Larry D. Lauer

The question today is: How has the new media revolution changed what you do?

This week I have been in London with my TCU honors college students, and a college administrator. We have visited the American Embassy, an organization that publishes a web-based newsletter about higher education in the Middle East, and the Executive Editor of the Economist.  In addition, I visited with a Pro-Vice-Master in the University of London system. The consistency of their responses has been a bit surprising.

All emphatically made the point that social media is here to stay. But they all also remain uncertain about longterm effects, and they all see new media usage patterns going through almost daily changes.

U.S. Embassy diplomats admitted they are not using social media yet to maximum capacity, and point out that their most effective work remains face-to-face dialogues in some of London’s most difficult and volatile neighborhoods. Social media they see as a tool to mobilize participation in events, but don’t yet see it as solving international relationship problems.

The Middle East higher education newsletter uses social media to drive people to its’ website, and sees Twitter as more effective for that purpose than Facebook. They emphasize that success is still all about content. Stories must be more concise these days, but it is content that determines readership. Significant numbers of Middle East populations are illiterate, and so while social media reaches the educated people, mass responses are still face-to-face generated in the streets. The people we talked with were very anxious to make the point that in Cairo, for example, life as a whole goes on rather normally, and thousands are enrolled in and still attend universities.

The Economist remains primarily a weekly print publication, but it also features a substantial website that carries fast breaking stories, an e-newsletter , several Apps, an audio version, and many associated live events and seminars. The executive editor confessed that it challenges them to determine how and when daily new media use changes require adjustments in what they are doing.  So far, however, they remain one of the most important news publications in the world.

The University of London Pro-Vice Master’s big concern is that in her world of professional university advancement she sees young people coming into the work so focused on tactics and social media that they are not paying enough attention to strategic thinking, planning, face-to-face events, and content. Social media have permanent roles to play, she agrees, but all of the other media tools are still in the mix, and actual onsite experiences are what truly define an institution.

This has truly been an enlightening experience. Next week it’s the BBC, the British Film Institute, and the CBS London Bureau.  Stay tuned, there will be more to come.