Colleges and Universities Use Social Media to Reach Students

February 9th, 2010

I was at a conference in Tennessee this past weekend and had the privilege of meeting and mingling with many intelligent and wonderful college students from the U.S. and Canada. Since CollegeBound likes to stay in touch with as many colleges and universities as it can via social media networks like Twitter and Facebook, I was happy to see that I knew a little about the schools that many of these students attended.

I met two young women from Tufts University in Medford, MA and thought I’d impress them with what I knew about Tufts on Twitter.

“How cool is it that Tufts tweets out the cafeterias’ menus each day?” I said.

A brief, awkward silence followed. Then one spoke up.

“Tufts is on Twitter?”

Oh yes, my friends. Tufts is on Twitter. As well hundreds of schools, large and small, well-known and not-so-well-known. Twitter and Facebook are awesome. So are YouTube and Flickr. And the schools that use them are more awesome, because they are going far beyond the days of the traditional viewbooks and brochures and finding better ways of reaching prospective students.

In addition to using social media to connect with college-bound students, colleges and universities are also using the Web to reach out to students currently on campus. Blogs are updated regularly, Facebook fan pages post events and activities on campus, and students are invited to upload photos and videos to share on Flickr and YouTube. And as we’ve seen with the Yale admissions video, social media has caught on in a big way.

For starters, you can check with the schools to which you’ve already applied and see the ways they are using the Web. As for the rest, well, we’ve done the legwork for you. Join us tomorrow on our sister blog at CollegeSurfing.com, when we salute the top web-savvy campuses in the country in our first ever Web 2.0 Olympics!

We might not be in Vancouver, but that’s not stopping us from handing out our own medals. Check in tomorrow to see if one of your top schools won the gold. And while you’re on the web, why not become our fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter?

–Barbara Bellesi

Entry Filed under: Advice,College Admissions,College Craziness,College Trends,Pop culture & college