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Using social media to teach next generation PR people

I had a bit of a brainwave moments before I was due to guest lecture a group of second-year PR degree students last week.

I was planning to mention Twitter in my lecture at the University of Gloucestershire but then it dawned on me - why not actually use it as a teaching tool? So I Tweeted 'Anyone got anything to say to 14 young and enthusiastic PR students?''

Here's the result:

Now, the comments themselves were very educational in their own right, but the real elegance in this excercise was not only how it brought some highly respected journalists and PR people in the room together with the students, but how it demonstrated social media working in a professional context.

Many thanks for all those who replied (Mark Pinsent, Colonel Crocket, Louise Doherty, Luke Regan, Alan Burkitt-Gray, Toby Johnson, Peter Houston, Stephen Davies, Guy Clapperton and Adrian Bridgwater) - you've helped educate PR's next generation.

And a nod should also go to the PR course leader at the University of Gloucestershire, Averill Gordon, for making digital media a big part of her students' studies. It was great to meet David Phillips,  head of digital at Publicasity and author of books on online PR, who was also at the university to speak to the students.

[Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/darylwillcox]

Social networking - hams have been at it for years

I am now officially a 'ham'. Having spend the weekend on a course with the Mid-Sussex Amateur Radio Society I can now apply to Ofcom for my callsign - once the papers are processed.

The course made be realise that alot of the concepts behind social networking are not new at all. Ham radio enthusiasts have been doing it for decades.

The beauty of amateur radio is that the participants create the network themselves. It is 'unassisted'. Whereas if you network on the internet you are probably at the mercy of a telecoms provider and/or an internet service provider, with amateur radio all you need is your 'rig' and a power supply (and the latter can simply be a battery or generator). And even a relatively low-power radio can reach all over the world.

And for those who say it is a bit retro - well, I guess the basic concept (two-way radio) is a bit retro, but there is a hell of a lot of hi-tech and cleverness going on around it. Moon-bouncing anyone?