Western Washington University Introducing New Social Media Community-Building Course this Fall; Open to the Public

Contact: Matthew Anderson, Western Washington University new media coordinator, (360) 650-7434, Matthew.Anderson@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM ­– Western Washington University will offer Social Media: Building Community beginning Oct. 1; the evening course is designed to give working professionals a broad understanding of social media and a concrete knowledge of the various platforms that will help them reach their goals.

The two-hour class sessions feature lectures and hands-on workshops with emphasis on specific platforms.  Throughout this course, students will build and implement, week by week, their own social media plans and strategies and get feedback on them in class.

This is a mentorship course in which students will learn to implement their own strategies and ideas within the context of a learning, sharing environment.  Instructor Matthew Anderson directs social media at Western Washington University, from which he graduated in 2006 with a degree in journalism.

Anderson will convey the individual strengths of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn. He draws heavily on his background in community journalism as the editor of Western Today, the university’s daily internal communications piece.

During each class period, students will discuss what they have done on social media in the past week, how those efforts have been fruitful and how they can improve in the future.

The class will look at real-world examples of how businesses and people use social platforms to build meaningful and authentic communication with customers, extend their brands and build recognition.

Classes will take place from 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays in a computer lab on Western’s campus.

For more information, visit the program’s wwu.edu/socialmediaprogram , call (360) 650-3308 or e-mail ExtendedEd@wwu.edu.