About the Blogger

About the Blogger

Lucy is a communications and theater student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. The demand for social media in the corporate world inspired Lucy to begin this blog as a compilation of her research and academic career. It's a reflection of thoughts and insight on technology, with a little theatrical flair thrown in. 

Lucy recently finished her internship at Step Ahead Inc. in Charleston, SC. She hopes to graduate in May of 2012 with a BA in Corporate Communication and a minor in performance Theater.

“Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices.” Yeah right!

The College of Charleston’s Department of Communication hosted an advisory council forum on Thursday, March 31^st. The esteemed panelists: Steve Cody, Managing partner and Co-Founder of Peppercom; Jeannie Bunton, Vice-President of External Relations for the International Center for Research on Women and Keith Lindenburg director of National Public Relations for Deloitte, presented useful information on social media for students and businesses alike.

As a communication major at CofC, I enthusiastically attended the event. Before the forum however, Jonathan Rivers, one of my classmates in my Communication and Technology class (#comm360 on Twitter) decided it would be appropriate to create a hashtag, forming a live tweet-up. #CommForum was born (what’s the APA rule for beginning a sentence with a hashtag?)! We promoted the tag throughout businesses in the Charleston and the CofC campus. Even our professor and mediator of the event, Dr. Micheal Reardon (@mreardon428) was tweeting and re-tweeting back to his tech-savvy students while sitting on stage.

                                        

 “Please turn off your cell phones,” seems to be a retired phrase in the professional world. Dr. Reardon promoted @jonathanriver’s creative hashtag during the introduction of panelists and encouraged smartphone use. Clearly, the etiquette is changing in the business world. However, managing your social media accounts while trying to stay engaged in a discussion, presents a challenge. As a student accustomed to technology, I’ve mastered the “texting-under-the-desk-so-I-don’t-get-caught” tactic. That mastery has become worthless with the growing importance of Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook in the corporate, social and academic environment.

Steve Cody’s presentation on the advent of mommy bloggers captivated the attending students and Jeannie Bunton’s inspirational quotes made retweet history for #commforum. Keith Lindenberg commented on the importance of self-promotion through social media and how venues like LinkedIn.com are becoming just as (or more) essential as the white paper resume we know and love.

Although unemployment is high, social media venues have sure made it easy to connect with companies across the world. Just after the forum, students were being @mentioned across the campus by the represented companies on Thursday. My twitter following increased and my blog saw more traffic than ever, all because of a simple hashtag. Thank you #commforum!

Follow these social media hounds on Twitter!

International Center for Research on Women: @icrw

Steve Cody - Peppercom: @RepManCody

Brian McGee, Dept. of Communication, CofC: @BrianMcGeeCofC

Dr. Micheal Reardon:@mreardon428

Jonathan Rivers, CofC Student:@jonathanrivers

or search #comm360, #CommForum