I started with the assumption that they know nothing about MySpace/Facebook/Second Life.  These were my main environments to discuss.  The handout was a one page simple bulleted handout so that they would spend my precious presentation time listening instead of reading.  Included were quick facts on all three of these environments – who, when, where, what, how.  Also a small section labeled "Don’t be a n00b – learn the language, learn the culture" with terms used on these sites and in everyday student language such as blog, bulletin, tag, text, friend & message.  The next bulleted section gave the pros and cons of advertising on Myspace/Facebook.  Paid advertising is official, someone handles it for us BUT it’s $$$ and really how many students click ads and banners?  Profiles/Groups are free, students WILL join, can get more input from students BUT someone has to be in charge of it.  Second Life was very briefly touched on as that’s (for my college) far in the future.  But I talked about how you can take college classes, PR events, learn design and scripting.  I did a quick poll to see how many have accounts on any of these environments and there were unsurprisingly very few.

To end the presentation I let them all know that Mott Community College does indeed have a group on MySpace and it has over 6,000 members.  Who runs it?  Someone named Sarah Suicide who claims to be a marketing major at MCC.  There is misinformation and all sorts of "stuff" going on in the group.  Some members are under the impression that it is run by the college.  The VP and President sat up a bit straighter and took notice at that fact!  Kevin Prentiss directed me to the fact that there are 1,300 of our students on Facebook.  My ending question was "Why aren’t we there with them?"

I’m hoping that this presentation, although very brief (less than 15 minutes) will help to open Administration’s eyes and move us forward to keep in touch with our students.