Talking Stick - November/December 2011 - 9

Social Media Makes Its Mark
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research are following the popularity of social media on college and university campuses. How do you stack up?

Admissions Officers Using Social Media

Web Chats Address Parents’ Concerns
Social media outlets and college and university websites are often valued by students and parents for their easy accessibility and continuous updates on campus life. In combination with this convenience, many schools have developed web chats as an interactive forum for first-year students and their parents. Touching on various topics and concerns, these online sessions provide individuals with the opportunity to directly address and discuss issues pertaining to the college transition. The Family Chat Program at the University of Florida in Gainesville has served as a valuable resource in keeping first-year students and their parents informed and engaged. From discussions on campus involvement and financial aid, these bi-monthly online chat sessions serve as a tool to help students adjust to their college experience. In addition to these live web chats, transcripts from the sessions are also posted to the university’s website for further reference and assistance. For the past two years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has hosted web chats, allowing parents to speak with and voice questions to individuals from various campus departments, including the division of student life, university housing, and the office of student financial aid. Offered at various points of the year, these online programs are centered on particular topics, depending on which issues are most pressing to students at that time. For example, while move-in information and initial transitions are discussed as early topics, later web chats focus on addressing more prominent questions such as second-year housing and study abroad opportunities. Nearly 400 to 500 parents tune into these web chats and, like the Family Chat Program, transcripts of these discussions are also available on the university’s website. As a parent program coordinator at the University of WisconsinMadison, Patti Lux-Weber has experienced the benefits of these web sessions. Along with helping parents get questions answered promptly, she emphasizes that these online chats also offer an effective way for campus partners to showcase a unified front to the parents of first-year students. —Bridget Cunningham

95% 100%

85% 61%

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Percentage of admissions officers (n=456) using some form of social media

Frequently Used Social Media
Facebook Twitter Blogging Podcasts

98% 84% 66%

41%

To learn more about the study, visit www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/ socialmediaadoptionsoars. —Bridget Cunningham

November + December 2011

9
http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/socialmediaadoptionsoars
Talking Stick - November/December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2011
