NancyLoo.net

The country's first-ever twitter course at DePaul University in Chicago.

I am no expert at social media – that’s what I stressed to students at DePaul University yesterday. They are enrolled in the country’s first-ever college course on twitter. When their instructor invited me to speak to the class, I worried that anything I knew would hardly enlighten college kids who are already technically savvy.  But they listened intently and seemed interested in how a working journalist is using a web tool that didn’t even exist five years ago.

My twitterstream: Not so sure it's educational!

I met Craig Kanalley through twitter, naturally.  He says DePaul wasn’t too sure about a twitter class when he first proposed it.  But he argues, “It’s great for students.  Social media is important and makes them more marketable.” Indeed, students are learning to market themselves in order to network their way to internships and jobs.

I find twitter extremely useful for interacting with viewers and all kinds of people, even while I’m anchoring a newscast or out reporting in the field.  I surf the site daily to track news, troll for story ideas or find people to interview about particular issues.  It’s not uncommon to spot breaking news on twitter minutes earlier than any other source.

@ckanal & @NancyLoo

I wasn’t too surprised to receive quite a few tweets from the DePaul class as soon as I left!  These future journalists are not only impressive, they’re clearly ahead of the social media curve.

The web world moves fast, though. We may all be using some other social media source within the next year.  But I bet I’ll still keep my reporter’s notebook and a pen at the ready.