Social Media and College Admissions: Researcher Presents Newest Findings

Madison, Wis.—April 29, 2009 — A new report on social media in college admissions offices shows a 32 percent increase in the use of social networking applications between 2007 and 2008. The report, which is based on the first statistically significant longitudinal study on the use of social media in college admissions, demonstrates the rapid pace and expanding breadth at which colleges are adopting social media technology to both recruit and research prospective students.

The report’s lead researcher, Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, a professor of marketing and director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, presented her findings during the recent online seminar Adopting Social Media: What New Studies Say.

Conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research in cooperation with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the new study compares the results of the first study conducted in 2007 with the new findings in 2008. Both surveys were conducted with approximately 500 admissions offices at four-year accredited institutions in the United States.

The Use of Social Media in College Admissions on the Rise

In the studies, Barnes and fellow researcher Eric Mattson set out to discover how familiar higher education institutions are with social media, how they’re using it, whether they think it’s important, and if they’re using it to recruit and research prospective students. What they found was that higher education is outpacing the corporate sector in the use of social media with just 15 percent of college admissions offices reporting that they do not use any social media. In 2007, 39 percent said they didn’t use social media.

In fact, the study found year-to-year increases across the board, including the number of college admissions offices that say they use the following applications:
• Social networking: 61 percent, up from 29 percent
• Videoblogging: 41 percent, up from 19 percent
• Blogging: 41 percent, up from 33 percent
• Message boards: 36 percent, up from 27 percent
• Podcasts: 16 percent, up from 14 percent
• Wikis: 10 percent, up from 3 percent

Yet, despite the general widespread use and rapid adoption of social media in college admissions offices, there’s still work to be done, according to researchers.

“There is evidence of enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace these new communications tools, but there is also evidence that these powerful tools are not being utilized to their potential,” said Barnes. “Schools using social media must learn the ‘rules of engagement’ in the online world in order to maximize their effectiveness.”

The report also serves as a warning to college-bound students who readily use social networking applications such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with friends. About a quarter of admissions officers reported using search engines and social networking sites to research prospective students who were candidates for scholarships or entry into high-demand programs as a way of protecting the school from potential embarrassment.

During the seminar, Dr. Barnes discussed findings of the report–including a few red flags–and provided strategies for college admissions offices looking to increase their use and understanding of social media tools, including best practices in higher education blogging, how to monitor social media for posts about your school, best practices for social networking, and legal and ethical considerations

If you missed the seminar and would like to purchase it for your institution, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenter's handouts.

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