We’re proud of our social media internship at Everywhere. Every semester, two to three interns are chosen to work in our offices and gain experience in our arena. We ask each intern to submit a blog post as part of their training. The following blog post was penned by Alair Hallman.

Recently I traveled with Everywhere’s Britton Edwards and Kelly Heisler to visit one of the first social media marketing classes taught at Georgia State University. While major social platforms, current trends in social media and student involvement online were bantered about in the lively discussion with students and my Everywhere colleagues, I took the opportunity to interview the professor Jacob Aull (@jakeaull) about social media education.

GSU Professor Jacob Aull

To give you the back story, Professor Aull also happens to be a former teacher from my days at GSU who helped to guide me down the career path of social media. His course not only inspired me and turned social media into a passion, but it also brought me to my current internship at Everywhere. It was a delight to catch up with him and get the scoop on current trends:

How does it feel to be a pioneer at GSU in educating students in social and digital?

It feels good, but I’m more focused on the joy of teaching and feeding off of students and helping them grow. I like social media and new technologies, but I don’t know if that’s as much of my joy as student collaboration and growth is.

Where do you see the future of social media in education going?

Higher education tends to be very compartmentalized, very divided — communications programs don’t talk to marketing programs. While social media has existed in communications and journalism programs for years, it has also had a role in certain CiS (Computer Information Sciences) departments, and is new to marketing education programs. As it grows, unfortunately it will probably continue to grow in this splintered fashion… ironic since social media is all about horizontal communication.

What is the impact of social courses on students? Is it showing better results in the professional field?

I get emails monthly from former students saying the tools and approaches I taught them in class help them get their job or do their job. So yes, I believe it helps with pro application.

What are some things students interested in social can do now to learn more?

Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. There are so many social channels; try as many of them as you can out. For the business aspect, I continue to reinforce the value of studying SEO and web analysis tools, latest info and practices. I still think Google+ will be a game changer – the same with big mobile apps, review directories and Pinterest.

What are your top three social/digital tools and why?

Top channels would be [1] Twitter – a fun, easy to use channel that’s great for seeing instant headlines and deciding whether or not to click through; [2] Delicious – where you can bookmark everything, organize easily and immediately Tweet all bookmarks - plus giving added SEO value; and [3] lastly LinkedIn for professional networking – this channel will continue to grow.

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While social media is finding its place in the classroom, only time will tell as for its future. One thing’s for sure, social media is here to stay, and as long as it’s thriving, future generations of students will follow its path.