From the first time I found out about Skillshare while I was reading articles in my Google Reader feed, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

Skillshare is an online marketplace that allows people to create and teach public classes without the hassle and high costs of a university experience. Check out this video made by Skillshare explaining the need for this new learning experience.

They encourage anyone to become a Skillshare teacher and share their knowledge and experience with others. Whether you’re teaching particle physics or scrapbooking 101, everyone has something to share and teach to their community.

So as I thought about what I could teach for my classes, the first thing that came to my mind was social media. I’ve spent the past three-plus years in the marketing field and have extensive experience with all of the popular social media platforms. From using social media in marketing campaigns to optimizing profiles for personal and professional use, I think that learning how to use social media effectively and responsibly is an important skill to have.

Over the past few years, sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become an important tool in how we consume media. We now have access to an endless stream of news and entertainment and this new medium is revolutionizing the way we communicate. These sites are gaining new users everyday and their popularity is only getting stronger.

Whether it’s a grandmother looking at photos of her grandkids school play on Facebook, or a local restaurant offering discounts to their followers on Twitter, social media is becoming an important part of our everyday lives. Because of my job, I’ve been approached by friends and family members numerous times to help them set-up Facebook profiles and Twitter feeds.

Every time I help someone with social media and show them all of the cool stuff you can do with it, it’s awesome to see them light up and get excited about participating in this great online community. So when I saw Skillshare, I knew this would be a great way to share my knowledge and passion of social media  with the community.

My first class will be Digital Citizenship 101 - Managing Your Online Identity. In this class students will be introduced to the popular social media networks and learn how to utilize these platforms for personal and professional use. The class will be held on August 9, 2012 from 4:30-6pm at the Co+Hoots Coworking Spaces. Those interested in attending can register online at the Skillshare class page and enrollment is only $20.

If you can’t make it to this session, I will be offering more dates in the future, as well as other social media themed classes. Be sure to subscribe to my Skillshare profile or follow me on Twitter and Facebook for updates on my classes.