If you could have anyone come in and teach one of your college classes for a day, who would you choose?
Students taking a social media course at Emerson College picked Patriots player Chad Ochocinco.
Through pleas via the Twitterverse, the class interacted with the wide receiver, who eventually agreed to come in as a guest and discuss the power of social media, as long as the “Hoodie Boss” was OK with the visit.
“He means Coach Bill Belichick,” said Emerson Professor David Gerzof Richard, a social media guru and Twitter-pusher at the Boston school. “Funny enough, I am trying to coordinate [his visit] to the class. We really want him to come in.”
Richard said every semester he challenges his students demonstrating the power of social media through networks like Twitter and Facebook.
“I get them to find someone who is a little outrageous and might be up for being a social media professor for a day,” said Richard.
His students tried to wrangle Shaq from the Celtics last year, but didn’t have much luck.
Ochocinco, however, has been interacting with the student call outs.
“We tweeted back and forth as kind of a joke. I asked him what next steps were and he said he had to check with “the Hoodie Boss,” said Richard.
If Belichick agrees, the social media class could have Ochocinco as acting professor sometime this semester.
“The fact that he tweeted back means his is interested. He is the kind of guy that follows through on what he says,” said Richard. “Assuming [Belichick] doesn’t have a problem, I would think that he would show up. “
Richard said students got really creative with their ideas that went into the tweets and it was a coordinated effort to get Ochocinco to respond.
“We broke through the noise and got his attention,” he said.
