Social Media Syllabus

CAS 492, Summer, 2012 --- Social Media for Business Uses
Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:50pm, and one hour arranged (via Angel)
Class meets in 148 Comm Arts and Sciences Building

Professor: Paul Jaques
Office: 181 CAS Twitter: @msuinterns
Phone: 353 5583
E-mail: jaques@msu.edu
Office Hours: Mon 2:00- 3:00
and by appointment



Required Texts:
Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, by Shel Israel
Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, by Erik Qualman

ANGEL – angel.msu.edu -- visit regularly for weekly assignments, readings, announcements, etc.

Course Description and Objectives: -- This course provides an introduction to social media for business development and strategy. Basic principles of how to use social media to improve a company’s public profile and to increase customers will be discussed throughout the semester. Students will develop a better sense of their own social media profile and will be able to develop basic social media plans for businesses. Students will also be able to apply social media concepts, terms and applications to their own life and to case studies. A number of guest speakers will present during class sessions and provide real-life examples regarding social media uses.

For the most part, there will be weekly class assignments for a total of 140 possible points. The first 4 assignments are in class and the rest will be online.

Assignments and grading scale are as follows:

Twitter Assignment 10 points Grading Scale:
LinkedIn Assignment 10 points 140 - 128 points 92% 4.0
Google Assignment 10 points 127 - 119 points 85% 3.5
Facebook Assignment 10 points 118 - 112 points 80% 3.0
New Media 20 points 111 - 105 points 75% 2.5
App idea 20 points 104 - 98 points 70% 2.0
Social Media Plan 20 points 97 - 91 points 65% 1.5
Presentation 40 points 90 - 84 points 60% 1.0
83 points or below 0.0


Total 140 points

Expectations of Students: It is expected that students will act in a professional manner. Once class begins, students should focus on the class material and guest presenters. Students are to be respectful to all guests and each other. Phones should be put on silent mode unless otherwise instructed, and clearly, no student should be talking or texting during class unless otherwise instructed. Students are responsible for knowing all information contained in this syllabus, announced in class and shared via Angel. Not knowing is not an excuse for late work, missed assignments, etc. If students have questions regarding the course material or assignments, it is their responsibility to ask questions before assignments are due. All assignments are to be typed, stapled or secured in some way (if submitted in person), and submitted on the due date. Students are responsible for submitting their own assignments.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to participate through discussion, idea generation, question asking, active listening, etc. Students failing to attend class will lose 5 points per each session missed. Additionally, students failing to attend the entire class or failing to participate in class discussions may also lose up to 5 points per session. Because life happens and things come up, students will receive ONE “I can’t make it to class” pass to be used at their discretion. This pass is to be used wisely because students only receive ONE each, so use it for an interview, funeral, illness, etc.

Late assignment/paper policy: All assignments are to be submitted on time. In the case of verifiable extenuating circumstances (i.e., death in the family) students must notify the professor in advance of assignment due dates; otherwise, exceptions will not be granted. (Verifiable means that you must be able to produce valid and complete documentation.) If advance notice is impossible, students must notify their professor within 24 hours from the beginning time of the assignment due date. Contact information for the professor is on the first page of the syllabus, also contact information can be obtained by contacting the Dean’s Office (355-3410) – there is no excuse for not being able to contact me.

Academic Dishonesty: Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report states that “the student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship, grades, and professional standards.” In addition, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences adheres to the policies on academic dishonesty as specified in General Student Regulations 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and Grades, and in the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades, which are included in Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide. Students who commit an act of academic dishonesty may receive a penalty grade for that assignment or may receive a 0.0 on the assignment or in the course. Cheating on assignments, plagiarism, signing other student’s names on work for credit, submitting work used in another class or providing false information for personal benefit or someone else’s benefit constitutes academic dishonesty in this course.

Accommodations for Disabilities: If you have a documented disability from the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact the professor by the end of the second week of class.

Religious Holidays: You may make up course work missed to observe a major religious holiday only if you make arrangements in advance with the instructor.



Topic Schedule

Please visit angel or look in your e-mail for any changes.

In Class:

Week One
Twitter- Speaker Dick Costolo

Week Two
Linkedin- Speaker Jeff Weiner

Week Three
Google- Speaker Larry Page

Week Four
Facebook- Speaker Mark Zuckerberg

Google Plus Hangout:

Week Five
New Media

Week Six App idea


Week Seven
Social Media Plan (chosen company)

Week Eight Presentation