More American colleges and universities are using social media than ever before. According to a 2011 study out of Dartmouth[1], only 61% respondents in 2007-2008 used any form of social media. This rose to 85% the following year, 95% the year after that, and in the most recent survey, 2010-2011, 100% of colleges and universities were using social media. The social channels of choice for higher ed appear to be Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging (the number of schools blogging is going up while this social activity is leveling off in the corporate and non-profit world) and podcasting, and they use them primarily for communicating with current students, recruiting prospective students and reaching out to alumni, particularly for fundraising. So, what exactly is higher ed doing with social media? The answer: A whole lot more than just posting football scores and linking to PDFs of recruitment brochures. Here is a look at some of the clever ways colleges and universities are using social media to engage their audiences:
- Posting a page on their websites that aggregates or serve as a directory of their all of the social media properties. Check out these directories from the University of Oregon, Princeton, University of Michigan, Berklee College of Music, and Carnegie Mellon.
- Using Foursquare to provide tips for new students and visitors (like where to find food, libraries, and lecture halls), or to run scavenger hunts to help freshmen navigate campus. Arizona State University has tips for its four Phoenix campuses and also encourages users to unlock its Foursquare specials and badges.
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- Showing prospective students what college life is like with YouTube videos. Vassar College’s YouTube channel shows what “Move-In Day” looks like, and also shares tours of each of the residence halls. Drake University features short videos of its alumni talking about their college experience.
- Keeping in touch with alumni using LinkedIn Groups. The University of Michigan has a large, active alumni community with over 40K members who post information about networking events, jobs, and internships.
- Reaching out to students and staff on Facebook and Twitter with information about last-minute school closures and emergencies.
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- Enabling people outside of the university to experience taking its courses. Vanderbilt University and Wesleyan University have robust offerings on iTunes University, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology posts its Open Courseware on YouTube.
- Providing prospective students with a video campus tour of the school such as this one from The University of Kansas. Brian Rosenberg, president of Macalester College, was the star of a particularly funny and clever tour that went viral.
- Demonstrating the school’s global reach with Facebook photos from students studying or doing work overseas. The Ohio State University has many fun examples.
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- Using Twitter hashtags, such as Boston College’s#weareBC, to connect mentions of the school, or to run student contests like Ithaca College’s #ICMoveIn Madness.
- Sharing calendars of events taking place on and off campus. Check out Gonzaga University’s schedule of fairs, reunions, and networking events on Facebook and Baylor University’s Twitter account used only for publicizing student activities.
- Showing off the campus using a Flickr pool, such as University of Washington’s, or a Pinterest board, like Miami University’s. Many schools, including Baylor University, also host photo contests or select a picture of the day to share on Facebook.
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- Hosting conversations with students, staff and faculty. The University of Delware, for example, held a Skype Chat with a graduate who is volunteering at a health clinic in Kigutu, Burundi.
- Sharing videos of talks, lectures, and conferences hosted on campus using Vimeo, YouTube or podcasts. Stanford University’s School of Business hosts a large collection of talks, with playlists to organize them into topics like Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Innovation. University of California at Berkeley posts lectures from many of their courses on their YouTube channel.
- Showing off and/or soliciting student service to the community. For example, Roanoke College shared a time lapse video of its work with Habitat for Humanity, while the University of Washington posted a video of a dance routine as part of its efforts to organize a surprise flash mob for a terminally ill boy.
- Posting links to interesting research on Facebook and Twitter. Brown University’s and Harvard University’s Facebook walls are chockfull of information about their research. The Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin shares hundreds of links to its research on the social bookmarking site, Delicious.
- Publicizing new course offerings or recruiting for a program or department on Facebook.
- Creating mobile applications with social integration. In addition to maps, events, directories, and access to library account information, the Duke University mobile app offers videos from its iTunes University and YouTube channels. The University of California at San Diego has a mobile site and mobile apps that integrate its Twitter feed and its YouTube channel.
- Sharing interesting campus legends, stories, traditions, and historic photographs. The Ohio State University, for example, has an impressive collection of photos from its archives on Flickr.
- Showcasing student and faculty projects. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, for example,has a Flickr Group dedicated to sharing student artwork.