ESU Announces Social Media Panel Presentation April 4

Posted by: admin on March 28, 2013, No Comments

The use of social media versus traditional media and the rapid pace in which false information moves through the social media world are among the issues that will be discussed at a presentation on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU). “Great Expectations of Social Media: Is it Really Moving Us Forward?” will be presented in Lower Dansbury from 4 to 6 p.m.  “How individuals make social media messages go viral and the power of social media” will also be discussed.

The event is part of a week of special programs and activities celebrating ESU student and faculty success leading up to the inauguration of Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D. as the university’s 13th president.

Presenters will include Chris Mele, executive editor at the Pocono Record; Bill Broun, associate professor of English at ESU; Dr. Robert McKenzie, ESU distinguished professor of communication studies; and Kate Smith, an ESU senior majoring in communication studies. Each will deliver a presentation followed by a discussion and a question and answer session. Andrea McClanahan, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the department of communication studies and interim director of women’s studies, will serve as the moderator of the panel. Light refreshments will be served. The presentation is open to the public at no cost.

Broun teaches multimedia journalism and creative writing.  His presentation is called “Whispering Tweet Nothings: The Overstated Powers of Social Media.”  His presentation will explore how, in the contexts of book and news-media publishing as well as in advertising, some of the promises of social media are not actually materializing, while certain unforeseen problems are multiplying.

Broun has worked in newspaper and magazine journalism for many years, holding staff positions at the Guardian (London), Architect’s Journal and elsewhere.  His journalism has appeared in publications such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Guardian, Book Forum, Alternative Press, and Times Literary Supplement. His fiction has been published in the Kenyon Review, Indiana Review and other literary publications.

Dr. McKenzie will discuss how social media is layered on top of traditional media use in his presentation “Combining Social Media Use with Traditional Media Use.”  He will present information on how people are revealing consumer behaviors and opinions to companies that are capturing this data.

McKenzie, who is university adviser to WESS Radio (90.3 FM), teaches primarily in the field of broadcasting.  In 2011, he was a Fellow at the International Radio and Television Society’s annual conference in New York City, where he studied how social media is used in combination with traditional mass media such as newspapers, radio and television.

Chris Mele’s presentation is called “Nailing ‘Truthiness’: Vetting social media during fluid, major breaking news – an editor’s perspective.”  The presentation explores the questions — How do the media really know what they’re reading on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets is accurate? And … It’s one thing to trust, but how do we verify?

A newspaperman for 26 years, Mele grew up in the Bronx, N.Y. He has worked for newspapers in the North Country region of New York State  as well as in the Hudson Valley, where he spearheaded numerous investigative projects and stories.

Kate Smith, from Pen Argyl, Pa., is a communication studies major/broadcasting track. Her presentation will be about how information on the web goes viral.  She is enrolled in a course at ESU titled “Analysis of Social Media,” where she analyzes country music, ESU night life, and the Republican Party on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  Smith is working at an internship with WNEP-TV channel 16 in Scranton-Wilkes-Barre and hopes to become a news reporter.

For more information on the presentation, please contact Dr. McClanahan at 570-422-3697 or by email at amcclanahan@esu.edu.  For more information about other events during ESU Inauguration Week, visit esu.edu/inauguration/events.