Research wrap up thoughts

I have been interviewing people since I was six years old, sitting on the city bus with one of my parents quizzing strangers.I have always been interested in how and why.

So it comes as no surprise that my final graduate research has been the most gratifying experience of my entire education, even slightly better than kindergarden recess.

I found my research topic very early during coursework and built every possible assignment to the area of social media for two reasons. I saw social media as a way to build community. And, as a small business owner, I saw social media as a way for organizations to honestly build customer trust on the cheap.

The theories of community, rhetorical reinactment and the two-way communications model fit right into the social media puzzle as each idea came along in its own required reading assignment. Community theory as a basis for online community just made sense.

Now here we are two years, a relocation, a career change and 100 references later and I still don't know it all about how corporations should address online community.New thought leaders pop up every so often with an idea that is a little different and the body of literature expands.

Time is getting away from me so as for my own research, I have to reel it in and graduate. But just as soon as that administrative responsibility is out of the way I am going to figure out how I can go about competing for research grants to further my study of whether building a sense of community may be the best strategy for corporate communicators to reach younger audiences online.

Until this final interview phase is done, I will amuse myself by reading the latest work of some of my favorite social media gurus like Jaffee, Solis and Henige. Check out some of the blogs right here.