American Center Colombo announces free social media courses

How good are your social media skills? Good? Bad? Ugly?

That’s something the American Center Colombo wants to help you out with. From the very basics, like what a social media network actually is, to more in-depth topics like statistic, social media analystics, social media for our business, advertising and ethics, they’ve got you covered – for free – via the Social Media Lab.

It’s a public outreach and teaching initiative sponsored by the US Embassy and American Center, and it offers three sets of courses – beginner, intermediate, advanced – at absolutely no cost.

Here’s what’s on offer:

Beginner Social Media.  Ideal for people with very limited knowledge about social media, and those wanting to get a basic understanding of what social media is all about (read: it’s excellent for parents and others who truly want to understand where this wave is headed). This course explains the fundamentals of social media + attempts to make sense of this arena.   Areas covered include:

• What is social media?  An introduction to the medium and some usage numbers;
• Facebook basics: creating an account, adding content, privacy settings, posting, sharing and likes;
• What is Twitter? A brief overview and why it’s so useful;
• A brief overview of LinkedIn and Youtube;
• Google Search Tips;
• Online Language tools.

Intermediate Social Media.  This course explores the more advanced levels of social media essentials (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and how to use social media more effectively. Areas covered include:

• Intermediate Facebook
• Twitter 2.0
• Welcome to LinkedIn
• Digital storytelling
• Photography basics

Advanced Social Media.  This is ideal for those who are already decent social media users, and want to learn about the higher tiers of social networking, like:

• Social media stats
• Facebook advertising
• Social media mobile apps
• Integrating social media into your business
• Social media storytelling
• Visual storytelling
• Social media Ethics

To join, download this application form. Fill it out and mail it to [email protected]  before the 9th of  May. For questions and more information, , contact Prasad Perera at the Embassy on 011-249 8153. Cheers.