Did you know that IEEE has a policy on Social Media?  Yes they do and it is posted at http://www.ieee.org/about/social_media/social_media_form.html along with a list of registered sites.  IEEE’s goals for social media include empowering the entire community in fulfilling IEEE’s mission and objectives by:

• engaging volunteers and encourage collaboration in support of “one IEEE”;
• enabling building of communities of interest (technical, professional, geographic) to meet member and industry needs and benefit the public;
• creating venues where people can exchange and share technical and scientific discoveries and opinions.

Social Media sites like facebook and twitter are a new way to engage members and solicit feedback.  They are interactive, unlike more traditional websites. @ieeer5 has been ‘tweeting’ for about six months now with tweets and retweets posted on this website.  We tweet short news items that may be of interest to IEEE members in Region 5.  If your entity (section, society chapter, student branch, or ??) has a social media site (blog, facebook page, LinkedIn page, or twitter account) you should register it with IEEE at the URL above.  That will make your site ‘official’ and make it easier for others to find you.  You will also be invited to join an elite group of social media administrators on facebook. If your entity hasn’t been using social media, check out some of the IEEE registered sites to see what others are doing and consider joining us on the ‘bleeding edge’!