Mastery Journal-Social Media and On-Line Community Engagement
When I initially signed-up for New Media Journalism, Social Media, and On-Line Community Engagement was one of the courses that I was really looking forward to taking. As an older student, creating a social media presence was going to be a major challenge for me. I knew that I needed to learn a number of things concerning social media platforms and communication. The two things that I wanted to learn the most was:
1. To interact with communities and the way in which social technology shapes cultures, government, and communities.
2. To learn theoretical and practical approaches to understanding, designing, building and using virtual communities.
3. To continue to grow my following and grow professionally
I was able to learn these objectives in some of my earlier courses. However, Social Media and On-Line Community Engagement has really allowed me to see how far I have come. I do understand that growth is a process. I still have a long way to go but I feel more comfortable engaging my audience, designing, and building for my site, monkssportstalk.wordpress.com.
The Social Media and On-line Community Engagement course had many challenges that required me to step-out of my comfort zone. Once I was able to step-out of my comfort zone, I learned how to contrast the unique features and strengths of various social media channels. I learned to develop story ideas by evaluating trends in social media. For example, I used Storify to find the lasted articles concerning AAU basketball. I was able to write a few articles based on information I found on Storify. I learned to create and integrate social media assets in a multimedia packet.
Social media and On-Line Community Engagement has really allowed me to feel much more comfortable about being a professional journalist. I do understand that even after I graduate I will be a work in progress. I have started to fill-out applications for sports journalism positions. One of the things that all of the companies are requesting is the handles of my social media accounts.