I spend most of the time on this site talking about education and technology, but today I want to talk about food!

When was the last time you really thought about the food system in your school? When was the last time you seriously thought about the food that your students are eating?

Well, there is a new show on TV right now called “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” and I want to take this time right now and encourage you to WATCH THIS SHOW!

For those who don’t know, Jamie Oliver is a famous English chef… and on this new show he comes to America to help a small town in West Virginia (a town that was shown to be the most unhealthy town in the entire country) how to eat healthier.

What is most interesting is that Jamie starts his food revolution in a single school. He goes in, analyzies the food that is being served there, and then tries his hand at creating some meals of his own for the kids to eat.

Sadly, Jamie is met with a ton of resistence from both the citizens of the town, the school administrators, the staff… and even some of the students. But slowly, episode by episode, Jamie starts to turn things around.

As of this writing there are only three episodes that have been aired, but it is safe to say that this is one show you SHOULD be watching!

The reason I started Social Media Schools is not just because I know a lot about Facebook and Twitter. The reason I started this site and started consulting with schools around the world is because I want to see a positive change in our education systems. Social media and the Internet is a part of that, but the food we eat (and most importantly, serve to our students) is even more important!

You can watch the first episode of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Resolution” by clicking the play button on the video at the top of this article, or you can click here and watch every episode on Hulu.com (unfortunately, only US residents can view this content at this time).

Please watch the show… and after you’re finished, let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

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I notice that some schools have Facebook pages that do not allow for wall posts while others do. I wonder what your perspective is on schools allowing for wall posts versus not.

Any tips you can share, I’d really appreciate it!!

Kristin Harrison

My response here is relatively simple: The ultimate goal for your school should be to open up the permissions as much as possible, so that eventually you are allowing your Fans to post new content, comment, and leave feedback on your school’s Facebook Fan Page.

In case you are unfamiliar with Facebook Fan Page permissions, check out the graphic below.

To find these settings on your school’s Facebook Fan Page, simply log into Facebook, navigate to your Page, and then click the “Edit Page” link found directly underneath your school’s logo/picture. From there, you will see an area called “Wall Settings.” Click the “Edit” link under that section and then you will see the “Wall Setting” options shown above.

As you can see, you have the choice of allowing “Posts by Page and Fans” or of allowing “Only Posts by Page.” (For those who don’t know, YOU are the Page. So, if you choose to allow posts only by the Page, that means that only you (and other Page administrators) will be allowed to post new content to your school’s Facebook Fan Page).

Under the sub-heading titled “Fan Permissions” you will also note that you can give your Fans permission to write or post on your Page, as well as permission to post photos, videos or outside links. Leaving these boxes checked gives your Fans permission to post just about anything they want. Unchecking one or more of these boxes removes your Fans from being allowed to post that particular kind of content.

The problem many schools have when it comes to these settings is that they are simply nervous (or even afraid) about what kind of content/remarks their Fans will leave if they give them permission to post whatever they want. For many schools, this is a justified concern.

That said, if you work in a school that is currently having problems of some kind that could result in outrageous negative feedback from the community, then I think it is perfectly fine to block off access to your Fans and only allow new content to be posted by you and other Fan Page administrators. However, this should not be something that you do forever. The ultimate goal should be to start with your Page permissions blocked off, but then to eventually lift those permissions so that slowly, over time, you give your Fans more and more rights on your Page.

When you block your Fans from posting on your Page, you are essentially blocking them from giving you any kind of feedback. Essentially, you have turned your Facebook Fan Page into a one-way communication channel, with you pumping out the information and your Fans taking it in – unable to respond, even if they wanted to. This, as far as I am concerned, is not social media… and using your Facebook Fan Page in this way may work for a while, but it is far from effective.

You see, the great part about allowing your Fans to leave comments and contribute to your school’s Fan Page is that:

First of all, you get feedback on what the parents, teachers, students, staff, and community members liked or did not like about certain events or activities in your school/district. This can be a bit scary at times, but it is the best way to learn and grow from an administration standpoint. Every time you do something new or exciting in your school you can make a post about it on Facebook and almost instantly get feedback as to what your community liked, disliked, or would like you to do next time you conduct a similar event. From a marketing and education standpoint, this is vital information for any school to have.

Secondly, opening up the permissions on your Facebook Fan Page actually causes you to do less work, because your Fans will be helping you to build the content of your Facebook Page for you. I know that from my talks with several schools around the world, time is an important factor in their resistance to use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. They think that social media use in their school will take too much time – something that they feel they just don’t have very much to give away. But the truth is, posting new content to Facebook and Twitter takes just minutes per day, and when you allow your parents, teachers and students to directly add new content to your school’s Page, it creates even less work that you have to do yourself. After a while, your Page may become almost self-sufficient, with the community around your school doing 90% of the work and you chiming in just once a day to moderate comments and make new and important updates.

Finally, the biggest advantage to allowing your Fans to contribute to your Page is that each time someone comments on your Page, a notice is then automatically posted on that person’s individual Profile, notifying his or her friends that they just made a comment on your school’s Facebook Fan Page. This is huge because this is how you get more and more people to know about your school. When someone leaves a comment on your school’s Page, his or her friends are notified about it, and many of them will be inclined to navigate back to your school’s pPage, become a fan, or contribute to the Page themselves. As a marketing tool, this is incredibly powerful and something that should be encouraged if possible – not something that should be restricted.

So you see, it is okay to block off your Fans from posting comments and new content to your school’s Facebook Fan Page, but the ultimate goal should be to open up those permissions as much as possible so as to get immediate feedback, automatically grow your Page, and increase your school’s awareness amongst your community’s Facebook users. When you can… and when you feel comfortable doing it, I encourage you to open up those permissions as much as possible.

Stop viewing your Facebook Fan Page as a one-way communication channel between your school and the neighboring community… and start seeing it as an opportunity to create an army of raving Fans!

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Do you know what people on the Internet are saying about you, your teachers, your school, your administrators, your staff members or your students?

You can! And it’s incredibly easy to do using a free service called “Google Alerts.”

Google Alerts is a simple service provided by Google.com that you can use to monitor what people are saying about you and your institution… and respond if necessary.

Once you set up a Google account and create alerts for you and your school you will then get daily or weekly email notices every time you or your school is mentioned online. That means that every time someone writes your name on a website, discusses you in a blog post, shares a comment about your school in a message board or suggests something about one of your teachers, administrators or students, you can know about it… almost instantaneously!

As you can imagine, this is a valuable tool for any school to have. But even more importantly, it is a tool that needs to be used on a regular basis in order to monitor your school’s online brand.

How to set up your first Google Alert:

• In order to set up an alert for your school, you need to visit the Google Alerts website and fill out the short form on the right-hand side of the page. The Google Alerts website is: http://www.google.com/alerts

• Once there, fill in the search terms you want to be alerted about (this would include the name of your school, abbreviations for your school name, administrator names, etc.).

• Under “Type,” select “Comprehensive.” This way you will be alerted about any kind of online content that is posted about you and your school – whether it be in a website, blog or video.

• Then select “How Often” you would like to be alerted when your school is mentioned online. I recommend choosing either “once a day” or “once a week.” If you select “as-it-happens” your email inbox may become flooded with messages in a very short time – only distracting you from more important work.

• Under “Email Length,” select “up to 50 results” and then finally type in the email address that you would like your Google Alerts to be sent to.

• After completing this form, Google will send a confirmation email to the address you used for the alert.  Click on the link in that  email to confirm your Google Alert subscription. After doing so, you will be sent an email each and every time the search terms you entered are mentioned online.

Additional Notes About Using Google Alerts:

• If you are getting alerted about an overwhelming number of things that do not pertain to you and/or your school, try changing the search terms you are using in your alerts.

• You can have alerts set for as many different keywords as you want. Simply repeat the process above to set up additional alerts.

• Finally, create a Google account to manage your alerts. This step is optional, but highly recommended.  By creating a Google account you can see all of your alerts on one screen and can add more alerts, edit your alerts or delete them easily.

So, there it is! Your quick and easy introduction to Google Alerts – a free, easy, and automatic way of monitoring your school’s name on the Internet.

What are you waiting for? Visit the following address now in order to get started: http://www.google.com/alerts

Image by laverrue

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