Social Networking And Higher Ed Admission

This post is a follow-up to my previous thoughts regarding social networking and employment. An ongoing study being conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (Center for Marketing Research), has revealed some significant findings. A "sneak peak" report, The Game Has Changed: Web preview (PDF), indicates how the higher education system (colleges and universities) are being quite aggressive in their use of social media. The preview report compares results to a previous study on use of social media by business organizations. The methodology is based on 450+ detailed interviews with admissions departments and includes well-known institutions such as Duke, Carnegie Mellon, University of Arizona and University of Pennsylvania. What I found striking is the use of social media as a means of learning more about student applicants. 

Such insight is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, clearly, students will need to consider the long-term implications of what information they post on social networking sites (somewhat obvious and somewhat over-hyped). Hopefully there is some understanding of teen culture (and I would point to Danah Boyd's research in this area as perhaps the best collection of research conducted I have come across) before people jump to conclusions about what they see on Myspace and Facebook. But there is also an opportunity for students (particularly in high school) to use some aspects of social media in a more purposeful manner to establish their own "personal brand" in an educational sense. Applicants to educational institutions could conceivably leverage social media as a digital portfolio of their interests, activities, accomplishments, and other related information to fill in the "whitespace" of who they are, what they want to be, etc.

In any case, social media (or social computing or social software - pick your favorite term), needs to be examined by business and IT strategists in a broader context than just its application within the enterprise.

Student Research

These results only begin to scratch the surface of the data gathered. And while we’re saving some additional detailed and exciting results for several academic articles (see below) later this year, there is one point that must be shared right now because of its ground-breaking nature. A significant proportion of schools are beginning to research students via search engines (26%) and social networks (21%). While certainly the traditional factors will still play dominant roles in admissions decisions, no longer can students place damaging material online without potential consequences. (See Figure 4)

Figure 4

The results are conclusive. Social media has arrived in college admissions. The ivory tower is innovating even faster than the elite Inc. 500. And the game has changed forever.

Comments

[Dan Schawbel]

That is a major study. Just shows people need to be careful what they put online.

[Chris]

As a college admissions professional, this study is both novel and yet completely unsurprising all at the same time. I'd think those percentages would actually be higher, just from what I do and what I know my colleagues in other places do; but at the same time, the attendance at social networking workshops at our professional conferences are usually surprisingly small. I'd expect this to grow quickly in the next few years.

Great find on the study.