Summer in San Diego - and Blogging!

Here we are for another summer quarter of Marketing via New Media at UCSD Extension. I am so excited to have this group of students. Each session brings new faces, new questions, and new case studies to review. So much has changed since I first started teaching this class.

My very first quarter teaching this class, 3 summers ago, I asked the class how many were on Twitter. No hands went up. How many on Facebook? About 50% of the hands went up. How many blogging? One. How many on MySpace. A handful.  How about last week, the first class of the new quarter?

How many students were on Twitter - about 60%
How many on Facebook? I think just about all hands went up (one or two may not have)
How many blogging? A handful
How many on MySpace? No one was willing to admit this!

Times certainly have changed - from a technology perspective. However, this class does not focus on just technology. We look at the strategy of building customer relationships via social media. That strategy does not change! This is one of the main reasons that I use Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff as my course textbook. It has a solid footing in the strategy of social media - not just the cool, new technologies.

I am also using Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk as a course textbook. Gary has a definite passion for customer relationships, and I want my students to experience that passion. Gary will be a guest lecturer via Skype our last week of class; get ready for some thunder!

Groundswell links

We are using Groundswell as our text book, and it is a great one as it focuses on social media for relationship-building, not just as a set of technologies. While you were reading it, did you see a great idea that you would like to dig into further? Did you read about a really cool blog that you would like to subscribe to (in a reader, of course)?

Here is a great resource for you which supplements the book. There are links to all of the blogs, posts, and websites from each chapter. The authors, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, also each have their own blogs where you can get more information and hear their thoughts directly about Groundswell as well as other topics.

Let me know if you find these additional sites helpful!