An introduction

I stumbled in to communications about five years ago and I've been working in the area ever since. I had never thought about communications as a career until I started a job involving proofreading, editing, creativity, design (web and print), etc. Since that time I've been able to get a lot of great experience and education in the area, and I'm currently a communications coordinator at the U of A. 

My job title is pretty accurate...most of my job involves communication (both internal and external). I'm responsible for writing and producing an alumni magazine twice/year, writing and developing content & stories for our website, developing & creating print ads, identifying & pitching stories to media, etc. You name it, I probably do it. 

One of my goals is to develop a communications strategy that incorporates social media; I want to be able to effectively engage different target audiences through as many avenues as possible, which is why I'm taking this course. I feel oh so old when I hear the whippersnappers my technologically savvy audiences talking about Twitter, blogging, etc. and I don't really get what they're talking about. It's not like I'm living in the dark ages and think that carrier pigeons should be used to transmit information (too many "bird poo falling from the sky" incidents), but I do understand that in order to maximize engagement opportunities, I need to be more aware and active with the social media avenues available to me.