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  • Date: Thursday, July 30, 2009 Time: 4:16 pm Category: Social Media, The Internet Tagged Communiversity, zinch Discussion: 0 Comments

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Do you sometimes wonder what happens to the printed college and university information mailed to future students? Maybe it’s carelessly tossed aside with high hopes that Mom and Dad might read it. We are familiar with the idea that future students seem to pay little attention to certain printed college information. We also know that these prospective students prefer to browse the university/college website for information. They are also using social media for finding what they need to know.

Millennials find sharing and connecting through social networking services a big communication priority. Students trust other students immensely because there are obvious parallels. Social media can potentially be an important tool for a campus community. Although WVU currently uses popular social media, I wanted to share with you an article that follows along these lines. It states how prospective students actively research for potential colleges through social media sites rather than the limited printed information found in review books. Future students desire this information from enrolled and experienced students. In addition to tuition cost and college enrollment, potential students can read to find blogs, news, and tips. They can find ratings and reviews on professors, best and worst parts about the college or campus, campus crime, diversity, food, parking, etc. This is the information that’s missing; the information that gains their trust. Colleges should be aware of this confirming the information posted as true. A particular site mentioned, Communiversity, is a wiki that encourages participation to add or edit the information.

WVU students participate in most of the sites mentioned in the following article:

10 Ways to Use Social Media to Pick a College

by Josh Catone

When I started looking at colleges back at the turn of the century (the middle ages in web time), really the only resources available to me were traditional college guidebooks like The Princeton Review. While those books offered some great general information, they really only scratched the surface of what each college was actually like for students. Even if I sent away to the school for more info, it was still vetted and edited by the school’s communications department.  Read the rest of the article and don’t forget the comments…

So how can the university participate using social media? An example would be Zinch’s strategy.  Zinch is a social media website mentioned in the comments of this article. Zinch reduces the stress of the admission process for the student and for the college. Zinch believes that students are “more than a test score.” Many colleges are changing their recruiting methods looking outside the box of test scores. For the benefit of the college, Zinch is a tool used to recruit students based on who they are, including their passions and background. So it’s a great opportunity to “showcase your college.” What better way to showcase than encouraging interaction among students?

What do you think? We would like to hear from you, opinionated readers.

References: http://trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/521/Building-Trust-with-Millennials