Official blog of #clarkclass, Twitter for Media class at UCO Mass Comm Department

Saturday, December 8, 2018

"Get that quote!"

#clarkclass 12.0, great students, probably "Uncas"
I often interrupt speakers to #clarkclass, yelling at the students to "Get that quote."
Ryan Dunn closing #clarkclass
It's become sort of a motto for the 12 times I've taught this class about twitter, which morphed into lessons on life.. I'm a journalist, and I know good quotes tell stories better than anything, getting to the heart of the matter.
Duh, paraphrasing Jesus about the mouth speaking from the fullness of the heart.
I want students to get those key points, to remember them. 
I'll give them credit, they remember, "Get that quote."
Students also "adopt" someone using social media and present to the class what they learned. 
So at the end of the last presentation on the last day, Ryan Dunn went beyond duty, took a risk, and threw up this visual on his powerpoint.
They've learned I value students who take risks, have fun and are creative.

Digital media with a Smirk, and success

Mike Koehler, of SmirkNewMedia, and #clarkclass
Mike Koehler of @smirknewmedia closed out our media professionals for #clarkclass 12.0 this fall, bringing honest advice, humor and experience in the world of journalism.
He's a former newspaper journalist who went from sports to agency work and then started out, "with a used laptop and no clients in a coffee shop" a few years ago. Now he leads on of the most successful firms  in the city with eight full-time employees and eight part time scattered around the county, with some big clients. He wanted to form a company that he'd like to work for.
Here's the link to SmirkNewMedia.SmirkNewMedia.
He won't hire people who don't know AP style, because of writing being so important. And he offers unlimited vacation. He wants his employees to travel, because that makes them smarter.
Here's a recap of what he said, from our students' debriefing, , dutifully recorded by @madison.sturgill.


·      Writing is key and essential
·      The more you can specialize the more opportunity
·      He built his business by connecting on twitter
·      Don’t put pointless content
·      I hate motivational quotes-- they are like packing peanuts for social media
·      Website is clean
·      Traveling the world can make you a better and smarter person – that’s who I want to hire
·      Puts virtues and violations on website
·      He had two things that they pay attention to. They know what they know and do what they do
·      Inconsistency kills engagement
·      Know what’s happening and how that changes your strategy
·      Being able to tell a story through print and visually is the difference between good and bad people
·      Being able to tell clients' story well
·      We are the used car dealership of digital marketing
·      Digital content is just as important as written content
·      Change gears, shift beyond the transaction, start connecting
·      Take initiative
·      He has to motivate people our age to get things done. Don’t need to be motivated
·      We got the name for our business like we picked names for our kids. On a long trip and by elimination

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Final questions

By 5 pm Friday, Dec. 7, 2018--
1. What has been the value of this class to you?
2. How would you improve it?

Email answers to tmclark44@gmail.com