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I’m going to pick on Echo360’s CEO Fred Singer. Fred does not know that I’m writing about him - - no PR folks were involved in this post. You and Fred are reading what I have to say about the CEO for the first time.
The reason I’m picking on Fred is that his Twitter feed should be a model for everyone who works in edtech. He is an edtech leader who uses social media well. This is such an unusual occurrence in the world of corporate edtech, one that it is worth unpacking.
What does Fred tweeting @FredSinger do differently than almost every other edtech executive? What lessons can other for-profit edtech professionals (at every level of their organizations) take from Singer’s use of Twitter?
Lesson 1: Don't Just Tweek About Your Organization changed company to organization because I think you mean this advice for people in edtech companies and at colleges/universities.
Only sometimes does Fred tweet about Echo360, which the company describes as a video and active-learning platform. Instead, most of Fred’s tweets are about digital learning and postsecondary change. It is clear that he is a CEO who is deeply immersed in the higher ed technology ecosystem, and is excited to share what excites him. This makes anything that he does share about his company seem less like marketing, and more like a genuine desire to let people know about the cool things that he is working on. That sort of authenticity can only come when you are part of a larger conversation.
Lesson 2: Show Your Passion
The articles that @FredSinger tend to highlight are ones about the relationship between educational technology and the future of higher ed. For instance, on I accidentally deleted the reference to eCampus News. Can you add it back in? March 25, Fred tweeted a great article from CIO Review about how #HigherEd must move to break down technology and #data silos -- shared data/processes will benefit students and faculty, and on March 13, an article titled "Study:Big Data Helps Struggling College Students Graduate.” These are articles I had not seen before Fred tweeted them out. None were about lecture capture in particular, but they were all thought provoking.
Lesson 3: Don’t be Afraid to be Critical
Another theme of @FredSinger is the CEO’s frustration with the pace of shifting from passive to active learning. On March 20, he tweeted an article from Times Higher Education with the provocative title "Lectures: as Archaic as Bloodletting in an Era of Modern Medicine."
On March 2nd, Fred tweeted about a report in Campus Technology about active-learning and project-based learning are all part of a move to reform #STEM education at research universities. It is refreshing for an edtech leader to share the same critical perspective of our higher ed system as those of us who work in higher ed have. We are critical of our colleges and universities because we love our colleges and universities. We want to reform rather than disrupt them. We believe in the values and the mission of our institutions, and we think that the best way to support these values is to push for non-incremental change.
It feels like Singer also understands and believes in the promise of our institutions, but is willing to highlight the areas where we must improve. This critical stance from an edtech executive is refreshing.
Having a CEO who is active and engaged in our edtech conversation does more for Echo360 than investments in traditional marketing campaigns ever could hope to achieve. Participating in this conversation takes persistence, consistency and a willingness to actually say what you think. Broadcasting marketing and public relations messages and talking points does not really work. The key is engagement, connectivity and the opportunity to leverage digital platforms to build analog relationships.
Relationship Building Take Time
My guess is that the reason that so few edtech leaders are part of our higher ed change conversation has everything to do with time. It takes years to develop a voice and get to know the people in our community. Investing the time it takes to keep up with and participate in the larger higher edtech conversation will not result in quick wins. The benefits to one’s company will only be apparent in the long term.
Only an intrinsic interest in the intersection of technology, learning and higher ed change can justify the amount of time and energy necessary to authentically participate in our edtech conversation. The reality is that those of us who work for colleges and universities want to do business with edtech people who understand and maybe even share our passions. We feel more comfortable learning about a product or a service from someone we’ve gotten to know (often digitally) who shares lots of interesting news about other things.
In higher ed technology, the long-term approach to relationship building is the only approach that will ever work.
Can you point to other edtech executives who have also leveraged social media platforms to carve out an independent and critical voice on the future of higher education?
