What the Students Said About Westchester's Working With New Media Panel

So, in my last post, Program Launched, I gave you a run down of the new Professional Studies in New Media program that I developed and now am directing on behalf of Fordham University's School of Professional and Continuing Studies, which is being piloted on our Westchester campus.  

And I told you all about our program launch event, a panel discussion entitled Working With New Media, which featured Constantin Basturea, Robin Colner, Chris Cornell, and Paull Young, moderated by yours truly. If you missed that post, or need to refresh your memory, go review Program Launched and then meet me back here.

So, I am also teaching a summer session class for Fordham College at Rose Hill, Introduction to New Media/Participatory Media, and given the relevance of the panel discussion, we arranged to have the students attend the session, which they did.  And several of them posted their impressions of the panel on our class blog, which our students had decided to name (get ready for this one)...  hmmunications.

So, I thought I'd share their response here, while also providing a link back to the original post.

Here's what Liz Moore had to say about it:

Our class attended an event at Fordham's Westchester campus in place of class on Thursday. The event was a presentation to kick off Fordham's School of Professional Studies' New Media program. Four panelists whose careers deal in new media use in marketing and public relations spoke about their experiences, as well as about the importance of social media use for business purposes. The presentations were interesting to hear because this use of social media is so different from the way most college students use social media. When I hear the phrase "social media," my first thought is Facebook and keeping in touch with friends. Each of the four panelists had slightly different experiences, but they all drove home the point that social media is extremely helpful and necessary to drive profits in this day and age, and that a University program that concentrates on New Media will be very helpful for students.  

And now let's hear from Angeli Ledda:

Although the New Media event our class attended last Thursday was catered towards [continuing ed] students, I still found the launch to be very informative. Through their professions, the four panelists explored the multifaceted aspects of social media. I found it compelling the way each professional was able mold the different platforms into marketing tools for their respective clients. Furthermore, I enjoyed that the panelists specialized in different categories of clientele such as small businesses, large companies, and non-profit organizations. Hearing their experiences definitely gave me some perspective of what I plan to do in the future. The panelists' insights made me realize how powerful and valuable social networking could be in the business world, especially on the internet. When social media is brought to its full marking potential, it can bring great success to any business. Information and advertisements concerning businesses are easily accessible, are spread much faster, and can be seen by a vast range of viewers. The idea behind New Media seems to be that internet platforms appeal to the realms of both pleasure and business. 

 Julie Bochat also provided some comments:

This past Thursday our introduction to new media class attended a very informative launch for the new program for new media at the Westchester campus. I found this conference very helpful since it shined light on the importance of social media for big, small and non-profit businesses. Each of the four panelists provided great information to help businesses grow. They also stressed the importance of social media and that in order for a company to grow and be known, social networking is of huge importance. Since these media industries are expanding rapidly, this conference showed the significance of keeping up with the emerging trends and media platforms. It also reiterates that the world is becoming much more visual and in order to spark awareness and provide good customer service, a company must be on all of these popular sites.

 And last but not least, here are Rachel Madacsi's remarks:

When I was first told that there would be a special presentation with four professionals involved in new media, I was ecstatic.  When I finish my last year of college in the upcoming year, I would love to be involved in the public relations field, and more specifically involved with new media.  Constantin Basturea, Robin Colner, Chris Cornell, and Paull Young were all very helpful when explaining what each of them do within their company.  I never knew that there were companies out there that help other companies execute social media in the right way, like Constantin Basturea does.  I really liked the how Robin Colner helps those smaller companies who do not have the money and resources to use a company like Constantin's at Converseon.  She teaches the smaller companies how to use the right information and what keeps them moving in the wrong direction, which is definitely something I can see myself doing in the future.  Chris Cornell is also helpful in what he does because he helps companies produce things that the people want.  I think it is a great quality to have to know how to make a company successful through new media.  I am glad that Paull Young went last because his accent was fun to listen to and it was also calming to know that someone as young as him can be successful.  I always thought that I would have to wait many years to become extremely successful, but if there is something out there that I am interested in, Paull Young taught me that I should chase my dreams and do as much as possible to make them come true.  All four speakers were clear in what they were saying and I am thankful that I got to go to a presentation like this one.  Although social networks seem to be primarily to a young audience for entertainment purposes, or at least that is what I think, it is a growing medium used for many big and small companies around the world.  Knowing how to use and navigate through these sites at a young age will hopefully help me when I am looking for a job in this field in the future.  

Oops, and I almost missed one more from Scott Forba:

During the panel discussion on Friday one of the most interesting points made was on how we come upon information and entertainment on the Internet has changed. Sites that aggregate content, such as StumbleUpon, Reddit, Tumblr, and Digg are replacing search engines. What does this mean for the supposedly participatory nature of New Media? While people do make much of this content, such mindless autonomous acquisition could return us to earlier, more television-like, types of acquisition. 

And there you have it, five student testimonials that indicate that our launch was pointed in the right direction.