Notes for Social Media 101, 2018 University of Scouting - John Blue, Indianapolis, IN, USA This is a basic review of social media for Scout leaders to help them understand the opportunities and issues of social media for Scouting. Covered are tips and guidelines Scouts and leaders should follow to have a safe and helpful use of social media. Updated to include some new and updated links, guidelines, and platform changes.

1. Good morning,
Welcome to the University of Scouting’s Social Media
101 class
Hi, My name is John Blue and I work at Truffle Media
Networks, an agriculture media company focused on
agriculture animal health issues. I am also a parent of
two scouts, one in Troop 56 and the other in Pack
830.

2. Short activity, about 30 seconds Ask about this; pause

4. Before we start, I want to share a perspective: It took
191 years to get from first American
paper to a newspaper with a peak circulation of 63
million people.
In contrast to newspaper, It took 15 years to go from
the first internet newspaper to get to a
single digital service having 63 million users.
The speed of technology adoption and use will
continue to be fast.

5. People have moved from utilizing media
based on time and location to discovering
and finding information in real time
through multiple channels and various
sources of authority.
Information media has become time free,
virtual, digital, and very participatory.
(next)
There are many more options for
people to receive information
faster.

6. 50% of Americans say they get their main news
from the web.
This data is from the Pew Research Center.
Here are how people get News by age.

7. This chart highlights the
prevalence of social media use by
Americans over the age of 45
(orange, red, and dark red). This is
important to know because 25% of
principle farm operators are over
the age of 65, and the average age
of farmers is 58 years old.
for some additional perspective:
Here are how adults in the United
States are using some social media
channels.

8. And for teenagers, 92% report
going online daily, with 24% of
teens saying they going online
“almost constantly”.
What is social media?
We have had social media for a long time
Polaroids, Postcards, Sheet music, Mix
tapes&CDs, Jokes
But the speed and scale of sharing that
media was very limited.

9. Today, the ability to share has speed,
scale, and selectivity because
the channels are digital. We can reach far
more people with digital media than we
could a decade ago.

10. Why do people use social media?
People love to share things. Think
about the time you spend on
Pinterest or Facebook reading what
your friends and family are doing.
People want to be entertained. This
is Neal Patrick Harris’ family at
halloween, posted on Instagram.

11. People want their news on channels
that fit their time.
Some people want to help.

12. And others just want attention. This
Paris Hilton and Perez Hilton.
And, yes, people want to make
money using social media. Taylor
Swift is using her social media to
generate demand and pre-orders
for her next album ‘reputation’.
Social media is a core element in
the album’s PR, advertising, &
marketing campaigns.

13. Many business want to use social
media to help with branding
advertising, direct advertising, and
public relations.

14. What are laws, policies, and privacy issues to
keep in mind when using social media? : I want
to cover this first because social media use
within Scouting has laws, regulations,
policies, and guidance that must be
observed.
There are several organizations,
regulations, and laws that concern
minors and the Internet.

15. This one, the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Rule, thru the
Federal Trade Commission, applies
to any organization that collects
information on minors.
And this one, Children's Internet Protection
Act , thru the Federal Communication
Commission, applies to organizations that seek
federal funding under the E-rate program for
affordable broadband.

16. The Boy Scouts of America have
rules: Two deep leadership, the
Scout Oath, and the Scout Law. For
example, communication with a
Scout on line must include another
adult on that communication to
have two deep leadership.
To keep things simple, all Troop focused social
media should only be on the public side of
social media.

17. Review the BSA guidelines on social media
http://www.scouting.org/Home/Marketing/
Resources/SocialMedia.aspx
As with all other Scout actions and
activities, on the Internet, follow the Scout
Oath and Law.

18. Lastly, many social network sites
have minimum age requirements,
on top of any other laws and
regulations. Review privacy policies
and terms/conditions of services
your kids or Scouts are using.
Note that all social media services
have their own approach to what
age is required for use.

19. I’m only going to focus on
Facebook and Twitter from here
out.
The main reason for this time and
focus: there are many other social
media channels; their approach &
use are all similar but each have
their own unique culture; covering
any more than two would require
more time.

20. Also, one person has the ability to
only concentrate on two or three
social channels for effective use.
Getting started with Twitter:
Twitter signup requires an email.

21. Same with Facebook: it also needs
an email.
What is Twitter about?

22. Twitter has the model of people
following you and you following
others (but you/they don’t have to
follow back). When you post
something (a tweet) then your
followers will have the ability to see
that tweet in their news feed.
And anyone you follow, their posts
(also tweets) will show up in your
news feed.

23. Twitter accounts do not have to be
real people.
Here is my news feed containing
things posted by those accounts I
follow. Note that most tweets are
public and can be seen by anyone.
“most” meaning you can have
private Twitter accounts where only
invited people see your tweets. But
that is not the norm.

24. Twitter is a place to share news,
tips, ideas, and random musings in
a short (280 character) format.
(cont)
This is the Twitter page for NASA.
Twitter has functions and info to
better understand what is
happening: number of tweets by
NASA, followers of NASA, Who
NASA is following, What NASA has
liked, and lists of Twitter accounts
NASA has created. You can see if
the account is verified and see
people you follow who also follow
NASA.

25. Scrolling down, you can see all the
pictures (like an album) the NASA
has plus trends happening on
twitter in various geographic
regions.
The short format tweets (again 280
characters or less) are posted with
additional bits of info: For
example, this NASA tweet shows
number of likes, retweets, plus
there are controls for various
things with a tweet or to an
account.

26. In that short format, Tweets can be
280 characters long to include
hashtags, mentions of other
accounts, and images.
Update: media attachments,
@names in replies, and several
other content items do not count
against the 280 character counts.
What is Facebook about

27. Facebook has the model of people
friending you and you accepting
their connection. When you post
something then your followers
might have the ability to see it in
their news feed. And anything they
post might show up in your news
feed. I say “Might” because
Facebook does not guarantee you
will see everything your friends
post, by design.
(explain who this is) Personal profiles on
Facebook are about real people. The
profiles have info on the number of friends
they have, bio info, and maybe their
interests. Some of the info displayed can
be private or public, depending on your
settings, all within in your control.

28. Personal Facebook profiles show
people you have in common with
others, and other info one might
want to share. Facebook personal
pages need to be real people;
Facebook does check occasionally.
Facebook also allows pages to be
created for causes, business,
groups, issues, etc. They can also
be about people, places, and
things. They are owned and
administered by at least one
Facebook profile.

29. Pages have functions and info for
each page: number of likes, if the
page is verified, see people you
follow who also follow the page
viewed. The center column is the
newsfeed or “wall”. Additional
personal information is on the right
showing my friends’ activities. The
page is personalized to the looks
of the page owner, in this example,
NASA.
Facebook pages also may show
additional info sections on the
side, like photos and videos posted
by the page’s owner, again NASA in
this example.

30. Posts on the Facebook pages or
personal profiles have information
about the number of people who
like and comment on a post. Posts
on Facebook are longer than those
on Twitter, up to about 60,000
characters.
To use social media for Scout related activity
requires some planning; nothing elaborate but
something that outlines the who, what, when,
where, why, how, and how much model. This
approach will help cover the various
engagement approaches you might want to do.

31. Learn the culture of social media; Evaluate your
unit’s goals; Create Your Social Media
Strategy

32. Here are some additional
considerations (read thru these;
comment if needed)
Learn the terminology of the
channels you want to use.

33. Communication with adults involved with a
Scout organization can use any system that fits
the need of the organization. To help, have a
plan to define what digital tools are for, who
manages it, why the tools exist, and how to use
them.
Again, you need a plan. And be prepared to
adjust it regularly throughout the year.

34. These next slides share the specific
example of Troop 56 use of Facebook
integrated with their website and email
communication.
The website, Facebook, and email
are the primary digital
communications tools for the
Troop. The website is the home
base of info. Registration pages,
FYI, and celebrations are posted on
the website.

35. The Troop 56 website has a
Facebook widget on its webapge to
highlight there is a Facebook page.
Facebook is the only social site
used by Troop 56 today. It is
mainly a quick post channel. For
example, while at an event, posts
via smartphone can be made
quickly. Also, any announcements
listed on the website are repeated
on Facebook.

36. Email is the main communication
channel for all Scouts and their
families. Email is used for
reminders, updates, and changes.
Email is not so much used for
social sharing as it tends to be too
cluttering.
If you can, please share one of your items you
listed in the chat area.
Look at those things you take for granted about
agriculture and media.
What do they say about your approach to
media and what one thing can you tackle to
change the assumption?

37. Questions? And if you still wonder what social media is, this
“Social Media Explained via Donuts” can help.

38. Contact Truffle via Phone: (877) 558-7833, Twitter:
@TruffleMedia, Facebook: TruffleMedia.com/
Facebook, and web: TruffleMedia.com.

39. Thanks again for attending the
University of Scouting’s Social Media 101 class
Close on Truffle team.

40. Thanks again for your time.!