This semester, ISI Florence offered students a new course called Social Media in Life and Business with Prof. Christie Barakat. Students were eager to sign-up and we were able to run three sections.

The course is unique for its emphasis on the practical application of social media strategy, which students created and realized based on key performance indicators (KPIs) for diverse, real-world clients such as the Florentine startup “Caffè Pontevecchio Firenze”, Livernano Hotel and Winery, artist Marco Fallani, Study Abroad Florence, Florence News, and ISI Florence.

Students worked for clients across several platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs. They created original contents, campaigns and posts, grew the networks, interacted with influencers and customers, utilized tools, and measured results. The students appreciated the internship-like approach to the subject material as the experience is useful for their resumes and will help them with future job prospects.

A theoretical component focused on research and class discussion of topics such as virtual community, identity, privacy, copyright, activism, Anonymous and WikiLeaks, and current trends and practices in social media.

From a client perspective, ISI Florence is very pleased with the students’ creativity and the results of their hard work; we look forward to future participation. Complimenti!