negatives that can be seen by implementing social media and networking technology. It has also gone over the process that it would take to put this into place for the university. Any questions or concerns that you have during any portion of this process will be taken seriously. I do hope that you will consider advancing into this exciting technology that will be more helpful than harmful if implemented in the correct way.