????“總體而言，高等教育系統沒能通過任何有意義的方式，讓學生們掌握必備的數字與社交技能。高等教育，比如商學院，需要改變以往的文化，”雪城大學S.I.紐豪斯公共傳播學院（Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications）的威廉姆?沃德教授如是說。

????沃德負責教授COM 400“不可不知的社交媒體”和COM 600“雪城大學社交媒體理論與實踐”兩門課程。目前，在美國一流大學中，僅有為數不多的幾門有關社交媒體的學分課程，其中就包括沃德教授的課程。沃德教授在Twitter上的賬戶是@DR4WARD ，已有約10,000名粉絲。他非常清楚增設這方面課程的緊迫性。他說：“獲得社交媒體認證的學生得到了更好的工作和實習機會。精通社交技術的學生在就業市場很受追捧，比其他學生具有更大的優勢。”

????統計數字讓他的說法更具說服力。雖然美國的失業率一直在8%左右徘徊，但從2011年至2012年，要求社交媒體技能的工作崗位增加了87%，今年年初僅一個月便有13,000個。《財富》500強（Fortune 500）公司中，73%的公司擁有Twitter賬戶，66%有Facebook主頁。從建立客戶關系，到用于全球員工之間的聯絡等，美國企業正在爭先恐后地將社交工具應用到公司的方方面面。分析人士估計，新社交技術可以產生的新價值約為1.3萬億美元。

????然而，雖然公司渴望有效利用社交媒體，卻苦于缺乏這方面的專業人才。《哈佛商業評論》（surveyed by Harvard Business Review）調查了2,100家公司，其中使用社交網絡的公司中，僅有12%認為自己有效地利用了社交媒體。調查結果顯示，公司迫切需要能夠從根本上改善公司經營狀況的社交媒體專業人才。沃德稱：“有效利用社交可以提高生產力，節省開支和時間，改善員工的積極性和滿意度。這將是公司在文化層面上的一次更大的轉變，將改變完成工作的方式。”但高等教育卻一直沒能迅速填補學生在這方面的知識空缺。現在，許多大學在利用社交媒體招生，比如哈佛大學（Harvard）在Facebook上有160萬粉絲，但很少有大學將社交媒體引入課堂。即便開設了社交媒體課程，也只是獨立的、或者選修課，而不是有效整合到整體課程安排當中。沃德聲稱：“數字與社交媒體技術不僅僅適用于社交媒體課堂，而是可以跨學科、跨專業應用。教師必須改變研究、學習、溝通和合作的方式，并且在課堂上為學生做出表率。”

????在雪城大學，沃德的學生已然成為“社交媒體原住民”，并且伴隨著Twitter和Facebook不斷成長。但他的課程，比如COM400“不可不知的社交媒體”則將社交網絡提升到冰冷的硬科學，強調實際商業應用和如何衡量投資回報。課程的作業包括20條每周發布的Twitter信息，并由課堂專用標簽進行跟蹤。Klout等影響力分析工具將分析信息的傳播率與有效性。此外，課堂講座與在線討論會和視頻等將仔細分析如何在Twitter、商務社交網站LinkedIn和谷歌社交平臺Google+上培養粉絲。

????其他一流大學也開始跟進。紐約大學（NYU）、哥倫比亞大學（Columbia）和華盛頓大學（University of Washington）都推出了大量有關社交網絡、營銷與學習的本科課程。哥倫比亞商學院（ Columbia Business School ）與哈佛商學院（Harvard Business School）則推出了社交媒體營銷課程。新英格蘭學院（New England College）甚至推出了綜合性社交媒體MBA。新英格蘭學院招生辦公室主任黛安?雷蒙德對近期《美國新聞》（U.S. News）的一篇報道予以了反擊，她解釋說：“我認為，這是一個非常專業的領域，不能只開設兩門課，然后對學生說：‘就這樣了。’社交媒體中有太多發展趨勢，太多元素。”

????（信息披露：在線品牌管理服務提供商HootSuite正是筆者的公司。我們提供名為HootSuite University的視頻網絡課件，其中包括業內領先公司的在線研討會和在線測試。目前已被20所高校采用。）

????"Overall, the higher education system is failing to prepare students with the needed digital and social skill set in any meaningful way," says Dr. William Ward of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. "Higher education, like business, needs a culture shift."

????Ward teaches COM 400, Social Media U Need 2 Know, and COM 600, Social Media Theory and Practice at Syracuse. His offerings are among only a handful of credit-bearing social media courses offered at leading universities today. For Ward, who goes by the handle @DR4WARD on Twitter and has nearly 10,000 followers, the imperative for more courses is clear. "Students with social media certification are getting better jobs and internships," he says. "Those who harness social communications are in high demand and have an advantage."

????The numbers back him up. While U.S. unemployment hovers around 8%, job postings requiring social media skills rose 87% from 2011 to 2012, topping 13,000 in one month alone earlier this year. Among Fortune 500 companies, 73% now have company Twitter accounts and 66% have Facebook Pages (FB). Corporate America is racing to apply social tools to everything from building customer relationships to connecting teams of employees around the world. Analysts estimate that $1.3 trillion in value stands to be unlocked by new social technologies.

????But while businesses are hungry to tap social media, they lack the expertise to do so. Among 2,100 companies surveyed by Harvard Business Review, a meagre 12% of those using social media feel they use it effectively. The result is an exceptional demand for social media professionals who can boost the bottom line. "Social communication done well increases productivity, saves money and time, and improves engagement and satisfaction," Ward says. "[It's] a part of a larger culture shift changing how work gets done."

????Higher ed, however, has been painfully slow to step up and fill the knowledge gap. While many universities use social media to recruit students -- Harvard alone has 1.6 million fans on Facebook -- few have brought it into the classroom itself. When courses on social media are offered, they tend to be stand-alones or electives rather than integrated into a larger curriculum. "Digital and social skills can be applied across majors and discipline, not just in a social media class," Ward says. "Faculty must change how they research, learn, communicate, and collaborate and model this behavior in all their classes and for their students."

????At Syracuse, Ward's students are already "social natives," having grown up with Twitter and Facebook. But his courses like COM 400, Social Media U Need 2 Know, elevate social networking to cold, hard science, with an emphasis on practical business applications and measuring return on investment. Assignments include 20 weekly tweets and posts, tracked with a dedicated class hashtag. Influence meters like Klout measure reach and effectiveness of messages. Meanwhile, class lectures and online seminars and videos dissect how to cultivate a following on Twitter, LinkedIn (LNKD) and Google+ (GOOG).

????Other elite universities have started to follow this lead. NYU, Columbia and the University of Washington, among others, have introduced extensive undergraduate coursework on social networking, marketing and learning. Columbia Business School and Harvard Business School offer social media marketing courses. New England College even offers a comprehensive social media MBA. "I think because it's such a specialized field, you couldn't just give two courses and say, 'Here you go,'" explains New England College dean of admissions Diane Raymond, defending social media education in a recent U.S. News report. "There [are] just too many trends, too many elements."

????(Full disclosure: HootSuite is my company. We provide video-based courseware calledHootSuite University composed of webinars from industry leaders and online testing. It is currently used at 20 colleges and universities.)