50 Most Social Media Savvy Professors in America

Every day, a new article or alleged joke about how social media pervades daily life crops up. Don’t argue. It’s science. Anyway, like most people with something to say, professors enjoy blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites major and minor. Many throw themselves into the digital milieu, excelling at networking and spreading ideas and insights with fellow academics, professionals, students and interested readers alike. Even though visitors won’t always agree with what they have to say — some may grow downright offended — few can deny their generous grasp of all things social media.

Business and Education

1. Christopher S. Penn

   Although a marketing expert (and, of course, professor and author) skilled in social media’s business applications, the delightful Christopher S. Penn shares some other fun bits of nerdery, from cooking to World of Warcraft.

2. Glen D. Gilmore

   This Rutgers professor and attorney excels so well at social media, he even runs his own consulting company illustrating the best marketing and promotions strategies.

3. Natalie M. Houston

   Natalie M. Houston is actually an English professor, but her newsletter, Twitter, blog and writings focus mostly on time management, productivity and work/life balance — essential for any career and any educational path.

4. Christine Greenhow

   When it comes to social media’s massive impact on education, Christine Greenhow stands at the research’s forefront. With plenty of studies, grants and projects to her name, she’s savvy in both the technology’s use and overarching influence.

5. David Albrecht

   Along with participating in an accounting-and-technology listserv, David Albrecht loves dishing out relevant advice to students, professionals and fellow professors through his popular blog — though he also uses Twitter and LinkedIn.

6. Niklas Myhr

   Despite his lax blog schedule, this University of Virginia marketing professor keeps an active Facebook brimming with advice on using social media in the business classroom and world alike.

7. Allen H. Kupetz

   This globetrotter concerns himself with business solutions regarding both social media and technology, particularly as they relate to communication between American and Asian companies.

8. Amanda Krauss

   OK. So Amanda Krauss is really a former classics professor, but her social media prowess controversially (and amusingly!) dissects America’s serious higher problems.

9. George H. Williams and Jason B. Jones

   Both English instructors, these gentlemen are responsible for the Profhacker blog, offered through The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here, multiple contributors weigh in on a bevy of education and technology topics.

10. Bruce Freeman

    Bruce Freeman teaches adjunct in his spare time, but devotes most of his social media acumen to assisting small businesses boost their online and offline profiles.

Humanities

1. Dan Cohen

   Digital humanities expert Dan Cohen works with a wide range of wired media — although blogging, tweeting and podcasting certainly play an integral role in promoting his essential September 11th and Hurricane Katrina archives.

2. Alex Reid

   With a blog, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and plenty of other profiles, this English professor and digital humanities enthusiast is one of the Internet’s best at harnessing social media promoting knowledge and education.

3. Michael Wesch

   Michael Wesch has earned a plethora of awards and honors, not to mention podcast appearances and interviews, for his inquiries into how new and digital media have permanently shaped anthropology and the humanities.

4. Andy Rush

   As a new media specialist with a particular penchant for instructional technology, Andy Rush certainly knows how to effectively use blogging, microblogging, social media sites, YouTube and other digital tools in the classroom.

5. Roland Greene

   Stanford University’s Roland Greene elevated humanities through blogging, creating The Arcade: a curated group venture bursting with contributors, insight, multimedia and more.

6. Dennis Jerz

   Cyberculture, digital humanities, writing, journalism and more (including how they all come together) come alive through Dennis Jerz’s blog and plethora of digital resources and archives.

7. Matthew G. Kirschenbaum

   Another digital humanities name to know, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum’s qualifications render him just plain media-savvy, not just including social media.

8. Maureen Jameson

   This SUNY Buffalo professor may not update her blog much, but that’s probably because she’s too busy heading up the Digital Humanities Initiative! She’s also a Facebook and Flickr user, posting spectacular pictures from her global travels on the latter.

9. Julia Flanders

   Julia Flanders’ name might not ring a bell because of gregarious social media presence, but the Women Writers Project probably will! Both online and off, the Brown University research project wants to connect female authors past, present and future with their history, using the latest technological resources. She also serves as the editor in chief of Digital Humanities Quarterly.

10. Jeffrey Schnapp

    The founder of Harvard’s metaLAB is a digital humanities leader, having also founded an organization at Stanford as well. Check his blog for more insights and curiosities.

Liberal Arts, Journalism and Communications

1. Marcus Messner

   Seeing as how Marcus Messner’s entire research oeuvre centers around how social media impacts journalism (and vice versa), it’s probably safe to say he knows a thing or two about it.

2. Patricia Aufderheide

   This media arts and film professor heads up the American University School of Communication’s Center for Social Media. Suffice to say, she certainly qualifies as pretty savvy on the subject.

3. Mitchell Zuckoff

   Mitchell Zuckoff uses his website and Facebook to promote all his latest reads. Hey, it landed him on NPR and The Daily Show, so he must be doing something right!

4. John Perry and Ken Taylor

   Two Stanford University educators host a very popular blog and podcast, Philosophy Talk, which opens listeners and readers up to the subject’s seemingly endless facets.

5. Cindy Royal

   Even beyond social media, the notorious Texas State University at San Marcos journalism professor has made quite a name for herself as a savvy technology, new media and education innovator — and critic.

6. Gerald R. Lucas

   Although Gerald R. Lucas is mainly an English and humanities professor, he utilizes a broad number of web 2.0 tools supporting and sharing both his professional musings and eclectic hobbies.

7. Sree Sreenivasan

   Columbia’s super popular journalism professor and "tech evangelist" is considered one of Poynter’s 25 most influential social media personalities. And rightfully so! Browse his profiles and writings for tips, tricks, insights and plenty more regarding both the technology and journalism.

8. Jon Taplin

   Another communications expert who focuses largely on social media’s role in, well, pretty much everything. And considering his academic and professional pedigree, which includes managing Bob Dylan and producing Martin Scorsese’s film, that’s hardly surprising.

9. Jeff Jarvis

   The What Would Google Do? and Public Parts author, blogger and journalist pulls from his own experiences and research to write, talk and social media all about technology’s new role in communications.

10. Jay Rosen

    An NYU journalism professor painstakingly dissects his industry through blogging, a Twitter with neatly 65,400 followers and a podcast — certainly a prominent social media voice!

Science and Math

1. Michio Kaku

   He’s only one of the most popular scientific authors, radio hosts and television personalities around. OF COURSE he can be found via his blog, website and a Facebook page with 186,394 followers (as of this article’s penning, obviously).

2. PZ Myers

   This proud, avowed evolutionary biologist and "godless liberal" is all over the science and skepticism social media scene and blogosphere, with plenty of insight into how both relate to society at large.

3. Female Science Professor/Science Professor

   Just about all most people know of Female Science Professor involves how she works at a "large research university" and … ummm … is a female science professor. Seeing as how her two blogs boast well over 450 followers and she sells t-shirts and a well-received book through it, she’s definitely doing well for herself!

4. Terence Tao

   UCLA math professor Terence Tao is everywhere. When it comes to social media alone, he keeps one blog, participates on two others, edits at least three wikis, belongs to a mailing list and shares his Google Buzz feed.

5. Carlos Guestrin and Seth Copen Goldstein

   Carlos Guestrin and Seth Copen Goldstein at Carnegie Mellon University launched Flashgroup’s beta run in August 2011. It doesn’t get much more social media savvy than starting up a streamlined site targeting individuals fed up with social media.

6. Ethan Siegel

   Physics.org considers this Lewis and Clark College professor — and specialist in theoretical astrophysics — the very best blogger on the subject. Ever. In the world. And his easygoing charm definitely makes this decision palatable, even if his only other major social media presence is a locked Facebook.

7. Lance Fortnow and Bill Gasarch

   The men behind the Computational Complexity blog also use Twitter, podcasting and YouTube to promote the math and computer science love. Quite effectively, one might add.

8. Robert Talbert

   Along with his enjoyable, active blog, Casting Out Nines, Robert Talbert uses Mendeley, keeps a popular and active Twitter and enjoys sharing he favorite finds through Diigo bookmarks.

9. Anne Jefferson

   Anne Jefferson and her post-doc pal Chris Rowan co-spear Highly Allochthonous, a terrific and highly well-received geology blog. The site itself boasts its own Twitter and Facebook, showcases some of the latest news and tweets from fellow geologists, and Jefferson’s own personal microblog attracts well over a thousand followers.

10. Anthony Risser

    Technically, he’s an independent consulting neuropsychologist rather than a professor, but Anthony Risser is still very interested in nurturing higher education. And his Twitter, LinkedIn and wildly enjoyed blog with archives dating back to September 2004 no doubt help him accomplish these professional and academic goals.

Social Science

1. Hugo Schwyzer

   Fiercely feminist gender studies and history professor Hugo Schwyzer passionately, effectively wields social media to promote equality between genders, gender identities and sexualities.

2. Nestor L. Lopez-Duran

   Anyone interested in child psychology should head towards the Child Psych blog. Along with Anita M. Schimizzi, he enjoys an incredible social media presence promoting their academic and professional expertise.

3. Dhiraj Murthy

   Social media and sociology collide in Dhiraj Murthy’s impressive academic oeuvre — including the forthcoming book Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age and plentiful articles on internet cultures and subcultures.

4. Warren Throckmorton

   This very controversial psychology professor uses his award-winning blog, Facebook network, YouTube, iTunes and numerous media appearances to talk about sexual identity, religion and politics. Obviously, not everything he says will resonate with all audiences. It might make many angry, in fact. But all the same, this list is about social media savvy, not an ethics or morality debate.

5. Kieran Healy

   One of Duke University’s sociology professors — who specializes in marketing and gift transactions involving both human and technological goods – writes for multiple blogs, operates a popular Twitter and shares his drool-worthy book collection via LibraryThing.

6. Greg Mankiw

   Both online and off, this Harvard economist draws a serious following. Interestingly enough, all the social media he needs to garner such attention is a blog and Twitter.

7. Juan Cole

   Although a history professor, Juan Cole’s focus on politics and current events relating to all things Middle Eastern renders his content more social science-y. Fans of his blog, Informed Comment, keep up with him via two Facebooks, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Feedburner, although he can be found all over the internet.

8. Laura Freberg

   She writes textbooks, blogs, Facebooks, tweets and networks over Business Card 2. Anyone wanting to listen to Laura Freberg’s psychological commentary knows exactly where to find her!

9. Michael Froomkin

   The man behind Discourse.net blogs and tweets about politics and law, but music buffs will greatly appreciate those Pandora links! Hey, social media savvy can be just as personal as professional!

10. Mark J. Perry

    Considered one of Wikio’s top 30 business bloggers, this economics and finance professor runs a great Twitter and, of course, CARPE DIEM. His Technorati stats, linked on the front page, prove he’s a professor whose social media skills are worth emulating.

Taken From Online Colleges