By Mary Beth West, APR

I had the opportunity this past week to speak to a few classes of public relations students at the University of Tennessee, with much of the subject matter focusing on social media. 

Among the topics that came up in the Q&A was the issue of businesses and organizations relying on interns – students who may be 18 to 23 years old, or thereabouts – to manage their social media presence fully.

It was interesting to hear the students’ take on it. 

Many conveyed a real sense of excitement and accomplishment to be able to utilize their mostly self-taught skills gathered from years of having been raised on interactive media.  To them, it was a pretty empowering thing to be able to arrive at a business or non-profit organization, where many of the staffers may know little or nothing about starting a Facebook page or Twitter account, and to manage a social media program from scratch.

Some, however, voiced some trepidation.   One student stopped me after the class was over to chat about her concerns.  I’ll paraphrase:  “I’m interning at a clothing store with a very targeted audience.  My boss has basically just handed over social media to me and wants me to take on the day-to-day.  I know all about how to manage the postings and things like that, but I can’t get any feedback from him about what he wants me to actually say.”

Another student in a later class said that she was thrown into managing social media for a non-profit and was basically “on her own.”  Later, she took an internship with a business where she is helping create social media content, this time working under a supervisor who is closely managing her work and providing active guidance.  To paraphrase again: “I’ve liked this latest opportunity more, where I’m really having an opportunity to learn.  It’s a lot less scary.”

Employers and internship supervisors should pay attention:  interns can provide terrific social media support, but remember, an internship is intended (by schools and most students, anyway) to provide an opportunity for students to learn – and not through trial by fire. 

It can place an intern in a no-win situation to expect them to handle a company’s or an organization’s social media as an island unto themselves.  Not only can it be unfair to the student, but it can also lead to missteps by the company on the social media stage.

I will discuss more about the pros and cons in my next post.  In the meantime, I welcome your input, success or horror stories, and words of wisdom for students asked to take on these kinds of tasks.