Thoughts for MBA Students
Posted on | March 24, 2010 | View Comments
Flicker Credit: Phi1317
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with my friends Chad Parizman and Lynsay Caylor to a class of very bright full-time MBA students at the University of Tennessee. Our topic was social media monetization, although we certainly talked more broadly then that in our time with the class. I enjoyed hearing their questions, and learning more about the challenges that Chad faces at Scripps and Lynsay at Pilot.
The most striking thing to me about the class were their answers to a few questions Chad asked about their social involvement.
How many of you have updated your Facebook status in the last week? 80%
How many of you have updated Twitter in the last few hours? 45%
How many of you only have a Twitter account to study it? 60%
How many of you use LinkedIn? 65%
(The room was also about 75% PC and 25% Apple)
I found these answers very interesting, particularly the LinkedIn stat. Facebook and Twitter stats are pretty consistent with what I’ve experienced, but I was very surprised that there were students who were not on LinkedIn. I don’t consider it to be the end all be all, but there are MBA students who have had jobs and are going back to school to further their career. Blew my mind that they weren’t on LinkedIn. The opposite take away is that LinkedIn isn’t a go to for these smart saavy students, so either it doesn’t present a value proposition to them OR they are unclear how to make best use of it. This will be an interesting one to watch.
I closed with the following advice “79% of the Fortune 100 currently uses social media in one form or another. Most of you expect to get jobs in the Fortune 500 and once hired they will expect you as a younger MBA to know social media. You don’t need to love every service, but you do need to use them and understand their application to business.”
I hope they jumped on and started experimenting. If you had a final statement, what would you have shared?
[UPDATE] eMarketer today launched some statistics on job sites used by HR professionals as well as the following quote, “The most helpful tools for career advancement were professional networks such as LinkedIn as well as best-practice communities, each named by about two-thirds of HR executives.”
Tags: Chad Parizman > facebook > linkedin > Lynsay Caylor > mba > panel > social media > social network > speaking > twitter > University of Tennessee > UT MBA
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March 24th, 2010 @ 8:32 pm
For me, I can't understand the value of LinkedIn. I participate, and keep my information updated. But I don't make connections quite like I do via Twtter/FB.
Maybe I am doing it wrong. Thanks for the stats…interesting to see.
March 25th, 2010 @ 2:35 pm
Personally I find LinkedIn valuable for it's ability to do research on
people and companies, and provide insights on who we might mutually know.
In some cases it can help shed light on the people who can possibly connect
me. Additionally it can be a living and breathing resume. I certainly
don't use it every day like a Twitter or Facebook. But I do believe it's a
valuable tool that people should maintain.
March 25th, 2010 @ 9:06 pm
Hi Gavin. I'm Adam Covati's business partner at Argyle…and I'm a fairly recent MBA grad. (UNC Kenan-Flagler, May 2009)
In Fall 2008, I gave a presentation to a marketing class about Twitter. I asked the class to raise their hand if they used Twitter. No hands went up. I then asked the class if they had heard of Twitter. Again – no hands went up.
I gave a guest lecture for the same class a few months back and asked the same question. Obviously, the landscape had changed significantly and everyone had heard of Twitter. Funny how quickly things change, right?
Also – speaking from personal experience, not all MBA students are “smart and savvy”.
March 26th, 2010 @ 2:53 am
Hey Eric glad to meet you. Excited to see where things go with Argyle.
Thanks for your comment. It's good to hear your perspective, I'm sure
I would of had your experience had I talked about anything LBS related.
Were you in the same program as DJ?
March 26th, 2010 @ 2:11 pm
Unfortunately, no. I was in the full-time program, DJ was in the evening program. Would have been fun to share a classroom with him…
March 26th, 2010 @ 2:51 pm
Ah, too bad. That would have been a fun class to be in.