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The Journal of Technology in Student Affairs


Summer 2011 Edition  [home]



Are They Listening? Social Media on Campuses of Higher Education

Amy F. Ratliff
The University of Alabama
aratliff@eng.ua.edu

Abstract
Communication with students on campuses of higher education continues to drastically change. The social media phenomenon sweeping across the world creates a picturesque environment for the technologically savvy student, but often an intimidating outlook for administrators and faculty. While some higher education professionals embrace this opportunity to engage students through a new outlet, others struggle to adapt to new demands of the constantly connected, digital college student. Understanding social media and preferences of today’s college student are inherent to identifying the best practices to encourage student engagement and foster student development on college campuses.

Keywords: Social Media, Higher Education, Engagement, Communication, Technology

Introduction
The news of the earthquake and pending tsunami on Japan flooded the status updates of the popular social media site, Facebook on the early morning of March 11, 2011. In the days that followed, YouTube videos posted to this same site shared images of the horrific event and devastation of the landscape. Individuals across the world received instantaneous news at their fingertips as if they were there. Technology and social media create an atmosphere that encourages engagement and connectivity more than ever with college students. Students on campuses of higher education, often called millennials, are accustomed to using technology in almost every facet of their daily life (Underwood, Austin & Giroir, 2010). These students are technologically savvy and require immediate connectivity as well as access to resources and information. Engaging these students in campus programs and activities through social media communication requires a closer look by higher education administrators, staff, and faculty.

The year two thousand eleven seems the same as the year before, but is it? People still travel in cars, watch television, and go to the ballpark. They even still read a novel and play solitaire. The difference in this year, from last, or ten years before is individuals now communicate differently, research differently, and socialize differently. Drastic changes are occurring with how college students learn and communicate. Higher education faculty and administrators have adjusted slowly, adapting as necessary and often without a choice, but now is the time to embrace the opportunity to reach students in a new more effective manner. Student engagement can be accomplished but staff and administrators must no longer plan mediocre attempts to achieve, but excel through incorporation of social media in programs.

Higher education professionals face challenges every day, some forced upon them, others may be the same scenario but with a different generation. Creating a culture of learning and an environment that encourages student development and involvement is one consistent challenge, and today’s digital students present a new twist. First, understanding social media and all it offers to the technologically savvy student is crucial to developing a successful strategy to reach these students. Secondly, higher education professionals must identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as their needs and expectations. Finally, to assess the needs of your students and to create an environment that encourages growth requires uncovering how students are communicating differently and what they expect from higher education professionals in return.

Social Media – What Is It?
The prevalent terms used to describe social media include: information sharing, electronic communication, and social interaction. Visit the World Wide Web, conduct a search on social media and a multitude of definitions are presented. Interactive dialogue within the crossroads of web-based and mobile technologies classify social media’s true description. A relatively inexpensive outlet, social media provides a dynamic blend of technology and social interaction as well as accessibility to individuals of all backgrounds, educational status, and socioeconomic background.

Social media, in the beginning, was used as a means for individuals to communicate on personal interest and stay connected with friends, family, and co-horts. Now information is disseminated through these avenues to educate, inform, survey, assemble, and protest everything from classroom curriculum, family updates, to breaking news. It is no longer necessary to watch the 5:30 news broadcast to get up-to-date on community and national headlines. Nor is it necessary to pick up a phone and call to confirm a dinner reservation, a date, or communicate with professors or a fellow student. Social media takes communicating to an entirely new dimension.

Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter
The most dominant social media sites surfacing in the news include: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace, and this is not an exhausted list. Whether a higher education professional has a Facebook account, chances are they have heard the reference. Facebook is used by both individuals and organizations to share information that is both work related and for personal interest (Ewbank, Foulger, & Carter, 2010). Individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, etc. may disseminate information in a text, link, photo, or video, and share with whom they like; all through their personal account. Also, Facebook provides a resource for individuals to carry on instantaneous messaging, and internal email without leaving the site.

In addition, “groups and organizations can establish collective pages,” (Ewbank, Foulger, & Carter, 2010, p. 26) which provides two additional avenues to reach others with the same interest. Users can create a group page, or a fan page. The group page allows a platform for those of shared interest, any user, to converse and share information. The fan page is an opportunity to establish a professional presence, mainly by an official representative. Often campus programs and services will host a Facebook page or group; however, administrators struggle to identify how much presence is needed, what type of information to disseminate and how often they need to update their Facebook “status.”

Twitter, another leading contender in the social media favorites among college students, is a little more difficult to explain. Jeff Jackson (n.d.), author on the breakdrink.com website, geared to current news in the student affairs profession, best explains Twitter as a microblog, because you let others know what you are thinking, but limits your thoughts to 140 characters. These microburst of information are often referred to as, “tweets.” Twitter provides access to share and interact with individuals whom otherwise you would not know, but share the same interest. In addition, users can filter their personal interest, as well as their own tweets, with hash-tags (#). Hash-tags provide one more avenue for users to filter the information they are receiving. For instance, the hash-tag, #SALead, is dedicated to topics relating to leadership theory and practice in the field of student affairs.

A study by Pearson Education (2010), “Social Media in Higher Education,” found YouTube as the most common social media service used to communicate with students. Not surprising, this communication tool provides an alternative to traditional methods of sharing information, including lectures, podcasts, and current news. Over 100 million videos currently reside on the servers of YouTube and educators and higher education professional are just a few of the users who take advantage of these free video sharing site. Simply stated, YouTube is a website where videos are uploaded and shared relating to opposing end of spectrum, personal to professional, comical to news worthy. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are noted as the most recognizable social media; however, the number of professionals actually using these technologies in higher education is much lower (Bart, 2010).

Administrator Understanding, Involvement, and Challenges
Visible in many classrooms, social media is present on campuses of higher education; however, the process of incorporation has been slow. Faculty members are utilizing media outlets to communicate with students, while significantly increasing its incorporation in curriculum dissemination. These outlets appear to present excellent avenues for encouraging student engagement and involvement, but administrators are often caught in the struggle of knowledge of usage and opportunity versus time commitment to making social media work.

Campus administrators and faculty as well, struggle to identify with college students and perhaps find themselves resembling a “digital immigrant” as noted by Marc Prensky (2001). Digital immigrants did not grow up in an Internet household, and may look to the Internet as a secondary source of information as opposed to the first and primary source. These individuals have “adopted most aspects of new technology,” but often continue to implement methods and strategies that have always worked (Prensky, 2001. para. 6). Unfortunately, digital immigrants are now under pressure not only to adapt to new learning and communication styles of digital natives but also to restructure their own thought process to maximize student development.

Faced with the challenges to constantly evaluate their programs and their effectiveness when communicating with students, administrators are exploring innovative ways to enhance student engagement with technology, specifically social media. Educators are using interactive technology within the classroom in a variety of methods, such as online discussion boards, wiki pages to encourage creative collaboration, and web-based conferencing options such as Skype. Strengthening student engagement on campus requires an active approach to uncovering the emerging trends and continually adapting practices to meet the needs of students (Olson & Martin, 2010).

An outsider to higher education may think that campuses of higher learning would be a haven for social media use; however, that is not the case. Ewbank, Foulger, and Carter (2010) remarked that teachers used social media primarily for personal communications, not those of an academic nature. In reviewing one campus’ Facebook page, the authors determined that a majority of communication referred to accomplishments, press releases, and that the fans were mostly its own faculty and staff.

While faculty and administrators are slowly embracing social media and incorporating uses into daily practices, many concerns and challenges continue to exist. Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogging are very interactive mediums. Rachel Reuben’s (2008) Guide for Professionals in Higher Education noted that the four top concerns of administrators were loss of control, time commitment, information overload, and the openness of these programs to allow creation of an “official” account without formal channels. Many sites allow comments that are immediately posted and therefore not screened for content, which can cause distress about potential negative comments. Involvement in any type of social media requires a great deal of time for establishing frequent updates, responses, and release of current information. Social media outlets can create an environment conducive to information overload and can cause users to feel bombarded with responsibilities to keep up. On a campus of higher education, often duplication of presence through social media sites by varieties of campus programs and users can create confusion. Administrators show concern for program identity and the reflection of this resource as official means of communication.

Students – How They Communicate, What They Expect
Students walking about today’s campus of higher education are different from students of twenty, or even ten, years ago. Incredible technological advances have emerged in their lifetimes and have become everyday conveniences. Prensky (2001) refers to these students as “Digital Natives,” who grew up with computers in the home, had constant access to the Internet, and had cell phones that were not attached to chargers in bags that had to be left in their personal vehicles and were small enough to carry in their pockets. These students are more digitally connected than previous generations.

S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, when questioned, noted that these students are now “walking in armed with technology, from their mobile phone to laptops” (Beja, 2009, para 3). College students are now expecting communication with their academic and extra-curricular program to mimic the communication in the rest of the lives. They want to be connected constantly, informed instantaneously, and selective of what they find suitable for immediate, if any, response.

Technology offers college students an array of options to socialize, network, stay informed and connected. Students are now using technology to communicate more than face-to-face interaction. Many have lost the art of maintaining eye contact while speaking in person; instead they continually consult their phone for updates, text messages, emails, Facebook posts, and Twitter tweets. While faculty on campuses of higher education struggle to identify how digital students learn differently, higher education professionals struggle to identify their preferred methods for communication. There is limited research on social media usage by campus programs and administrators and the success with students; however, many colleges are reaching students this way. Research on social media usage in the classroom abounds, although this research does not provide accurate information when comparing communication of faculty to higher education professionals and campus programs.

According to Gemmill and Peterson (as cited in Heiberger & Harper, 2008, p. 22), “three-quarters of college student spend between one and three hours per week using the Internet for social communication; the remaining one-quarter spend three or more hours per week communication socially online.” According to Facebook, of the active college network users, an average of twenty minutes per day is spent on the site and during this time over fifty pages are viewed (Heiberger & Harper, 2008). The students are engaged through social networks; they are connected. Choosing to utilize social media outlets to reach this population seems inevitable; yet, higher education professionals must develop a strategy that will not pollute their resources.

How Administrators Communicate with Students
Regardless of the time spent online by students, administrators must be mindful to find “positive ways to use the technologies most popular with students” (Heiberger & Harper, 2008, p. 29). Staying abreast of the current technologies and preferences of students is crucial to ensure the most effective incorporation of social media in communicating with students. The ultimate goal is to increase involvement and knowledge of campus programs. Poor planning and utilization could result in negative participation and response rates from students.

A variety of opportunities exist for higher education administrators to disseminate information and engage students through social media. Facebook can be used to encourage a sense of community with campus programs by creating groups where members can join and communicate with others of the same interest. The group page is an excellent way to share program news, updates, and event information. Before any plan of action is developed, the target audience must be identified, as well as the demographics of the followers. Develop a strategic plan and commit to this method, because students have a “high expectation about the speed and quality of campus connection” (Heiberger & Harper, 2008, p. 31).

Twitter provides a micro-blogging platform which serves as an exceptional resource for marketing campus programs and opportunities for involvement. Utilizing one-hundred forty characters to share current news, campus happenings, and useful tips is one additional method for distributing content in a non-aggressive manner. Informational podcasts and instructional videos shared through YouTube provide one additional outlet for getting the message to students. YouTube also has the option to create sub-channels that are content specific, so this avenue presents another opportunity to make information available to students. In addition, with video sharing, campus programs and administrators can use creativity, music, graphics, and current trends to capture their audience.

Conclusion
According to Eric Stoller (2011), “a prevalent theme for 2011 is how higher education can capitalize on social media as a way to create relationships, student retention, and engagement” (para. 5). To communicate effectively with students, higher education professionals must embrace new technologies, explore opportunities to implement a social media presence, and most importantly develop a plan that constantly re-evaluates trends and adapts to the changing needs of students. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the preferred social media outlets for socializing and networking. Current research shows students are online, engaged, and desire to be connected to their campus. They are listening, but choosing the appropriate message and outlet depends on the commitment to success.

References
      Bart, M. (2010). Social media usage among college faculty, Trends in Higher Education, Faculty Focus. Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/ trends-in-higher-education/social-media-usage-among-college-faculty/

      Beja, M. (2009). How students, professors, and colleges are, and should be, using social media. Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/how-students-professorscolleges- areshould-be- using-social-media/7787

      Ewbank, A., Foulger, T. S., & Carter, H. L. (2010). Red Bull, Starbucks, and the changing face of teacher education. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(2), 25-28. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

      Heiberger, G., & Harper, R. (2008). Have you Facebooked Astin lately? Using technology to increase student involvement. New Directions for Student Services, (124), 19-35. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

      Jackson, J. (n.d.) What is Twitter. Retrieved April 7, 2011 from http://breakdrink.com/twitter-guide/what-is-twitter/

      Olson, D. & Martin, Q. (2010). Engaging college students through online social networks. The Journal of Technology in Student Affairs, 11(1). Retrieved from http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Winter_2010/EngagingCollegeStudents.html

      Pearson Education. (2010). Social media in higher education: The survey [slideshare]. Retrieved from http://www.pearsoned.com/2010/05/04/sociable-professors/

      Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5).

      Reuben, R. (2008). The use of social media in higher education for marketing and communications: A guide for professionals in higher education. Retrieved from http://doteduguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/social-media-in-higher-education.pdf

      Stoller, E. (2011). Using social media to enhance engagement, yield, and retention. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student_affairs_and_technology/using_social_media_to_enhance_engagement_yield_and_retention

      Underwood, S. J., & Austin, C., & Giroir, C. (2010). Squeezing the virtual turnip: Introducing student affairs professionals to open source technologies. The Journal of Technology in Student Affairs. 11 (1). Retrieved from http://studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Winter_2010/SqueezingtheVirtualTurnip.html

The on-line magazine about technology and Student Affairs

Gary D. Malaney
Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst
Editor

Stuart Brown
StudentAffairs.com
Executive Editor

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