iSchool at Syracuse University uses Twitter to spread the word
Price Chopper supermarket executive Jerry Golub gave students and staff at Syracuse University's iSchool the impression that he gets it - when it comes to social media. His family's company has endured a bit of a public relations hit surrounding the treatment of a customer who posted criticism about the bare store shelves at one Price Chopper. It seemed like he had learned a lot by interacting until he faced a camera on his way out and claimed this was only an academic exercise with the students and he didn't wish to do an interview.
Academic exercise? These were real world business and public relations lessons playing out over the last few weeks all fueled by the power of social media. Even the presentation of the case and the questions from the students were fed through social media. @KellyLux moderated on the online discussion on Twitter. That's where I followed what was going on on campus without having to be there.
She took questions through Twitter that were then passed on to the in room discussion. Tonight on our CW 6 News at 10:00 newscasts this social media issue was the topic of our Talk@10. During the hour long newscast we used social media to monitor the ongoing commentary on Twitter about Professor Anthony Rotolo's class through the header #rotoloclass. It got really fun when the tweets were talking about our television news coverage of their tweets. I also asked questions of Kelly and Anthony about what they learned from the Price Chopper session.
Kelly sent me this: @MattMulcahy " that this was a great learning experience for iSchool students, real-world situation followed from beginning to end." Anthony sent this: @MattMulcahy "soc media allows customer 2 speak as loudly as corporation. I thank PriceChopper 4 sharing a great lesson w/ my students today."
Price Chopper even admitted social media levels the playing field. Let's hope they truly understand that because this was much more than an academic exercise. This is the way customers can instantly communicate their like or dislike of your product or company in an instant. And if it rings true that comment can spread like wildfire.
Talk@10 conversation on CW 6 News at 10:00.
Alex Dunbar's story on Price Chopper and Twitter.
