The exact rules for how schools, students and teachers should use social media are still being debated, but for now the practical applications are finding their way across colleges and universities in America.

A recent study conducted by Onlineuniversities.com highlights just some of the ways in which social media is transforming in-school communication across America. According to the study, a whopping 84% of colleges a universities use Twitter to reach out to their students. In 2008 – 2009, colleges and universities didn’t use Twitter at all for this purpose, and many were even promoting outright bans on social media. Other social networking platforms also saw increased use with LinkedIn moving from 0% use to 47% in 2 years.

The study found that many universities are using social media to carve out online presence that would be the envy of some major brands. Harvard University for instance has over 1,281,596 likes on Facebook. Throw in the 1.3 million Youtube views enjoyed by Harvard and you have what many marketing gurus would call a ‘strong online presence’.

Many schools are also using social media for day to day communication management. It’s not uncommon nowadays to find school announcements and bulletins being broadcast across social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The growing use of Twitter will perhaps help define and shape how social media is integrated fully into the daily activities of colleges and universities.

(Source: sitetrail.com)

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