Music is something has been glaringly absent from Facebook. Maybe Zuck isn’t a fan and prefers silence, but music is probably the only thing about Myspace that I miss. And honestly, the new “listen” button doesn’t really change things all that much. It’s awesome for people who produce music to be able to easily share it on Facebook through a click of a button, but as an end user, it doesn’t drastically change my life. I can still share music through a Pandora or Spotify app, but if I come across a band’s Facebook page and I wonder what they sound like, now I’ll know. I won’t have travel around the interwebs in search of a video. I can just simply hit the button and listen.

Do I sound like I’m down on this change? I’m really not; I think it’s a good thing. I just had higher hopes when I heard that Facebook was integrating music onto its site. I guess maybe we have more to look forward to as time goes on. Maybe. For now, I’ll settle for being able to go to Justin Beiber’s website and listen to him croon out insightful lyrics like “Whenever you knock me down, I will not stay on the ground. Pick it up, pick it up.” ‘Cause you know that’s what I’m listening to right now. For sure.

Social media is becoming such an integral part of our lives that it kind of seems like we should be using it in the classrooms across the country. Learning how to use these tools can help students learn how to network with each other in a positive and productive way. The kids are on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr anyway. Why not teach them how to use their social networking skills for the power of good?

Here are some benefits to using social media in the classroom:

1. It can infuse some fun and interest into a subject that students would otherwise find boring. Assign the task of researching a topic strictly through social media outlets and see what students come up with. Granted, there may be some incorrect info reported, but that could be part of the learning experience.
2. Social media happens in real time. If you’re teaching about current events, there is no better tool than social media. Students can easily find people in the thick of conflict tweeting about what’s happening in their world – way before it hits the newsstands.
3. You can also teach students how to conduct themselves professionally online. Sites like Twitter and Facebook make it much easier for the average Joe to interact with celebs and other influential people. You can teach them how to act professionally and illicit a response from someone they respect – and say, maybe write a report about the experience.

1. Don’t bash other people on your social media accounts. It doesn’t matter whether you refer to them by name; it makes you look petty. Once in a blue moon, people will forgive and forget. Do it all the time, and you’re a whiner.
2. Be considerate when you decide whether to post, Tweet or share. I hear people saying “it’s my account, I’ll post what I want” all the time. To a certain extent, that’s true. You should be yourself. But you should also remember that other people have to sift through five million YouTube videos to see what their other friends said – just because you were in a Metallica kind of mood. Bombarding people’s news feeds with anything (whether it be videos or game updates) just isn’t polite.
3. Engage other people in conversation. Don’t just post updates and have conversations on your own wall, comment on your friends’ pictures and status updates, retweet their tweets and share their news stories. That’s the whole point of social media: to be social.
4. Don’t post embarrassing pictures and videos of your friends and then tag them. That’s just mean. Sure, sometimes they deserve it, but you can be the better person, can’t you? On the same token, don’t post embarrassing pictures of yourself either. Eager to show of a new tattoo in an inconspicuous place? Social media is not the venue.
5. Don’t share uber-personal details about your life. The only exception to this rule is if you have an uber-personal circle set up in Google Plus. Otherwise, please remember that you’re sharing this info with people you used to work with or went to high school with and haven’t seen in 15 years. I don’t know you like that, and no offence, but I don’t want to know you like that.

Madonna is definitely not one who’s known for social media. In fact, she avoids it like the plague. I can’t say I blame her, though. I can imagine that for someone like Madonna, social media would bring a lot of drama. Just look at what happened with Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk). Before anyone chimes in here; yes, she does have a facebook account with nearly 9 million followers, but I highly doubt she’s the one responsible for the status updates. They’re even written in the third person, so there’s no confusion. Although, maybe Madonna does refer to herself in the third person. Hmm…

Just this past Monday, Madonna signed in to Twitter to answer questions from fans. I can only imagine that she was absolutely bombarded and didn’t get to all of them, but it’s nice to see her interacting with fans in real time. I don’t believe that’s something we’ve seen from this pop legend on such a grand scale. I just checked and she now has over 60 thousand followers – not bad for someone who shows up to the party one day out of her life, eh.

So, that’s the first, but will it be the last we see from the queen of pop on social media? Nope. I guess she really enjoyed interacting with the masses (the little people) because she’s planning another day on Twitter. That’s what’s so great about Twitter. Anyone can interact directly with a huge celeb like Madonna. It doesn’t matter if you’re an actor or a student learning how to become a journalist; You can talk to Madonna.

Anyway, maybe she’ll answer some of those questions that she didn’t get to on Monday, but her main goal is to thank fans for their support. I’d say she’s rather pleased with the sales of her new album, MDNA – great name by the way.

But, since social media is so new, few universities offer it as a major, and even fewer offer it in graduate degree programs. So, a specific “social media major” isn’t really necessary, but you should have a good foundation in marketing. That means you definitely should have a Marketing or Business Administration degree. Still, although a degree certainly helps, it isn’t everything – that’s especially true in today’s difficult and competitive job market.

Here are a few tips to get you going:

1. Update your personal social media profiles: If you don’t have current profiles on at least three of the major social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc.), then you may as well cut your losses and start learning how to become a paralegal. If social media isn’t interesting enough for you to do on your personal time, an employer isn’t going to believe you’ll be experienced enough to do the job well.
2. Stay abreast of current news. It doesn’t matter how long ago you graduated. Even if it was five minutes ago, in some small way, social media has probably changed since then. Learn about the online schools that offer social media courses, so you can brush up on your skills and maybe learn something new.
3. Reach out to your prospective employer through social media. This will let them know that you’re not only social media savvy, but you are also interested enough in the company to follow their updates online.

The rules of social behavior online are very similar to person-to-person skills. No one would want to be around you if you were always bragging about your accomplishments. In the same vein, you wouldn’t get a second date if you spent the first one going on and on about yourself without asking one question about her. We know these things, but yet we seem to forget them when we interact online.

Marketing yourself online is a lot about deciding what to share, but it’s also about getting to know other people. Influential people. You have to listen to the conversation in order to make yourself relevant. If you were a software engineer, you wouldn’t just walk into a roomful of I.T. guys and just start spouting off facts about yourself or your industry, would you? I hope not. I think you’d probably engage in a conversation and interject with your facts when they were relevant. Now, think about how people would react in both cases. In the first case, you’d probably get a lot of weird looks and a sinking feeling that people don’t care what you have to say. In the second case, you might actually get some people who want to continue the conversation with you. Success. Now you can go on and introduce yourself, putting your best foot forward, of course.

Take the KONY 2012 campaign, for example. If you don’t know what that is, do a YouTube search. I’ll meet you back here in a half hour. In a nutshell, this is a campaign to end the reign of a terrible African dictator. The video was just released this past week (6 days ago, to be exact) and it already has more than 70 million views. That’s not just viral; it’s pandemic. In fact, I was just walking around my quiet residential neighborhood and saw a KONY 2012 sign on someone’s lawn. Imagine that? Six days ago, someone posted a video and people around the world are taking action. The power of social media never ceases to astound me. Sure, I’d love to see KONY brought to justice – but I’m also excited to see how this plays out. If we can successfully band together as a world united against tyranny, what else can we do?

Another story that hit the news this week was Bear Silber’s tale of diagnosing his own disease and getting himself on the road to recovery – through social media, of course. Bear has a rare disease called Cushing’s Disease, and it’s caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland. He saw a picture of a guy on Reddit who had the same disease, and he recognized the physique all too well. He knew his body was changing in the same way as the man in the picture. From there, he went to a few doctors before finding one who would test for and ultimately diagnose his condition as Cushing’s Disease. Bear has had the tumor removed and is now on the long road to recovery. Had he not been “wasting” time on Reddit that particular evening, who knows where he would be today. The power of social media changes lives.

Women are also more likely to unfriend people than men. I found that one interesting, but I wasn’t surprised. You know what they say about a woman scorned, right? I’ve had the urge to unfriend people I’m furious with, myself. But, I’ve never actually done it. I know it will only lead to regret and hard feelings later. I have, on the other hand, unfriended people who post things I don’t want to see. But, that was well over a year ago – before Facebook came up with the feature that allows you to hide people’s stories from your newsfeed.

Now, I’m a big fan of hiding people’s updates. They’ll never find out, unless I tell them, and I don’t have to get annoyed by seeing their face pop up in my feed all the time. It’s a win-win. Interestingly enough, the only person who has ever unfriended me for personal reasons was a guy. I guess he didn’t get the memo saying that it’s a girly thing to do. I’ll have to send it to him. Ha!

Oh yeah, and men are also more likely to post things they later regret. They might post about something they did earlier or how their medical transcription job sucks, but then they’ll delete it. Interesting stuff.

1. Get the Oscars App – Download this app on your iPad, iPod or iPhone to keep up with the #Oscars hashtag, @TheAcademy updates, and to watch trailers of all nominated movies. You can even cast your vote for who you think should win and share your picks on Facebook.
2. Behind the Scenes – During the show, you can go onto Oscar.com or go to your Oscars app to view behind the scenes footage from more than 20 cameras placed backstage at the event. You can catch more of what’s going on that if you were sitting in the front row.
3. Social Buzz – For the first time this year, the Academy is harnessing the buzz about the show coming from social media outlets and arranging it on place, so viewers can easily get a snapshot of public opinion. They’re calling it Oscar Buzz, and you’ll be able to find it on Oscar.com or on the Oscars App.

According to Nielsen, about 40 percent of tablet users use their tablets while watching television on a daily basis, so the Academy is making a smart move by doing everything they can to keep these users engaged and informed. Instead of thinking of tablet use during the show as a distraction, the Academy is taking advantage of it as another outlet to communicate with its audience. Very smart move, fellas. More should follow suit.

The Army has employed a squad of five people who work together at the Pentagon to keep its social media accounts, including Pinterest, up to date and accessible its followers. The Army’s use of social media may seem strange, but it is attempting to reach a demographic that it would normally not have access to. The social media pages the Army uses are open and able to be shared by all of its followers. This open access is another unusual aspect that social media brings to the Army. Because different social media platforms reach different audiences, the Army has chosen to make use of as many of these sites as possible. Smart move.

For the most part, the Army’s Pinterest followers are women. Most of its audience consists of Army spouses; although, the team behind the Army’s social media efforts has worked hard to ensure that the items and ideas that are pinned will appeal to more than just women.

The boards that the Army has created on Pinterest include topics like Goodwill, Humanitarian Relief and HOOAH! Each topic attempts to show some aspect of Army life. This type of outreach can help create a feeling of community among existing military families in addition to reaching people who were previously uninterested in the Army.