The 21st Century Principal

Have you really thought about the nature of social media? Most of us use it. I've even praised it, but lately I have begun to really examine it and its use in my own life. We users of social media often forget that it has specific design characteristics whose purpose is perhaps not what we think.

For example, we have been fond of praising the ability of Twitter to allow us to connect with others. But is being "followed" or "following someone" a "connection?" Or, are we connected simply because the medium, in this case Twitter, has declared us connected? Connection, of course is in the words of the definer. We all have our versions of it, but I can't help but wonder if having former president Barack O'bama as a follower and on my followed list is truly a connection. In my thinking it's not. He and I have never exchanged a word. For all I know, a publicist is the one who made the decision of who ends up on his followed list. That certainly destroys in my mind any thought of authentic connection. If I really want to connect with someone, we certainly have to have more than a declaration from Twitter or a few brief word exchanges in the form of a Tweet. But is connection really the purpose of Twitter?

I really think the purpose, whether we Twitter users ever acknowledge it or not, is unabashedly self-promotion. It is one gigantic ego-inflation device where we can be someone and attempt to break out of our meager corners of the world and try to be a celebrity. Twitter's ego-inflation system is used by us to try to stir the world either up or in our direction. After all, in the United States, we currently have a "Tweeter-in-Chief" who knows too well about its ego-inflation abilities. He uses it as a blaring horn that declares for the world who he is and how great he is. Haven't we all felt a bit that same way when something we've posted on Twitter gets "retweeted" and "liked" many times? Our ego becomes a bit more inflated with each of these.

Perhaps we should give up the race for retweets and likes and more followers. After all, just the idea of these is truly more about us than we think. We wear these like medals. Some even like to remind others in their tweets just how many followers and unfollowers they have. If connecting with others were our true goal, it wouldn't be about the numbers of followers we have, nor would it be about how much of our Tweets echo about Twitterverse. It would be about the depth and authenticity of our relationships and discussions between other people in that world. Instead, we are prodded by this ego-inflation device to post in order to declare loudly what we want the world to see as us, but this "us" is simply a shadow in cyberspace.

What should we then do with Twitter? (Or Facebook, Instagram, etc. for that matter) I am not entirely ready to delete my accounts as Jaron Lanier recently argues in his book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. That seems draconian to me at this point, but it is worth consideration. Instead, I am going to own up to what Twitter (and social media) is, as I've come to see it. I might even conduct some experiments with it. For example, instead of just playing by Twitter's rules of "retweet" and "likes," I might seek NOT to have my tweets liked and retweeted. It is said that our world does not like to have reality thrown back into its face, so why not use Twitter and other social media as a means to question its created reality? Why not be truly real and post what we really are thinking instead of seeking validation of others through their liking and retweeting of what we have to say? Also, since Twitter seems to be a powerful "self-promotion" device as well as a idea-promotion device, perhaps I can use it authentically in that manner?

Considering the American character, is it really a surprise that social media like Twitter is an American invention? We've long since liked self-promoting ourselves through our own exceptionalist beliefs. We historically throughout our past have had leaders talk about us being a beacon to the rest of the world, a light in a world of darkness. Twitter, no doubt, provides us with a personal mega-horn, or so we think, to shout "What's happening?" in our lives and in our worlds that we think might serve as a beacon for others. But have we really stopped to think, are we really reading all those "tweets" in our timelines? Is anyone reading them? Or if we're reading them, are simply looking for words that also validate our view of the world? Then, because we've chosen whom to follow, these words are like the words of so many cyber-sycophants, only telling us what we want to hear?

Let's perhaps be critically honest and sober about our social media and not get caught in the hype. Twitter is designed with specific characteristics that can make it, not about connecting, but about ego-inflation and confirmation of our own little worlds. It isn't about global perspectives; it's about promoting ourselves and creating the world we ourselves want.

If your Facebook timeline is like mine, rarely does a day go when you don’t see a post that asks you to share it because your act of sharing will somehow benefit the subject of the post. For example, today I found a post from a well-meaning friend asking me to repost a photo with a description that stated, “If this boy gets 100 shares he gets his heart transplant for free!” Most of us would immediately repost without question, after all, it’s the least we could do in situations like this.

But here’s the real problems with these posts: they are bogus just about every time. Or so it seems. Lately, when I’ve seen these posts, I’ve gotten into the habit of googling the bylines, and just about every single time an article from Snopes.com comes up telling me the post is bogus. Snopes usually provides a bit of additional background as well, such as who is really in the photos, when the post began circulating, and other variations of the post. Web sites like Snopes are excellent tools for helping sort out fact and fiction from the web.

Part of us wants to believe that we can help someone so easily with the click of a button. We may even justify our reposting of things like this because we say, “What can it possibly hurt.” But in some ways we are perpetuating a lie and just maybe giving people a false sense of having done something good for another human being when we’ve really done nothing.

But sometimes the real issue we have with the web is our own personal approach to it. We turn to the web sometimes to only verify the world as we wish it could be or want to it be. For example, we want to believe that there are people like this little child who need a heart transplant, and there are people like us who can help. Better yet, just maybe, these opportunities to repost these requests for help exist to give us an opportunity feel better about all the time we waste thumbing through these social media sites.

Perhaps the truth is simply this: you can’t really believe much of anything that comes through your social media feed, and if you want to really make a difference in someone else’s life, turn off Facebook and help someone face-to-face this holiday season. In the real world, need can be a bit more obvious and you don’t need Snopes to fact check. If you take a hard look at the real world around, I bet there’s someone whose needs are apparent, and we might have to do a bit more than simply repost.

"In a linked world and a relationship economy, isolation costs too much," writes Jeff Jarvis in his book Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live. Jarvis's argument is clear: In today's digital world, the cost of not being connected is too great. We live in what he also refers to as a "relationship economy" where value is derived from the quality of our relationships, and these relationships come from our sharing of ourselves with others on the web. He was speaking mostly of businesses, but I would argue that what he says also applies in general to education, and to educators specifically. We, as 21st century educators, also participate in a "sharing economy" where our value is based on the quality of relationships we make through "Web Presence" established through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, and other content sharing outlets. 

The problem is, too many school administrators and teachers still remain on the sidelines. They haven't engaged in the "relationship economy with other educators" so, even though they might have a Twitter account, it sits idle most of the time. Some may even view their timeline on occasion, but they miss one important piece of fostering digital relationships or connections: they do not interact and exchange through sharing. Without participation, no relationships are created, online or offline. As Jarvis so aptly points out,

"It's the same in the digital world as the real one: If you stay in your room all day, you'll never meet anyone and never know whom you've missed. It's Tinker Bell in reverse: Each time you don't share, a relationship loses its wings."

Being a digital leader is much more than boasting that you have a Twitter account or school Facebook page. If these are not used to share, relationships can't possibly be formed. To form solid 21st century relationships with other educators, you must share. This means you must give up the fear of being "public." To become a connected educator you must make a step outward and connect by sharing knowledge, ideas, tips, resources, or whatever you can to contribute to the global education conversation.

As Jarvis points out, we can't really be wallflowers or lurkers and engage the relationship economy of a linked world. To foster relationships, we have to "come out of our rooms" and engage others through the media. "To make connections we must be public and share." Moving to use the media to become public and share in order to form new relationships is a powerful New Year's Resolution!

Here's an interesting infographic recently shared with me that takes an unusual perspective in explaining the difference between all the major social media sites.This comes from the folks over at Avalaunch Media. This might be a useful way to introduce those just wading into social media to all the different social media tools.

I think this infographic makes a solid argument for making use of social media in schools. I hope you find is as interesting as I did.

There are obviously quite a few social media resources available to school leaders on the Web, but finding high-quality information can be difficult. Here are some books that I consider vital for school leaders seeking to learn as much as they can about its potential to enhance leadership and education. Each of these books are excellent sources of information for the school leader trying to learn about social media and potential in educational leadership.
 
Why Social Media Matters: School Communication in the Digital Age by Kitty Porterfield and Meg Carnes 
Porterfield and Carnes' book is one of my personal favorites. As the title suggests, it focuses on providing school leaders with the "know-how" of using social media as a communications tool. School leaders, however, are not encouraged to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools as a 21st century announcement system. Porterfield and Carnes encourage school leaders to use social media's most powerful feature, the ability to engage stakeholders in a multi-way conversation. This book equips school leaders with the tools necessary to communicate effectively using social media in the 21st century.




 
The School Leader's Guide to Social Media by Ron Williamson and J. Howard Johnston
Williamson and Johnston's book offers school leaders a complete panoramic view of social media. They give one of the most comprehensive views of both the potentials and the pitfalls of engaging in social media use. Williamson and Johnston provide such timely information as: Concerns and Benefits of Social Media Use, Encouraging Responsible Use of Social Media, Creating Acceptable Use Policies Governing Social Media Use, Overview of the Social Media Tools, and Social Media Skills to Be Taught. The School Leader's Guide to Social Media is one of the most comprehensive resources available on social media.




 
The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in the Digital Age by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall
This book provides school leaders with a complete review of what it means to engage in the use of social media as a "connected learner." Nussbaum-Beach and Hall take readers through the whole idea of engaging in social media as a means to learn 21st century style. Using the tools of social media allows school leaders to expand their connections to a world beyond the classroom. This book provides a complete model to make global learning and connecting happen.




 
What School Leaders Need to Know about Digital Technologies and Social Media edited by Scott McLeod and Chris Lehmann
In this collection of essays, edited by educational technology experts Scott McLeod and Chris Lehmann, school leaders get one of the most complete descriptions of the tools of the social media toolbox. This book takes readers through a complete survey of all the tools---from blogs to social bookmarking to even gaming. Readers will find this comprehensive overview of social media tools extremely useful and they plan and development social media strategy.




 
Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli
Richardson and Mancabelli’s book is one of the most comprehensive and engaging reads yet on the potential of “Personal Learning Networks” as a transformative force in education. This book focuses less on the social media tools and more on the strategies educators can use to foster, not only the development of their own personal learning networks, but also the personal learning networks of the students they teach. As a part of the school leader’s library, this book is an excellent strategy guide for engaging in social media as a means to foster personal learning.


 


Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss
While this is the only book on the list not written specifically for educators, Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online is the best guide for school leaders who want to move beyond just using social media as personal learning network tool or as a communication tool. This book provides strategy on how to proactively engage in social media use to foster a positive online reputation. In the 21st century, school leaders can ill-afford to ignore their school or school district’s online reputation. This book provides school leaders with the tools in which to engage social media as public-relations tool and become completely transparent, which is an expectation for 21st century organizations.




 
Social Media for School Leaders by Brian Dixon
Dixon’s book is another excellent resource on social media for the 21st century school leader. This book gives another comprehensive overview of the social media tools, including some not found in the other books. It also provides readers with a comprehensive framework for understanding how to use social media effectively. Dixon’s books is excellent combination of introduction of the social media tools and the strategies to use to engage in their use effectively.



 
These seven resources provide school leaders with the most comprehensive view of social media possible. By reading these and referring back to them often, as well as engaging in the use of the tools and the strategies, school leaders can effectively become social media leaders in their schools or districts.

“Customer engagement means trusting, listening, and learning from your stakeholder communities, and responding to their comments with quality content in an honest, authentic manner.” Andy Beal and Judy Strauss, Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online

The conventional way many administrators use social media is as a “21st century announcement system.” Using it in this manner is certainly worthwhile, but that is using only one facet of social media. It is also designed to connect and foster multi-way communication. It is a means to carry on a conversation, and simply using it to announce your next open house or the latest basketball scores ignores this connection-fostering aspect of social media.

As a school leader, if you want to grow and move to using social media as it is designed, here’s some things you might want to do today to use social media as a multi-way conversational device.

• Don’t just send messages; invite your school community into an online conversation. Post something that invites your stakeholders into a conversation. Take a poll, post an opinion, get feedback on a schedule change, or have your parents share memories of what school was like for them. If you’re just using social media to “send messages” you miss the whole point of the technology: it’s about the conversations.
• Give your school community the information they want, not what you think they should have. With social media we have one of the most powerful information-dispensing systems in the history of mankind, and we want to try to control the information flow. Find out today what kinds of information your constituents want and give it to them. Give them the content they want to have, not what you think they want.
• Make your social media use a “sustained communication effort” not just one of the those added things you do. To really capture the power of social media, use it in a sustained manner. Post provocatively and thoughtfully and do so each day. To get the most of social media, use it in sustained manner, not as an afterthought.
• Use multiple social media platforms. This only makes sense. Use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and Google + to get the widest audience possible. Don’t limit your school or district social media use to one tool. Make your educational social media efforts a quality marketing effort using multiple tools.
• Don’t throw out the traditional media. Social media and traditional media can complement one another. A good old-fashioned press release well-placed then promoted through social media can get a lot of attention. Making use of both media types is a 21st century communication strategy.

While you can certainly use social media to make announcements, its real power lies in the connections and relationships it fosters. Make an effort to expand how you use it today.

“Social media has offered us a platform where we can learn from and with the smartest people we ‘meet’ from around the world, whenever we need to or are ready to go.” Scott McLeod & Chris Lehman The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media

Personal Learning Networks existed long before there was an Internet. I am perhaps showing my age, but my first “Personal Learning Network” used very little of the technologies we use now. It basically involved colleagues down the hall, perhaps a teacher or two in other buildings or other schools, and my yearly subscription to the English Journal. That learning network was rounded out by the occasional book title I picked up at the bookstore or at a conference. One summer that “Personal Learning Network” extended to other educators during a two-week participation in the National Writing Project at Appalachian State University. The connections made in those days were primarily face-to-face, through-the-phone, and through print. The quality of my “Personal Learning Network” then was as dependent upon my efforts to make connections then as it is now. Sharing with other teachers was a central part of that networking system too.

Many years later, educators now have at their disposal, the most powerful tools for developing and maintaining professional learning networks in history. Yet, many educators---principals, teachers, and superintendents---have yet to fully utilize these tools. Their “Personal Learning Networks” are globally-atrophied and non-vibrant because they either are afraid of engaging in using these 21st century tools of PLN creation, or they have convinced themselves that it is all a fad and will fade in a few years. While individual tools may come and go, the notion of “connecting with others, instantaneously and globally," is here to stay. Humankind has tasted the fruit of being able to interact with others globally with technology, and will only demand better tools and better ways of doing it.

For those school leaders who have not yet taken the plunge into the 21st century world of social media and “Globally-Vibrant Personal Learning Networks,” here’s  baby-steps to get you started today. No need to be afraid. Trust yourself and that natural, inner-thirst for wanting to learn, to guide you in taking your first steps in connecting with other educators globally.

Start by setting up a Twitter account. I realize even saying the word “Twitter” immediately sends some administrators, educators and other school leaders into fits of “near-profanity” and disgust. I can sympathize. After you have dealt with 15 incidents in one day of students and perhaps staff members using Twitter, or Facebook, in a less than acceptable manner, your view of the medium can be just a bit tainted. Still, Twitter, despite its “cutesy and dare I say less-than-dignified sounding name,” is the easiest social media tool to begin using. Besides, mention Facebook to some administrators, and they go into convulsions of disgust, so we won’t stretch it that far. Here’s some pointers in getting started with your “Personal Learning Network Development Program” using Twitter.

• Set up your Twitter account first. I would suggest finding a “Twitter-enthusiast” in your school, because I get there's just about one every school by now. Have them help you set up your account. Perhaps they can even suggest some educators you can begin following.
• Once your account is set up, begin simple. Respond to a few Tweets-of-Interest. Participate in a “Twitter Chat” such as #edchat, satchat, or #ncadmin. Don’t be afraid to join in and share your thoughts, but keep in mind the 140 character limit. This is actually good: hard to be long-winded when you only have so few words to do it. You can’t hardly show off that complicated vocabulary either. You have to think concisely and be direct. Over time, the more you Tweet, the more you will build what I call your “Twitter-stamina.”
• Occasionally, share out a “juicy quote” from your professional reading. The really good quotes are the ones others can’t help but reply to.  A “well-tweeted” quote will immediately get others to connect with you. Blast it out! See who responds.
• You can’t be a “lurker” for the rest of your life. Get out there in cyberspace and share. The currency of Personal Learning Networks are ideas. You have something to contribute, so get off your lurker-cushion and share how your school has solved a particularly thorny issue.
• Finally, when you hear the “social media horror stories” don’t react with a vow of social-media celibacy, after all, we don’t swear off phones when someone uses them irresponsibly, nor do we take a vow against writing when someone writes a threatening note. Realize that social media is a way to connect with others. Like all media designed for fostering connections, it can be used for good or ill.

As educators we no longer have to be stuck in the stone-age when it comes to developing and maintaining Personal Learning Networks. Every educator---teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors---can have a vibrant, global learning network. It’s time to take your first steps into the 21st century where social media tools make connecting easy.

"While principals and superintendents are rearranging their organizational charts and agonizing over budget proposals, important conversations about their schools are being held all around them. These conversations used to take place at the grocery store, around the swimming pool in the summer, and at community events; now they take place on the web---on the neighborhood digital bulletin boards, on Twitter, in blogs, and on YouTube."   Kitty Porterfield and Meg Carnes, Why Social Media Matters: School Communication in the Digital Age

I am amazed that in my conversations with other administrators and teachers, there are those who still refuse to engage in using social media. As Porterfield and Carnes point out, school leaders are working hard on their budgets, their policies, and meetings, and many of them are oblivious to the conversation that goes on Cyberspace about their schools and districts. According to Porterfield and Carnes,"It is more than foolish for school leaders to pretend that education is somehow untouched by this new media; it is negligent, and it reinforces the image that many Americans have of schools and school leaders---that leaders keep their eyes on the rear-view mirror as they run our schools, and that our schools are just not in step with the times." There are administrators who still refuse to engage in connecting through social media. They see it as a nuisance, and fight to keep it out of their schools, even though it is impossible to do so.

For those school administrators and teachers who are thinking about making their "Social Media Debut," here's three simple principles to get your started.

1.  Choose multiple tools for your "social media toolkit." You need to consider using tools like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and blogs. Multiple tools means being able to engage your constituents and other educators on multiple levels and in multiple ways.

• Twitter gives you the ability to get information out quickly and concisely.
• Facebook has the most users, so it gives you the largest audience. You can also share out photos and other media on your school or district Facebook page.
• Blogs give you the ability to post a variety of content and engage others in a conversation about that content.
• Google+ allows for the dissemination of a variety of content. Like Facebook, users can post photos and other media. It allows users to use "circles" to sort audiences.
• LinkedIn allows users to connect professionally with others.

2. Make your home web site homebase for information. As Porterfield and Carnes point out, your web site "should focus on service and the product it provides is information." Use social media tools to direct constituents and others back to your web site. Monitor your web site for traffic to gauge the effectiveness of your promotional efforts. Your web site's purpose should not simply be to have a presence. It should function as information central about your school or district.

3. Use social media, not as a cyber-announcement system, but as a means to engage others in conversations. To use social media as simply a way to make announcements ignores one of its fundamental qualities: it allows for multi-way conversations. Use social media to engage others and get feedback.

Twenty-first century school leaders and educators who still resist social media and getting connected, seem to think they can ignore the conversation about their schools in cyberspace. Keeping social media out is impossible. Ignoring and hoping it will go away is looking backward. It is time for school leaders and educators who have yet to connect to make their social media debut!

Should schools and school districts have a "social media strategy" like business and industry? In the corporate world, social media has moved from being a novelty to a deliberate strategy to engage the public. It seems like schools and school districts mostly do social media as an add on, where someone in the central office "just happens" to post announcements to Facebook or Twitter. But if schools were going to be more deliberate about their social media strategy, what would they do? According to Brad Friedman, in a recent post called "5 Must-Haves for Social Media Management," companies are "bringing in whole teams of specialists to craft effective social media strategies and manage their multiplying numbers of social media accounts." In education, with our austere budgets, hiring a whole team of specialists to craft a social media strategy won't happen any time soon. In fact, though some social media experts might argue otherwise, I am not entirely sure schools and school districts need the heavy-duty social media strategy that companies need, at least not yet. But we can learn a great deal from those experts and apply it to our situation as non-profit educational establishments.

When it comes to social media strategy, I think we really have to begin with the question of "What can social media do for us?" And we should also ask the question, "Is it the most effective way to accomplish what we are trying to accomplish?" If it is being used as a simple communication tool, is that the best way to communicate our message? One of the main characteristics of social media is that it is a "multi-way" connection medium. Users can engage to multi-way communication with constituents. School administrators are often unskilled in this kind of engagement, and very often either uncomfortable or even unwilling to engage in a multi-way conversation that social media offers. There's a "desire for control" of the conversation or its outcomes which is an anathema to social media thinking altogether.

Taking Friedman's ideas regarding 5 keys for social media management and applying them to schools requires adjusting them a bit, and transforming them so that they fit the needs of a school or district. If school districts are going to engage in social media in the manner in which it is designed, which means engaging in its use as a multi-way medium, then here's 5 keys to effectively managing a school or district's social media strategy.

1. Have deliberate plan on when and how your school or district will use social media. In his post, Friedman talks about the need for businesses to maximize scheduling of their messages through social media. The time of day and day of the week a social media message is sent does matter. When it is received by constituents will determine the message's effectiveness. This is true in business, and I suspect it is true with schools and districts too. My own experience has taught me that a message posted on our school Facebook page tends to get more "likes" and comments if I post early in the mornings, before 6:30 AM than in the middle of the day. Also, a message posted over the weekend is likely to get the same level of attention as early mornings. Why is that? I suspect many of our students and their parents, look over their Facebook timeline first thing in the mornings to see what they received over night, and on the weekends they simply have more time to follow their messages. I have no studies to prove such, but it does make sense. A school or district would do well to plan when is the most effective times to get the word out through social media. They also would do well to think about how they will deliver that message. Will it be through Facebook, Twitter. Google +? In addition, schools and school districts need to plan to use social media tools like Facebook, not just as a digital intercom on which to make announcements, but also as a way to engage constituents in a multi-way conversation.

2. Know your constituents and know the kinds of content they want and need. There are the obvious kinds of content for social media: announcements, photos, etc. But if a school or district tunes in and listens to its constituents, they will get an accurate idea regarding what kind of content they want and expect. School districts should use social media to also engage constituents in conversations about how they are doing. Why not post proposed schedule changes on Facebook and allow students and parents comment on them? More importantly, respond to their comments to show you as a school or district are listening. Listening in social media is as important as posting.

3. Use the tools at hand to monitor the social media and web stream to listen to what constituents and others are saying about your school or district. Tools like Ice Rocket and Addictomatic are two free web tools school leaders can use to see what others are saying about their organizations. Google Alerts is another. Using social media and other tools to listen to the conversation about your school or district is important in the 21st century, and to make an effective social media strategy.

4. Collaborate with other school and district leaders and develop a genuine social media strategy and plan for your organization. It is great to hear that school leaders are now wading into social media use with their Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts, but perhaps it's time to get serious about using the medium. Maybe it is time to earnestly develop a social media plan and actually consider social media campaigns to promote what the school or district is doing. Making the most of social media means perhaps using it the way businesses are: they are using it to promote their brand. It's time for schools to do the same.

5. Monitor the effectiveness of your school or district's social media strategy by tracking and analyzing statistics regarding its use. Using tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and web site view data should not be just done by businesses. As schools wade further into social media use, and also spend more resources on social media strategy, monitoring the effectiveness of that use is important. If your school or district spends hours setting up and maintaining a web site, and no one is visiting that site, that is hardly effective use of resources. School leaders must begin to use the tools available to track and analyze the effectiveness of their social media use.

As our schools move deeper into the 21st century, school leaders must rethink social media's place in the school or district. Many still see it as a fad or a nusiance, and fight to keep it out, as if that were possible. Perhaps it is time for schools and districts to begin thinking in terms of having an effective social media strategy instead.

In their book, Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online, authors Andy Beal and Judy Strauss entitle one chapter "You Don't Own Your Company's Reputation."

That idea is equally true for schools and districts and should remind twenty-first century school leaders that they "don't own their school or school district's reputation either." It is so easy for administrators to still engage in trying to protect the reputation of their schools, because that is the conventional thinking. But with the advent of social media and self-publishing ability of the web in general, protecting your school or district's reputation becomes an exercise in futility. Instead, 21st century school leaders must shift their thinking from protecting their school or district's reputation to managing that reputation. Trying to control the conversation about your organization is impossible in the digital age.

What are some beginning steps toward "managing a school or district's online reputation?" Taking the advice of Beal and Strauss, here are some starting points to consider.

1. Begin with internal stakeholders. Since you can't really control what people say about you in social media and online anymore, you start your reputation management with those who really know you: your students, teachers, parents, and other employees. Enlist them as advocates. Get them to help you get the word out. They can also alert you to negative talk on social media, so that you can work to get the information out there that tells your side of things.

2. Monitor the web to see what people are saying about your school or district. Set up Google Alerts to catch when someone publishes something about your school. This simple tool will immediately alert you by email when someone posts something about your school on a blog, website or news article.

3. Be transparent: be honest. Managing your online reputation isn't about posting a false information to cover up the negatives about your school or district. It is about making sure what is being said is accurate, and that your side of the story is being told. It is also about proactively listening to what people's beef is about your school, and honestly responding to them. Finally, it's about just being honest and not hiding things.

These three starting points are a good place to start for school leaders who want to begin managing their school or district's reputation rather than trying to protect it. As Beal and Strauss indicate regarding companies, 21st century school leaders must realize they no longer own our school's reputation either, and must move their thinking to managing that reputation rather than protecting or controlling it.

RockMelt is a Web Browser for educators and others who want to blend their Web reading and social media sharing into a seamless combination. It is relatively easy to use and even offers some of the same customization features found in Chrome.

This week, I decided to take some time and really work with the browser.  Here’s some features I have found interesting and most useful.

• It is very similar to Google Chrome, my usual browser of choice. This is not surprising since it is based on Google's Chromium. As an experienced Chrome user, this has meant that I had little difficulty getting accustomed to RockMelt.  Everything is Chrome. If you are a Chrome user, RockMelt is familiar. In some ways, it looks like and functions as a customized version of Chrome, optimized for social media.
• Users can still download and use favorite Chrome extensions. RockMelt allows users to install and use Chrome extensions, though users may have to use short-cut keys to access those extensions. For example, Evernote’s Clearly extension is one of my Chrome favorites. I installed it in RockMelt, but it does not install a toolbar button. Instead of this, I have to press CTRL+ALT+Right Arrow to activate Clearly.
• Posting to Facebook and Twitter is as easy as clicking on a single button. Also, the share button means I can easily share out something from the web. RockMelt is built for sharing. This feature alone makes it the way to go if you are always sharing things from the Web.
• The Apps give users quick access to favorite sites and alllow quick sharing through social networks. Using the icons on the right-hand side of the browser interface by clicking on them, I can preview headlines from these selected sites, and click to load the full article or share it from that window.

RockMelt Screenshot with Twitter Pop-Up Notification Box

RockMelt is certainly not a browser for everyone, but it might be the Web browser for the educator who wants to be connected to social media networks just a bit more seamlessly. To read about and download RockMelt, check out their web site. It’s free.

Many school leaders and policy makers still express a high level of skepticism regarding social media’s potential as an educational tool. This is evident by administrative efforts across the country to block and ban the technology rather than engage it instructionally. As authors Ronald Williamson and J. Howard Johnston write in their book The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media:

“Given the explosive growth of social media, and its tremendous potential to change the way we communicate, learn, and teach, many educators argue that we have a moral and ethical obligation to teach our students how to use this technology effectively, ethically, and for the greater good. As one of our colleagues put it, ‘To ignore this technology is to deprive kids of the chance to see how adults use it for productive and responsible purposes. It’s not going away, so if we don’t do the job, it will be left to hucksters and others who see the technology as a way to exploit people rather than help them grow.’ That’s a tall order for school leaders, and a tremendous responsibility for the schools.”

Just as Williamson and Johnston suggest, the time has come for school leaders to stop trying to find ways to block and ban social media and embrace it as both an educational tool and a fact of life. It is time to overcome the fear of all the bad things that might happen, roll up our sleeves and begin the work that will give the technology it’s rightful place in our schools. The problem of getting started though, is often seated in a lack of knowledge and understanding of social media and its potential in education. That’s where Ronald Willamson and J. Howard Johnston’s book, The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media can help.

In this book, Williamson and Johnston provide a crash course on what social media technology is and how school leaders can step up and lead in tapping into its true potential as a educational tool. Loaded with tons of practical tips to help in the successful implementation of social media in teaching and learning, The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media is a comprehensive guide to using social media in education.

For example, Williamson and Johnston begin their argument for social media by providing school leaders with this list of top 10 reasons they should focus on social media:

• It’s here to stay and it’s only getting bigger.
• Kids are using it to talk about you and your school.
• It’s the way kids communicate.
• It’s a new workplace and higher education communication standard.
• Mobile devices put a computer in nearly everyone’s hands.
• It has huge potential for school leadership.
• It’s a great way to engage kids in instruction.
• Communication is instantaneous and widespread.
• It’s beyond the control of the school, but it can be used well in school.
• Schools can model and and help kids learn responsible use of social media.

In addition to providing a clear rationale for social media’s place in the school, Williamson and Johnston also provide a description of social media, its educational potential, an overview of the potential pitfalls of social media, and clear ideas to proactively address these pitfalls through solid acceptable use policies. In later chapters, the authors review the most commonly used social media tools and provide many, many ideas on how to engage the technology as a learning tool for both students and teaching professionals. They also give specific suggestions on how school leaders can engage in the use of these same tools in their administrative roles. The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media is an excellent resource for the school leader who has not yet bought into its potential as an educational tool, but needs more than a how-to-set-up-a-twitter-account approach. It is a book about the integration and engagement of social media. It is a book that definitely will end up with some pages dog-eared for future reference.

For me personally, the only negative with The School Leaders Guide to Social Media is that there is currently no eBook version for my Kindle yet. However, the publisher does offer a DRM Free version of the book at the Eye on Education Publisher's Website.

Nussbaum-Beach and Hall begin by defining what a connected educator is. According to these authors, a connected educator has these characteristics:

• Connected educators are "do-it-yourself learners." They don't wait for someone to deliver professional development to them. They seek out professional development and learning that meets their individual needs.
• Connected educators have a "network of collective wisdom" to turn to when information and knowledge is needed. Educators who are connected have fostered and developed, over time, a network of other professionals to turn to for professional knowledge needs.
• Connected educators are "collaborative learners." They rely on others to help provide learning and they contribute to the learning of those in their personal learning network.
• Connected educators have moved away from the "paradigm of isolation and closed doors" to sharing a strong commitment with other educators to learn and understand more and more about teaching and learning. The educator who is connected no longer closes their classroom door and carries on teaching. They actively enlist the help of others and offer their help in return.
• Connected educators have leveraged online networks to solve their instructional problems through crowdsourcing and relying on the wisdom of the crowd for resources on teaching and learning. The educator who is connected does not hesitate to engage others in the face of the issues and problems of teaching. They use the crowd to learn more about the craft of teaching.

After providing a clear definition of what it means to be a connected educator, Nussbaum-Beach and Hall then provide clear guidance on how to develop this connected learning for educators, which tools to use, and how to sustain being a connected learner over time.
Nussbaum-Beach and Hall's book The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age is powerful book. For the educator and 21st century leader who is just wading in to the development of personal learning networks, it provides a clear path to making that happen. For the experienced connected educator, you walk away with a comprehensive understanding of what personal learning networks are, how they work, and how to optimize your own network. It is an excellent manual for administrators too, who want to transform educational practice in their schools or districts to capitalizes on 21st century technologies.

During a conversation today, I was asked, "What advice would you give to the new administrator just beginning to use social media in his or her new role?" Becoming an administrator is a challenge in itself, which means there are enough issues to deal with without making mistakes using social media. Added to these challenges is the fact that most often new principals or assistant principals are left either with no mentor, or the mentor they have probably doesn't know a great deal about technology in general much less social media. This means the novice administrator is often left to her own devices when it comes to engaging stakeholders in social media.

As an administrator and experimenter with social media for most of the last six years, I have learned a few things about it, mostly by trial and error but also from others. Right now, I would place these five suggestions at the top of the list for new administrators and educators engaging in social media use in their new roles.

1. Think before you post. There is a bit of common sense in this suggestion, but with all the news stories about educators getting into trouble because of some careless posting on a blog or on Twitter, it is certainly worthwhile to repeat and emphasize it. Crafting a social media message for your school or district should be a deliberate process. Careful thought should be put into Twitter statements or Facebook posts. Reading the post from the perspective of your reader or the community is vital. That Twitter message might only have 140 characters, but a lot of damage can result from those characters if worded improperly.

2. Know the limitations of social media. Social media is an excellent way to engage stakeholders, but it isn't always the best way. It is vital that you take time to think about the message and whether the message you want to deliver is suited for your school's Facebook page or a Twitter post. Some announcements still might need to be made through your school's automatic phone messaging system or through a meeting with your parents. Social media is a relatively easy way to deliver a message, but it can leave a lot of room for interpretation, and there are times when all that interpretation is not wanted.

3. Be aware that you may still have to use a blended approach to communication that involves using social media and other media too. It has been my experience that not all parents are plugged in yet. This means I have to make sure stakeholders that aren't using social media, get the message too. Also, it might mean we also have to provide training for parents and community members too so that they can get plugged in and receive the benefits of being connected through social media.

4. Make sure the message fits the medium. This is an old time adage about communication in general, but in some ways, social media is much more powerful, and that means that not everything that needs to be said needs to be done through Twitter or Facebook. Delivering bad news or serious news is probably best left to the older media such as phone messaging systems or even a more formal press release. Be careful of trying to communicate sarcasm or humor. These don't often translate well in social media.Administrators and educators would do well to be very careful with making sure media and message are the best match.. After all, as Erik Qualman, author of the book Digital Leadership writes: "Keep in mind there's no hiding from anything in the new digital world. Your best course of action is to assume whatever you post will eventually be seen by millions." Post only those things you wouldn't mind your mother seeing.

5. Set up school-based and personal-professional social media accounts separately. If you are going to be communicating with others as your own agent, then you need a separate account. Any accounts set up with the name of your school implies that your are speaking as an agent of the school. Whether it is a Twitter account or a blog, if you give it the appearance that you are speaking in your role as principal or teacher, then any posting that you do may be perceived as posts from an agent of the school or district. By having separate accounts, there is no implied relationship. Still, even with separate accounts, it is important to think and post prudently.

Being an administrator is a challenging job and using social media effectively can mitigate some of those challenges. That means engaging in social media in effective ways. New administrators and educators can take advantage of the power of social media by keeping these suggestions in mind.

According to Andy Beal and Judy Strauss, authors of Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online, “Shifting from traditional to social media requires new skills, new tools, and an understanding of social media platforms.” Any school leader bringing an archaic understanding and knowledge of old media to social media is in danger of looking foolish and perhaps in danger of getting himself in major trouble with stakeholders.

For school leaders looking for information about social media, business and industry have several organizations providing this valuable information. The Digital Influence Group, a social media marketing expert group, provides a “Top 10 List for Using Social Media” obviously directed toward business and industry. (See their list here.) Obviously, business needs are different from the needs of schools, but there is still much that can learned from their experiences with social media. For that reason, I have taken the liberty of revising and updating  this Top 10 List for Using Social Media” so that it might better reflect the things school leaders need to consider as they struggle with this 21st century media.

Top 10 List for Using Social Media for School Leaders & Other Educators


1. Educate your entire school community and all stakeholders about what social media is, what its benefits are, and provide them ideas on how to best use it. Many of the problems and misuse of social media result from both a lack of understanding of its power, and the features inherent in it that make it a way to engage 21st century audiences. School leaders need to first learn all they can about social media. This means attending professional training, reading relevant books and articles, and engaging in conversations with experts. While it is impossible to learn everything about social media due to its continually evolving nature, school leaders who set policy and direct a school community's use of the 21st century media need to know all they can. Once they have that knowledge base, they are responsible for seeing that their educational community is educated on its nature, its potential, its hazards, and its power. This means taking an active role in educating all stakeholders on how to use social media appropriately and effectively.

2. Establish policies and procedures that guide individuals in your school or district in the use of social media, and provide a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities with using social media. School leaders need to enlist teachers, parents, students, and community members in the establishment of policy and procedures to guide social media use for the educational establishment. However, this is not an effort to control content and usage of social media, but merely to set guidelines and policy that direct staff members and students on how to engage in its use for the school or district. For example, policy needs to make it clear when posting to social media is as an agent of the school or district. That same policy needs to delineate who speaks for the school or district in social media communities. It should also define roles and responsibilities of those engaging in social media use. It is important to establish these policies and procedures, not as a means to try to control content, but to protect the school, district, and its stakeholders.

3. Set clear goals for how your school or district is going to use social media. The question of how the district is going to use social media is important. What is the school going to use social media for?Which types of social media tools is the school or district to use? All these questions focus on what the district plans to do with social media. It's time for 21st century school leaders to move beyond bragging about having a social media presence and actually engage in its use to benefit school or district. Having a Twitter account or Facebook account for your school simply isn't enough anymore. It's now time to move to the question of "So what?" which is a 21st century question.

4. When school leaders and other educators participate in blogging, social networks, and online communities, it is important to be transparent. As school leaders move to full engagement with stakeholders using social media, being transparent is important. This means engaging in open, sincere, and honest dialogue with stakeholders through the media. It is a movement from using social media as just another way to make announcements and news updates, to actually engaging in conversations with constituents. To do that effectively though, school leaders and staff need to be authentic and seek to genuinely establish relationships with their communities. By doing this school leaders actually are engaging in social media in the manner in which it is designed.

5. Constantly evaluate the school or district's use of social media. This simply means examining regularly whether social media is being used in the manner desired, and whether the school or district is obtaining its goals and a positive reputation from social media engagement. This process for schools and school districts has to be ongoing.

6. When engaging in the use of social media use plain language, be sincere and candid.  Effective social media engagement is on a conversational level. Engaging others means speaking to them about the things they care about, using language all can understand. Posts to social media aren't dictates from on high. They are efforts to engage constituents in discussions of what they care about.

7. Provide valuable content and information to engage and educate your stakeholders and community.  Social media is an opportunity to provide stakeholders with information and content that is valuable and by doing so, schools and school districts enhance their own online reputations. Providing parents, for example, information about an opportunity for students to participate in a national study program is valuable information. Again, this means going beyond "just having a social media presence" to effectively using it to communicate and engage the school community.

8. Welcome feedback whether it is positive or negative and respond to it quickly. Social media is an opportunity for schools and school districts to allow for feedback on how they're doing. This can be rather tricky, but allowing your constituent groups the opportunity to speak about the issues that bother them is important. It is equally important for school leaders to respond to that feedback in a timely and appropriate but honest manner.

9. School leaders who want to promote their schools or districts need to participate in other online communities. It is vital that school leaders engage in the wider conversation about education and all the related issues. It is the 21st century school leader who sees participation in larger communities like Twitter's weekly #edchat or discussion boards like those sponsored by national and international educational organizations. School leaders need to engage the global community about their school or school districts too, which means using social media to engage in global conversations.

10. Use rich media (such as animation, video, audio) and humor to engage stakeholders. Using just text announcements posted to Twitter or to Facebook misses the real potential social media has to promote a school or district to the wider world. Schools can post moving videos or photos to a Facebook account. A school district can establish a YouTube account to showcase visually what is happening in the schools rather than just with announcements posted on its home page. Social media is much more than text and school leaders need to take advantage of the strengths of other media in their efforts to engage their communities.

It is truly the 21st century school leader who brings a twenty-first century understanding and knowledge to using social media instead of using it simply as a 20th century media to post textual announcements and news. Social media is so much more than a 21st century version of an intercom system. It is a tool that allows for engagement not passive consumption. Perhaps these ten tips will be a starting point that school leaders and educators can use to engage social media as it was intended.

Verizon’s decision to not charge customers a $2 convenience fee is a lesson about power of social media, for all of us, including 21st century school leaders.(See MSNBC’s Article “Verizon Drops $2 Convenience Fee.”) As authors Randy Beal and Judy Strauss write in Radically Transparent: Managing and Monitoring Reputations Online, “The Internet provides a megaphone for the disgruntled---with no entry barrier, little legal accountability, instant commentary, full multimedia communication, and a free distribution channel to millions worldwide.” Verizon heard that megaphone and decided to let customers know they were listening.


When Verizon decided to announce a $2 fee, they ran right into thousands of consumers yelling loudly through the power of social media. As a Verizon customer, I even joined in a bit myself. Ultimately though, Verizon did what is probably the smartest thing they could do. They issued a statement that said, “At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute a fee at this time.” That is probably a textbook answer and response to a crowd empowered by social media. The company did not continue to try to defend the fee. They immediately acknowledged a change in course. That alone demonstrates one important principle described by authors Beal and Strauss, and that is: Your customers have to feel like you are listening to them. By announcing their plans to not charge a fee they clearly demonstrate their willingness to listen. Verizon should gain more positives from this response than any 2 dollar fee would ever give them.

The whole Verizon incident illustrates perfectly what Beal and Strauss say in Radically Transparent about the 21st century medium, “Social media are like word-of-mouth on steroids.” Businesses have known for a long time the power of plain word of mouth. Schools and their leaders would do well to pay attention to this power too.

Besides some great lessons for those studying the power of social media and marketing though, there are lessons for 21st century school leaders from the Verizon Incident too.

• There is a conversation online about you or your school/district and you may not know it is even happening. Beal and Strauss advocate for taking steps to listen to this conversation. In a previous post, (The Oft-Ignored 21st Century Leadership for School Leaders), I offered some suggestions on how to do that. Yet, too many school leaders, from the district level to the school level, are still ignoring social media and considering it a fad. They spend too much time finding ways to limit access to it and dismissing its impact, when they should embrace and accept it as a fact of life. The bottom line to this one is simple: ignore that online conversation to the peril of your school and perhaps yourself.
• Even though there is a conversation about you or your school/district online, you can’t control its direction. Too many school leaders and policymakers still think they can control the direction of this online conversation. They create all manner of rules and laws trying to keep the conversation at a minimum. They even try lawsuits when something is said that is objectionable. Ultimately, neither rules, policy, nor lawsuits are going to stop that conversation. Instead, 21st century school leaders need to learn how to respond effectively to social media. They need to fight fire with fire so to speak.
• You cannot control that conversation; the best you can hope for is to effectively respond to it. What does an effective response to a less-than-flattering social media posting look like? Well, those using social media don't like spin. They don't like attempts to hide behind the law or authority. The best way to respond is perhaps to open up and be what Beal and Strauss call "being radically transparent." That means being honest with people and not looking like you are still trying to hide something. That means being as honest as possible and avoiding "educationalese" or jargon. 
• Be careful of your response to that conversation. As Beal and Strauss point out, “The Internet community comes down hard on those who employ conversation spin, control, manipulation, or spam.” Should we find ourselves in a "Verizon-like-situation," a careful, well-thought-out response is a must. Social media has created a “no-spin zone” of sorts where spin is at your own risk. Taking time to plan a response is a must. There is no room for knee-jerk answers.
• As Beal and Strauss emphasize repeatedly in their book, “Be radically transparent or risk your reputation and top line.” This means using plain language, being sincere, and being candid. No generic marketing messages allowed. Welcome responses and feedback. As school leaders you have to work hard to build relationships with your community through social media, and that means being transparent.

Recently quite a few people and organizations have run headlong into the power of social media. Besides this event with Verizon, Bank of America found out firsthand the power of social media when it proposed additional fees on its customers. Then there was Lowes and its decision to pull ads from the Muslim American reality show. They also found out about the "steroid-effect" of online communication.Finally, ask Governor Brownback of Kansas, his staff,  and the poor principal who tried to force student Emma Sullivan to write that letter of apology. In every single one of these instances, an organizational or personal reputation was on the line.The one thing in common is how the organization or individual responded and resulting effect on their reputation. Social media is here to stay, and school leaders who learn to effectively use it will be more successful communicators to their stakeholders and they may perhaps head a reputation crisis too.