Blogs:

The trend today among students especially with international students is to find out all about the colleges they are planning on enrolling in through social media interactions with current students. They ask questions such as whether students and faculty are arrogant there. They watch videos of YouTube that shows in detail aspects of the campus and prospective students watch them to find out what they are in for and interact with present students to clarify any doubts before consolidating their decision.

What the universities face in the social media age is highlighted by this trend. Stiff global competition and higher student fees are issues that have made it imperative for universities to keep up their reputation. Their ability to keep up their reputation is becoming increasingly challenging.

Generation today is totally inclined to trust the opinion of their peers rather than information offered by official bodies. According to University of Leicester head of marketing communications Helen Pennack, platforms such as Student Room and Facebook are used by students to find out where they can access the time tables. They no more contact the university directly.

According to her, reinitiating effective communication with students is a mammoth task for universities. Pennack’s university seeks to address this issue by syncing communications from the college with the student’s Facebook account. She says that this is however only a single platform and the college needs to be present in other platforms too like Twitter that are used by students.

The problem is compounded if people start spreading rumors about the university. Team check is conducted by communications department at least twice a day on what is being said in public spaces like Facebook and Twitter. If any damaging statement is being made or question being asked, the university immediately responds to set things right.

Pennack says that the challenge lies in not where to respond but how. She says that it is important for colleges to get the tone right. Just like other universities, she says that Leicester may soon appoint a group of students who will join conversations in popular platforms and correct people wherever appropriate.

Certain colleges like the Imperial College get students to post blogs on their campus experiences. Though student bloggers are not offered any money, frequent bloggers are sometimes given prizes. Blogs however are authentic as students are given a free reign to highlight both negative and positive aspects.

A University of Lincoln social media student Tom Ridgewell went a step further to create a television ad and post it on YouTube. His effective ad contained both dinosaurs and explosions and the video had an exaggerated title.

It is evident that universities are increasingly concerned about what is being said about them on the social media platform. They also realize that they can do nothing or very little about it. Most of them feel that it is not really possible to control every single world said about them out on the web.