Public Sector / Private Sector & Social Media

Thanks for stopping by. For those of you used to my Thursday night rants at #bbcqt this new blog may come as no great surprise: trying to shoot down the crap spouted by unqualifed politicans in less than 140 characters isn't always easy! But they're not the target of my first blog: today the canon swings towards the public sector and their ambivalence towards Social Media.

Yesterday I presented a one hour seminar to the day job employers - a leading Russell Group university - on the pressing need for active Social Media engagement. During the day I only sent two tweets mentioning this, yet the response from the Twitter community was overwhelming and most humbling. @illegaljacks trended all day in Edinburgh, and have literally dozens of people to thank for their contributions. I will do so proudly at the end of this piece.

The presentation went well, yet despite my enthousiasm, the Uni was not really interested other than to ask for a "page or two's strategy". Well, am not convinced such a thing is needed: see for example this article: http://bit.ly/c6CkCo Indeed, I actively welcome comments on the need for a strategy doc. However, my main concern was simply this: they had no understanding of the time and committment involved, nor were they able to propose an incentive for doing it. Which leaves me thinking it's far easier to stay where I am: academic by day, Illegal Jack by night.

Whats more worrying though is the ambivalence with which the public sector treats potential income in the current economic climate. Masters students pay fees of up to £17,000 a year, anyone with a basic understanding of Social Media can see how easy it would be to convince a number of students to choose a particular university over others through active engagement. But in the words of the Head of Department: "well, we don't actually get the money - central university does - so there's no incentive to generate income". All this in a Department of Management in a Business School....

Thanks for reading -

Illegal Jack

Much love to all the good people who said Hi yesterday! And you are @housetoastonish @alisonmcgrail @dr_k_noisewater @gin_operated @belle_lulu @tinyblob @markshaw @perth_scotland @barrydewar @benwerd @martwizzle @BudgetTraveller @idle_bull @cammeister @coffeebucks @macfack @vgibson @social_penguin @AmexClaxon @bedfordsean @sanaeljamel @smallbizally @mooninadewdrop @mike_mcgrail @paulwheatley @leepayton @_millymoo @HaxSyn @MamzelleLil @abacab_75 @Cadrieu @MrsLJHall @Podlin23 @craigwebster @jordanfleming @loumoodie @Scottishroutes @Kangyrew @maginncarie @Wellhungindung @benrobertsphoto @DJSibbald @dearcaitlyn @natrs_uk @LemonRuns @jonnydobby @anievolution @Ange77H @rosscbrown @legaleagleMHM @evilneuro @coffeebucks @Lloydybags @moggy @ali_mcgill @Sheepdemon @gthubron @MartGray @KarlieMacG @philip_roberts @craigmcgill @tartancat