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Written by: Heather Zimar
Published: 04/30/2009 Report Finds Growing Use of Social Networking Tools in College Admissions
College admissions officers may take a student's MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or other online social networking activity into account during the college admission process, according to a report released this week by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
According to a NACAC press release on the report, one-fourth of colleges surveyed indicated that they used a Web search or social networking technology to locate information about prospective students. The paper also suggested that colleges are more likely than not to use social media in promotion and student recruitment. Other findings included: • More than half (53 percent) of colleges monitor social media for "buzz" about their school.
• 33 percent of colleges maintain a blog, 29 percent maintain a presence on social networking Web sites, 27 percent maintain message- or bulletin-boards, 19 percent use video blogging, and 14 percent issue podcasts. 39 percent of colleges surveyed reported using no social media technology.
• 88 percent of admission offices believed social media were either "somewhat" or "very" important to their future recruitment efforts According to the press release, NACAC's research on social networking sites was intended to "1) present recent data collected by the author on the extent to which colleges and universities are using social media for recruitment; 2) highlight best practices for blogging and the use of other social media and Web 2.0 applications for those institutions who are new to these endeavors; and 3) begin to explore the ethical and legal issue inherent in engaging with prospective students through these media."
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